Kent Chapman

Biological Sciences
Regents Professor

LIFE Sciences B414

940-565-2969

chapman@unt.edu

Kent Chapman

https://bdi.unt.edu/people/kent-chapman

Chapman Lab Members

Google Scholar

Kent Chapman graduated in 1986 from Lycoming College with an A.B. degree in Biology (Chemistry minor). He earned a Ph.D. degree in Botany from Arizona State University in 1991 under the supervision of Richard N. Trelease, and then was awarded an NSF postdoctoral fellowship to study plant biochemistry with Thomas S. Moore, Jr., at Louisiana State University. In 1993, he accepted a position as a tenure-track, Assistant Professor at the University of North Texas (UNT). During the last 30+ years, Chapman has developed an internationally-recognized research program in plant biochemistry and cell biology, specifically in the area of plant lipid metabolism, storage and function. Chapman proposed and co-chaired the inaugural Gordon Research Conference on Plant Lipids in 2009, which is now a permanent, standing GRC. In 2010 he was appointed UNT Regents Professor of Biochemistry and in 2014, took leave to serve a rotating term as Program Director at the US National Science Foundation. Chapman was awarded the Terry Galliard Medal in 2020 for contributions in plant lipid biochemistry, and in 2021 was named Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB). He served for a decade as Executive Editor for Progress in Lipid Research and as reviewing editor for The Plant Cell. In 2024, Chapman was elected President of the American Society of Plant Biologists, and in 2025, was named Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Chapman served as Director of the BioDiscovery Institute, one of four institutes of research excellence at UNT, from 2018- 2024. He remains an active member of the BDI where his research is focused on the biogenesis of lipid droplets in plant cells, plant metabolic engineering and lipid imaging technologies. He was awarded Regents Professor Emeritus status by the University of North Texas in 2026.

CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Lipid signaling in plants.
  • Biogenesis of lipid droplets in plant cells.
  • Plant lipids for human health and industrial applications.
  • Lipidomics in tissues and organelles.

GRANT-FUNDED PROJECTS

  • United States Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Physical Biosciences program. Elucidating the Cellular Machinery for Lipid Storage in Plants. (PI, Kent Chapman; Yingqi Cai, Co-PI). 9/1/2023- 8/31/2027 (DE-SC0016536).
  • National Science Foundation- Integrative Organismal Systems. Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolases and Chemical Communication in Plants. (Kent Chapman PI). 7/1/2021-6/30/2026. (IOS 2051636).
  • Cotton Incorporated. Cotton Transformation Facility (Kent Chapman, PI). 1/1/20-5/31/26.
  • United Stated Department of Agriculture- National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Elucidating Cyclic Fatty Acid Biosynthesis and Compartmentalization to Improve Cottonseed Value (PI, Patrick Horn; Kent Chapman, Co-PI). 3/15/2022- 10/14/2026.
  • M. Keck Foundation. Greenhouse based production of fungal-derived medicines. (PI Elizabeth Skellam; Kent Chapman, Ana Alonso Mike Carroll (Co-PIs). 1/1/2023-12/31/2026.

RECENT SIGNIFICANT PUBLICATIONS

1. Guzha A, Ver Sagun J, Johnston C, Whitehead P, Alonso AP and Chapman KD (2026), Functional analysis of LIPID TRANSFER PROTEIN 6 (LTP6) in pennycress and Arabidopsis reveals divergent roles in oil storage and seed coat development. Plant Journal 127: e71038. https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.71038

2. Eskandari M, Macknojia AZ, Shirani A, Chapman KD, Berman D (2026) Toward lithium-free tribology: Design and performance of plant oil-based greases thickened with functionalized nanoclays. Friction 14(6): 9441204. https://doi.org/10.26599/FRICT.2025.9441204

3. Eze F, S Schoellhorn, D Grinffiel, KD Chapman, S Rajendran, and E Skellam (2025) Assessing the Biosynthetic Potential of the Bioherbicide Colletotrichum spinosum CBS 515.97: Discovery of 3”-Demethylthielavin M and Assorted Alkaloids.” Chemistry & Biodiversity 22(12): e01247. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbdv.202501247

4. Whitehead P, S Raza, M Miklaszewska, E Hornung, C Herrfurth, R Nadella, A Clews, NM Doner, JM Dyer, RT Mullen, I Feussner, JV Vermaas, KD Chapman (2025) Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) LIPID DROPLET-ASSOCIATED PROTEIN 1 facilitates the efficient packaging of wax esters into lipid droplets. Plant Cell, 37(8), koaf115. Journal Cover. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koaf115.

