Rate My Professor Christopher Berndsen

Christopher Berndsen is Professor of Biochemistry and Enzymology in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at James Madison University, a position he has held since 2012. He received his BS in Biochemistry from Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia, in 2003, and his PhD in Biomolecular Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2008. Prior to joining JMU, Berndsen was a Research Associate at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and held a postdoctoral position in the Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University from 2008 to 2012.

The Berndsen laboratory adopts an atoms-to-organisms strategy, combining computational protein modeling, structural methods including small-angle X-ray scattering, biochemical enzyme assays, and plant phenotypic observations to investigate enzymes in starch degradation pathways and related processes. Key studies focus on β-amylases such as BAM2 from Arabidopsis thaliana, whose conformational ensemble expands with potassium cations, and BAM7 from Zea mays, which shares structural and catalytic features with BAM2. Berndsen also participates in the MDH CURES collaboration, examining malate dehydrogenases from bacteria, pathogens, plants, and humans, highlighting their central metabolic roles and unexpected involvement in starch metabolism. His publications include 'The Structural Biology and Dynamics of Malate Dehydrogenases' with J. K. Bell in Essays in Biochemistry (2024), 'Potassium Cations Expand the Conformation Ensemble of Arabidopsis Thaliana β-Amylase2 (BAM2)' in microPublication Biology (2024), and 'The BAM7 Gene in Zea Mays Encodes a Protein with Similar Structural and Catalytic Properties to Arabidopsis BAM2' in Acta Crystallogr D Struct Biol (2022, 78, 560–570). Berndsen's research has accumulated over 3,200 citations according to Google Scholar, contributing to advancements in enzymology, biophysical chemistry, and plant starch metabolism. He has secured 4-VA grants, including a $10,000 award in 2017, to support his projects.