Robert Grebenok

The "Big Picture" - these 2 words summarize Dr. Grebenok's teaching and research philosophies. In all his interactions with students in the classroom and the research laboratory his intention is to relate information to the greater system or the "big picture". Whether we are talking about the roles that a vitamin plays in the metabolism of the organism or how lipids are essential to life of all organisms examined, it is the role these molecules play in the bigger picture of the organism or environment that holds the most importance for him. Dr. Grebenok is inspired by the integration and complexity of all organisms and in the classroom, he takes every opportunity to discuss how the details make the larger picture possible.

In the research laboratory, he is part of 2 external research teams that investigate the role played by steroids in the Physiology and Biochemistry of plant growth and development.  In one area Dr. Grebenok explores the relationship between agriculturally important crops (your food) and plant eating insects. The goal of this research is focused on assisting plants in defending themselves against herbivorous insect attack, helping to protect our food supply. In the second area of his research Dr. Grebenok investigates the examination of steroidal regulation of the photosynthetic process.  This research involves the examination of transgenic tobacco that express bacterial genes that allow the transgenic tobacco to photosynthesize at a faster rate and accumulate elevated levels of photosynthetic products, compared with controls.

The 2 teams have been conducting their research for approximately 25 years and they have been highly successful in their research endeavors. As teams they have generated numerous publications, patents and have been awarded over 1.5 million dollars in grants.

Awards

Faculty advisor for 15 students who were awarded research funds from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Foundation
Faculty advisor for a research student who was awarded a Summer Undergraduate Fellowship from the American Society of Plant Physiologist
Received a Summer Research Fellowship to work in the laboratory of Dr. Dean Della Penna at Michigan State University to continue our investigation of the control of plant eating insects.
Elected to the Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit Honor Society for my contributions to the Jesuit ideals.
Elected as the Canisius University Freshmen Advisor of the Year (2010).

Publications

Lau, P., Lesne, P., Grebenok, R., Rangel, J., and Spencer Behmer (2022) “Assessing pollen nutrient content: a unifying approach for the study of bee nutritional ecology”. Phil. Trans. of the Royal Soc. B., 377, 1853.  This paper I am particularly proud of because it was a product of my research labs collaboration with a lab at Texas A&M University and it set the stage for our continued work with the Honeybee.

Ugine, T., Gill, H.K., Hernandez, N., Grebenok, R., Behmer, S., and John Losey (2021) “Predator Performance and Fitness is Dictated by Herbivore Prey Type Plus Indirect Effects of their Host Plant”. Journal of Chemical Ecology.  47, 877-888.  This paper I am particularly proud of because it represents the accumulated work of Canisius undergraduate research groups in my lab, because it was a product of our research team’s collaboration with Cornell University and because it set the stage for further work in the area of herbivore nutrition.

Ivy W. Chen, Robert J. Grebenok, Hubert Schaller, Keyan Zhu-Salzman, Spencer T. Behmer1 (2020).  Aphid growth and reproduction on plants with altered sterol profiles: novel insights using Arabidopsis mutant and overexpression lines. Journal of Insect Physiology. 123, 104054 – 104065. This paper I am particularly proud of because it represents the demonstration that steroids are impactful as insect nutritional components, because it demonstrated that transgenic plants could have a profound impact on research and because it set the stage for further work in the area of herbivore nutrition.

Behmer, S., Olszewski, N., Sebastiani, J., Palka, S., Sparacino, G., Sciarrino, E and Grebenok, R. Plant phloem sterol content: forms, putative functions, and implication for phloem-feeding insects. Frontiers in Plant Science, (2013), 4, 370. This paper I am particularly proud of because it represents the accumulated work of several Canisius students spanning a time frame of 3 years.

Janson, E.M., R.J. Grebenok, S. Behmer and P. Abbot. (2009) “Same Host – Plant, Different Sterols: Variation in Sterol Metabolism in an Insect Herbivore Community”. Journal of Chemical Ecology. 35,1309-1319. This paper I am particularly proud of because it was a product of my research labs collaboration with a lab at the University of Maryland.

Steroid Profiles of Transgenic Tobacco Expressing an Actinomyces 3-Hydroxysteroid Oxidase Gene. Jennelle Heyer, Brandon Parker, David Becker, John Ruffino, Amber Fordyce, Matt DeWitt, Mark Bedard, and Robert Grebenok. (2004) Phytochemistry, 65: 2967-2976. This paper I am particularly proud of because it represents the accumulated work of several Canisius research groups in my lab.

Grebenok, R. J., Ohnmeiss, T., Huntley, E., Yamamoto, A., Galbraith, D. and Della Penna, D., “ Isolation and Characterization of a A. thaliana C-8,7 Sterol Isomerase: Functional and Structural Similarities to Mammalian C-8,7 Sterol Isomerase / Emopamil Binding Protein”. (1998) Plant Molecular Biology 38 (5) 807-815. This paper I am particularly proud of because not only was it the first paper I generated while a faculty at Canisius University, including 2 Canisius students as coauthors, the paper describes an area of work that continues today.