Calvin Henard | BioDiscovery Institute
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Calvin Henard

Assistant Professor
940-565-3280
Calvin.Henard@unt.edu
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Dr. Calvin A. Henard received a B.S. in Molecular Biology from Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado where he studied the role of the nutrient starvation stringent response in Salmonella's ability to co-opt and subvert host immune responses. Following his doctoral studies, Dr. Henard was an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein postdoctoral trainee at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas where he evaluated virulence mechanisms of the intracellular protozoan parasite Leishmania. In 2014, Dr. Henard joined the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's National Bioenergy Center as a postdoctoral researcher, where he was promoted to a full-time staff researcher in the applied biology group in 2016. At NREL, Dr. Henard used his expertise in molecular microbiology and metabolic engineering to develop algal, yeast, and bacterial biocatalysts for conversion of renewable substrates to biofuels and bioproducts. In 2019, Dr. Henard joined the Department of Biological Sciences and the BioDiscovery Institute at the University of North Texas (UNT). Dr. Henard's lab at UNT leverages advanced molecular and synthetic biology to develop biotechnologies for the conversion of C1 substrates to fuels and chemicals using methanotrophic bacteria.

CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Single Carbon (C1) Biocatalysis
    • Genetic tool development
    • Metabolic engineering
    • CRISPR-based genome editing
    • Fermentation optimization
    • Metabolomics
    • Metabolic flux analysis
  • Bacterial physiology and metabolism
  • Bacterial transcriptional regulation
  • Redox signaling

For Prospective Graduate Students

Apply to the Graduate Program in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

CURRENT GRANT-FUNDED PROJECTS

  • Development of advanced biocatalyst tools and resources to enable biogas-based biomanufacturing. National Science Foundation/Department of Energy. PI: Calvin Henard, $966,898
  • Development and validation of CRISPR interference genome-wide libraries to enable high-throughput single-carbon biocatalyst optimization. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technology Office via MSI STEM Research and Development Consortium. PI: Calvin Henard, $250,000

MOST SIGNIFICANT PUBLICATIONS

  1. Bhat, E.H., Henard, J.M., Lee, S.A., McHalffey, D., Ravulapati, M.S., Rogers, E.V., Yu, L., Skiles, D., and Henard C.A. Construction of a broad-host-range Anderson promoter series and particulate methane monooxygenase promoter variants expand the methanotroph genetic toolbox. Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology, Volume 9, Issue 2, 2024,Pages 250-258,ISSN 2405-805X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.synbio.2024.02.003.
  2. Henard CA. Insights into methanotroph carbon flux pave the way for methane biocatalysis. Trends Biotechnol. 2023 Mar;41(3):298-300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2023.01.011.
  3. Nath S, Henard JM, Henard CA. Optimized Tools and Methods for Methanotroph Genome Editing. Methods Mol Biol. 2022;2489:421-434. https://link.springer.com/protocol/10.1007/978-1-0716-2273-5_21
  4. CA Henard, C Wu, W Xiong, JM Henard, B Davidheiser-Kroll, FD Orata, MT Guarnieri. (2021) Ribulose-1, 5-Bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase (RubisCO) Is Essential for Growth of the Methanotroph Methylococcus capsulatus Strain Bath. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 87, No. 18. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00881-21
  5. Fei, Q., Liang, B., Tao, L., Tan, E.C.D., Gonzalez, R., Henard, C., and Guarnieri, M. (2020). Biological valorization of natural gas for the production of lactic acid: techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment. Biochem Eng J 107500. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2020.107500
  6. Knoshaug, E. P.; Gerritsen, A. T.; Henard, C. A.; Guarnieri, M. T. Methods for Algal Protein Isolation and Proteome Analysis. Methods Mol. Biol. 2020, 2096, 51-59. https://link.springer.com/protocol/10.1007/978-1-0716-0195-2_5.
  7. Henard, C. A., Akberdin, I. R., Kalyuzhnaya, M. G., and Guarnieri, M. T. (2019). Muconic acid production from methane using rationally-engineered methanotrophic biocatalysts. Green Chem. https://doi.org/10.1039/C9GC03722E
  8. Dahlin, L. R.; Gerritsen, A. T.; Henard, C. A.; Van Wychen, S.; Linger, J. G.; Kunde, Y.; Hovde, B. T.; Starkenburg, S. R.; Posewitz, M. C.; Guarnieri, M. T. Development of a high-productivity, halophilic, thermotolerant microalga Picochlorum renovo. Commun. Biol. 2019, 2, 388. https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-019-0620-2.
  9. Qian, F., Zhu, C., Knipe, J. M., Ruelas, S., Stolaroff, J. K., DeOtte, J. R., Duoss, E. B., Spadaccini, C. M., Henard, C. A., Guarnieri, M. T., et al. (2019). Direct writing of tunable living inks for bioprocess intensification. Nano Lett. 19, 5829-5835. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b00066
  10. Tapscott, T., Guarnieri, M. T., and Henard, C. A. (2019). Development of a CRISPR/Cas9 System for Methylococcus capsulatus In Vivo Gene Editing. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 85. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00340-19

PATENTS

  1. Lee, S.A., Henard, J.M., and Henard, C.A.Consolidated CH4 and CO2 Conversion by Methanotrophic Bacteria. U.S. Provisional Patent Application 63/511,732. July 3, 2023
  2. Organic acid synthesis from C1 substrates. CA Henard, MT Guarnieri - US Patent 10,889,821, 2021
  3. Organic acid synthesis from C1 substrates. CA Henard, MT Guarnieri - US Patent 10,435,693, 2019