Dr Andrew J Pratt
Position
Senior Lecturer
Qualifications
MA, D Phil (Oxf)
Field of Study
Biological Chemistry; Origins of Life
Room
836
Contact Details
Telephone: +64 3 364 2424
Fax: +64 3 364 2110
Email: andy.pratt@canterbury.ac.nz
Undergraduate Courses
CHEM114 Introductory Chemistry;
CHEM272 Organic Chemistry;
BCHM301 Biochemistry
BCHM302/CHEM325 Biological Chemistry
Graduate Courses
CHEM405 Biological Chemistry;
BCHM403 Protein Science
Background
I completed undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at Hertford College, Oxford University. My doctoral research was in the area of organic synthesis. After that I undertook a NATO post-doctoral fellowship at MIT working with Sat Masamune and Chris Walsh on enzymatic carbon-carbon bond formation chemistry before returning to Oxford initially as a Senior Research Fellow and then Tutorial Fellow in organic chemistry at Jesus College. In Oxford, I was an elected member of the Oxford Enzyme Group undertaking research on biological chemistry at the Dyson Perrins Laboratory and with the Oxford Centre for Molecular Sciences. In 1992 I moved to the University of Canterbury where I am now Director of Biochemistry. My ongoing interest in teaching led to my receiving one of the inaugural teaching awards at Canterbury.
Research Interests
Abstract
As a bioorganic chemist, I am interested in a wide range of issues related to the chemistry of life, especially topics associated with evolution. This has led me to my principal current research area: trying to understand the prebiological chemical processes that gave rise life on earth.
My current research interests are:
- Prebiotic chemistry associated with the origin of metabolism including the role of iron in the catalysis of primary metabolic reactions, especially phosphoryl transfer
- Prebiological processes in the Origin of Life
- Chemical ecology of animal behaviour
- Chemical education
- History and philosophy of science