DANIEL A. KRAUT, Ph.D.
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW
Northwestern University

Daniel Kraut attempted an experiment in high school to see if fish could learn from each other. “All the fish died,” he says. “That’s science for you.” Nevertheless, he was hooked on science. And, he says with a laugh, he was able to draw one conclusion from his research: learning kills fish.

After high school, Kraut decided to study biochemistry at Swarthmore College. He supplemented his undergraduate education with lab stints during the summer, conducting biochemistry research at Penn State University and chemistry research at Columbia University and studying enzymes at Swarthmore. When he applied to graduate school, Kraut says, “it was clear that having a strong research background was very important.”

Kraut went on to attend Stanford University as an HHMI predoctoral fellow in 2000, earning his Ph.D. in biochemistry in 2006. Now a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University in the laboratory of Andreas Matouschek, Kraut is intrigued by how complex protein machines in the cell work. His current research focuses on ATP-dependent proteases.

The proteasome, the principal eukaryotic ATP-dependent protease, unfolds proteins that are tagged for degradation. The protease pulls the tagged protein through a cylindrical chamber and chops it up, which Kraut likens to feeding something into a wood chipper. In one of his projects, he is examining how the protease is actually pulling the target protein through. The Matouschek lab has found certain protein sequences that signal for partial degradation. In another project, Kraut is studying how universal these signals are.

Learning how to think like a scientist and design good experiments is a crucial part of graduate training, says Kraut. He notes that science is not a continuous string of successes. Much time is spent “building tools or doing things that aren’t working in some way—or both.” But he feels that troubleshooting is one of the most valuable skills a scientist can have. “If everything is magically working for you all the time, then you’re not really learning all the skills you need when things stop working,” he says.

Outside the lab, Kraut finds time to explore the Chicago area with his wife, Anita, a biophysicist at the University of Chicago. He putters around a community garden, helping grow produce that is sent to a food bank. Kraut also likes concocting exotic ice cream flavors, from red wine with chocolate to a vegan-friendly flavor made with coconut milk and lemongrass. He writes a blog—mostly to record his recipes—and confesses, “I don’t think anyone actually reads it, except maybe my mom.”

Kraut enjoys fielding the questions he receives through Ask a Scientist. “Sometimes we’re prone to accept things that the textbooks say or whatever the prevailing wisdom is,” he says. Challenging questions make him “go back to the basics and figure out how things work,” something he’s always eager to do.

Author: Lindsey Pujanauski
Updated: 11/01/07 22:05