Graduate Student Erich Walkenhauer awarded grant to study bacterial protein linked to infectious disease

Erich Walkenhauer is a graduate student of biochemistry at Western and a recent recipient of Western’s Graduate Research and Creative Opportunities Grant from Western’s Office of Research and Sponsored Programs for his work on the dynamics of sortase A, an important protein in the study of infectious diseases.  

Sortase A is a bacterial protein that resides on the surface of the bacteria. Its primary purpose is attaching other proteins to the surface, which helps the bacteria infect its host. Understanding more about the structure and behavior of sortase A is crucial for a variety of biomedical purposes, including the development of new antibiotic treatments, an increasingly important area of research in the face of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. 

“Sortase A can be thought of as a bottleneck; if it can be inhibited, then it can't perform its usual job, making the bacteria less able to propagate and infect hosts,” Walkenhauer explained.  

For his master’s thesis, Walkenhauer is using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) — technology that uses very strong magnets, similar to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). With the support of the Research and Creative Opportunities grant, Walkenhauer and his undergrad lab mate and co-author, Adam Wachsman, took samples to Brown University in Rhode Island, a collaborating institution, and used their 850-megahertz magnet to characterize the structure of sortase A.  

Beyond the development of new antibiotic therapeutics, this new data on sortases will inform the kind of protein engineering that is used in the development of other types of therapeutic drugs and vaccines. 

Walkenhauer  graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Western in 2023 with honors based on his research in Associate Professor of Chemistry Serge Smirnov’s lab, where he studied intrinsically disordered proteins. Walkenhauer is now a grad student working under Associate Professor of Chemistry Jeanine Amacher.  

Walkenhauer’s research with Amacher is part of a productive collaboration with a group of supportive faculty that also includes Smirnov, Professor of Chemistry John Antos and Assistant Professor of Chemistry Jay McCarty. This project is currently funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation. 

“Professor Amacher is great at helping me grow, whether it is attending conferences or the freedom we have to explore in the lab,” Walkenhauer said.  

Amacher said Walkenhauer has been a pleasure to mentor. 

“Erich is a fantastic researcher. He largely introduced NMR to my lab, and I greatly appreciated his willingness to take on a project that would require bringing in a new technique for us; this is not an easy thing to achieve in a relatively short time,” Amacher said. “Erich is also not afraid to look in the scientific literature and generate ideas of experiments to try, which is very exciting as his research advisor. I have no doubt he will have a long and successful career in science.” 

Walkenhauer said he appreciates the hands-off approach that allows him to hone his organizational and self-directed research skills. After he graduates, he’s moving to Salt Lake City to enter the biotech industry for a year before applying to a doctoral program at the University of Utah. 

Find out more about Western’s graduate program in biochemistry at gradschool.wwu.edu/chemistry.  

Allie Spikes covers the WWU Graduate School for University Communications. Reach out to her with story ideas at spikesa@wwu.edu.