Jesse Kleingardner, Ph.D.

Bioinorganic Chemistry, Metalloprotein Engineering, Protein Structure Analysis, Fuel Catalysis

• B.S. Chemistry (Ithaca College)
• M.S. Chemistry (University of Rochester)
• Ph.D. Bioinorganic Chemistry (University of Rochester)

• Biochemistry I lecture and lab (CHEM 410/410L)
• Biochemistry II lecture and lab (CHEM 412/412L)
• General Chemistry I lecture lab (CHEM 105/105L)
• Junior Seminar (CHEM 390)
• Undergraduate Research

Dr. Jesse Kleingardner grew up in the Southern Tier of New York State. His undergraduate research at Ithaca College focused on the synthesis and characterization of ionic liquids. He also minored in music (trumpet). He then worked briefly at the GE Global Research Center in Niskayuna, NY on aerospace materials before starting his graduate work at the University of Rochester in 2007. His graduate research focused on understanding how the structures of heme proteins influence their functional properties, and on using metal substitution to convert heme proteins to semi-biosynthetic enzymes for hydrogen production. He returned to Ithaca College in 2013 for a postdoctoral teaching fellow where he taught inorganic chemistry, biochemistry, and general chemistry. Jesse moved to Pennsylvania to begin teaching at Messiah College in the fall of 2015. His research here involves designing metal-containing proteins that possess useful properties or functions, specifically in the area of fuel production or fuel cell catalysis.

• Kleingardner, Jesse G.; Levin, Benjamin D.; Zoppellaro, Giorgio; Andersson, K. Kristoffer; Elliott, Sean J.; Bren, Kara L., Influence of heme c attachment on heme conformation and potential, Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, 2018, 23(7), 1073-1083.
• Kleingardner, J. G. and Bren, K. L., Biological Significance and Applications of Heme c Proteins and Peptides, Accounts of Chemical Research, 2015, 48, 1845-1852.
• Galinato, M. G. I.; Bowman, S. E. J.; Kleingardner, J. G.; Martin, S.; Zhao, J.; Sturhahn, W.; Alp, E. E.; Bren, K. L. & Lehnert, N.; Effects of Protein Structure on Iron-Polypeptide Vibrational Dynamic Coupling in Cytochrome c, Biochemistry, 2015, 54, 1064-1076.