Tim Soderberg

I taught Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry at UMM between 2000 and 2016; my research focused on characterization of enzymes in the pentose phosphate pathway in Archaea. Much of my time was also spent on development of Organic Chemistry With a Biological Emphasis, an organic chemistry textbook in which the central focus is on molecules and reactions of biological interest.

Before coming to UMM, I earned a B.A. in English from Amherst College in 1987, and a California high school teaching credential from San Francisco State University in 1989. After teaching English as a Second Language in Tokyo, Japan for about five years, I returned to the United States and enrolled at Sonoma State University where I completed all of the undergraduate Chemistry, Calculus, and Physics courses necessary to enter a graduate Chemistry program. I earned my Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from the University of Utah under the direction of Professor C. Dale Poulter. My graduate research focused on the enzymology of two prenyltransferase enzymes: one that modifies tRNA, and one that is involved in the early biosynthesis of ether-linked membrane lipids in archaea.

In 2016 I took early retirement from the University of Minnesota and began working in a local elementary school as a reading tutor for kids in Kindergarten through 3^rd grade.