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Washington State University
The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering

Faculty & Staff

Wheaton L. Schroeder

Wheaton Schroeder Headshot

Wheaton L. Schroeder, Ph.D.
Incoming Assistant Professor (Starting Fall 2024)

Multiscale metabolic modeling

Dr. Schroeder’s Website

Office: TBD đź“žTBD
wls5190@psu.edu

The Gene and Linda Voiland
School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering
1505 Stadium Way, Room 105
P.O. Box 646515
Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164-6515

Graduate Students

Samuel Hayford Ayensu
Debanik Bose

Undergraduate Students

The Schroeder Lab is currently seeking undergraduate student researchers, beginning Fall 2024. Hourly and for credit opportunities available. Please email Wheaton Schroeder (wls5190@psu.edu) with your CV or resume to inquire.

Research Interest

Metabolic models of metabolism are mathematical, network-based, and large-scale representations of the set of chemical reactions for which various types of evidence exists. These models are generally reconstructed from publicly available data, or in collaboration with in vivo researchers, and their reconstruction and analysis is often accomplished using freely available programming languages and packages, or programmable computational methods. Many such models account for all reactions supported by their annotated genome, in which case they are said to be genome-scale models (GSM). GSMs span many levels of complexity ranging from purely stoichiometric to metabolic networks accounting for protein synthesis (resource analysis models) to kinetic models of metabolism. Metabolic models have been applied to a wide range of applications including bioengineering (their most typical application), investigation of metabolism, and medical applications. Examples of metabolic investigation include resolution of basic metabolic questions such as atypical energy sources, metabolic reprogramming under stress, exploring understudied pathways, multiscale elucidation of regulation, and drug repurposing. My proposed research plan leverages the breadth of systems that can be modeled, model types, model applications, the development of new modeling techniques, and publicly available yet underleveraged datasets, along with potential collaborations within WSU and the PNNL to develop a broad program of research addressing key challenges including improved plant tolerance to heat and drought stresses, drug repurposing, and designing cyanobacteria as CO2 to biochemical platforms.

Education and Professional Experience

  • 8/2024-Pres. –Assistant Professor, Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, Washington State University
  • 8/2021-8/2024 – Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Chemical Engineering, the Pennsylvania State University
  • 2021 – Ph. D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (College STEM Education minor), University of Nebraska – Lincoln
  • 2015 – B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Mathematics (Biology minor), Iowa State University

Selected Publications

See full publication list through Google Scholar.

  1. Wheaton L. Schroeder, Teun Kuil, Antonius J. A. van Maris, Daniel G. Olson, Costas D. Maranas. “A detailed genome-scale metabolic model of Clostridium thermocellum investigates sources of pyrophosphate for driving glycolysis”, Metabolic Engineering, vol. 77, 2023. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymben.2023.04.003.
  2. Wheaton L. Schroeder, Anna Baber, and Rajib Saha. “Using EuGeneCiD and EuGeneCiM computational tools for synthetic biology”, STAR Protocols, vol. 2, no. 4, Dec. 17, 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016 /j.xpro.2021.100820.
  3. Wheaton L. Schroeder, Anna Baber, and Rajib Saha. “Optimization-based Eukaryotic Genetic Circuit Design (EuGeneCiD) and Modeling Tools: Computational Approach to Synthetic Biology”, iScience, vol. 24, no. 9, Sept. 6. 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.103000.
  4. Niaz Chowdhury, Wheaton L. Schroeder, Debolina Sarkar, Nardjis Amiour, Isabella Quillere, Betrand Hirel, Costas Maranas, and Rajib Saha. “Dissecting the metabolic reprogramming of maize root under nitrogen limiting stress condition”, Journal of Experimental Botany, Sept. 23, 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erab435.
  5. Mohammad Mazharul Islam, Wheaton Lane Schroeder, and Rajib Saha. “Kinetic Modeling of Metabolism: Present and Future”. Current Opinion in Systems Biology, vol. 26, Apr. 20, 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coisb.2021.04.003.
  6. Wheaton L. Schroeder and Rajib Saha. “Protocol for Genome-Scale Reconstruction and Melanogenesis Analysis of Exophiala dermatitidis”. STAR Protocol, vol. 1, Sept. 18, 2020. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xpro.2020.100105.
  7. Wheaton L. Schroeder and Rajib Saha. “Introducing an optimization- and explicit Runge-Kutta- based approach to perform dynamic flux balance analysis”. Scientific Reports, vol. 10, no. 9241, Jun. 8, 2020. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65457-4.
  8. Wheaton L. Schroeder, Steven D. Harris, and Rajib Saha. “Computation-driven analysis of model polyextremotolerant fungus Exophiala dermatitidis: defensive pigment metabolic costs and human applications”. iScience, vol. 23 no. 4, Apr. 24, 2020. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci/2020.100980.
  9. Wheaton L. Schroeder and Rajib Saha. “OptFill: a tool for infeasible cycle-free gapfilling of stoichiometric metabolic models”. iScience, vol. 23 no. 1, pp. 1-14, Jan. 24, 2020. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2019.100783.