Leah Witus is an Associate Professor of chemistry at Macalester College in Saint Paul MN. She grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and attended Rice University, majoring in chemistry. As an undergraduate she did research with Professor Jeffrey Hartgerink. She obtained her PhD in chemistry at the University of California Berkeley as part of the Chemical Biology Graduate Program, where she worked with Professor Matthew Francis on protein bioconjugation reactions. She then did research on synthetic molecular machines as a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow with Sir Fraser Stoddart at Northwestern University.
As a Macalester Professor since 2015, Leah’s teaching centers on biochemistry and general chemistry. In addition to courses, Leah views the research laboratory as a rich teaching environment. She has mentored 22 Macalester students in research, and together they have sought to understand and develop peptide and protein catalysts. Current projects in the lab include studying the role of secondary structure on the activity of peptide catalysts, and comparing the effect of directly conjugated shielding polymers on enzyme activity. This work has resulted in publications with Macalester student co-authors and has been awarded funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. Leah is also interested in science communication with the general public and has made animated explainer videos, collaborated with a sociology colleague to study science communication, and developed an elective course for Macalester students.
Email: lwitus@macalester.edu