5. Schmidt, M.A., Salimath, S.S., Mehl, H.L., Chapman K.D. (2025) Host-induced gene silencing is an effective strategy to mitigate pre-harvest aflatoxin contamination in cotton. Discover Plants 2, 218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44372-025-00302-4

6. Guzha, A., Gautam, B., Marchiafava, D., Ver Sagun, J., Garcia, T., Jarvis, B.A., Barbaglia-Hurlock, A.M., Johnston, C., Grotewold, E., Sedbrook, J.C., Alonso, A.P. and Chapman, K.D. (2024), Targeted modulation of pennycress lipid droplet proteins impacts droplet morphology and seed oil content. Plant Journal, https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.17109

7. Arias-Gaguancela O, Herrell E, Chapman KD (2024) Ex vivo lipidomics reveal monoacylglycerols as substrates for a fatty acid amide hydrolase in the legume Medicago truncatula. FEBS Letters, https://doi.org/10.1002/1873-3468.14944. Journal Cover

8. Horn PJ, Chapman KD (2024) Imaging plant metabolism in situ, Journal of Experimental Botany, 75(6):erad423, https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erad423.

9. Guzha A, Whitehead P, Ischebeck T, Chapman KD (2023) Lipid Droplets: Packing Hydrophobic Molecules Within the Aqueous Cytoplasm. Annual Review of Plant Biology, 74: 195-223. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-arplant-070122-021752

10. A Kilaru, KD Chapman (2020) The endocannabinoid system. Essays in Biochemistry, 64 (3): 485- 499. https://doi.org/10.1042/EBC20190086

11. Sturtevant D, S Lu, Z-W Zhou, Y Shen, S Wang, J-M Song, J Zhong, DJ Burks, Z-Q Yang, Q-Y Yang, AE Cannon, C Herrfurth, I Feussner, L Borisjuk, E Munz, GF Verbeck, X Wang, RK Azad, B Singleton, JM Dyer, L-L Chen*, KD Chapman*, L Guo* (2020) The genome of jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis): a taxonomically-isolated species that directs wax-ester accumulation in its seeds. Science Advances, 6 (11), eaay3240. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aay3240

PATENTS

  1. US patent #7,199,082, issued April 3, 2007. (WO 01/30143) Methods For Extending The Freshness Of Cut Flowers, Ornamental Trees, And Plant Cuttings, PCT/US00/29959. Kent D. Chapman and Shea Austin-Brown Inventors; University of North Texas is patent holder.
  2. US patent #7,316,928, issued Jan 8, 2008. (WO 2005/001100) Plant Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolases, PCT/US2004/017690. Kent D. Chapman, Rhidaya Shrestha, Elison Blancaflor, Richard A. Dixon. UNT and Noble Foundation are patent holders.
  3. US Patent #8,097,768, issued January 17, 2012. Method of enhancing quality factors in cotton; Hake; Kater Davis; (Germantown, TN) ; Chapman; Kent Dean; (Denton, TX) ; Kerby; Thomas Arthur; (Scott, MS); Speed; Thomas Rainey; (Wolfforth, TX). UNT is patent holder.
  4. US Patent #8,507,754, issued August 13, 2013. Engineering Lipids in Vegetative tissues of Plants. Chapman; Kent Dean (Denton Texas); Anderson, Richard G.W. (Dallas, TX). UNT and UT systems are joint patent holders.
  5. US Patent #9,474,271, issued October 25, 2016- Method For Enhancing Amidohydrolase Activity of Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase. John, George (New York, NY); Nagarajan, Subbiah (New York, NY); Chapman, Kent (Denton, TX); Faure, Lionel (Flower Mound, TX); Koulen, Peter (Leawood, KS). Research Foundation of the City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
  6. US Patent #9,849,101, issued December 26, 2017. Method For Enhancing Amidohydrolase Activity of Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase. John, George (New York, NY); Nagarajan, Subbiah (New York, NY); Chapman, Kent (Denton, TX); Faure, Lionel (Flower Mound, TX); Koulen, Peter (Leawood, KS). Research Foundation of the City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
  7. US Patent # 10,238,056- HIGH OLEIC SEED OIL TRAIT IN COTTON VARIETIES TO ELEVATE THE OLEIC ACID CONTENT OF COTTONSEED OIL. Chapman, Kent Dean (Denton, TX); Horn, Patrick (Holt, MI); Sturtevant, Drew (Southlake, TX); Kennedy, Christopher (Ft. Worth, TX). Issued March 26, 2019
  8. US Patent # 10,308,950- METHODS FOR INCREASING OIL CONTENT IN PLANT TISSUES BY SUPPRESSING HYDROPHOBIC LIPID DROPLET PROTEIN. Chapman, Kent (Denton, TX); Mullen Robert (Guelph, Ontario, Canada); Pyc Michel (Guelph, Ontario, Canada); Dyer, John (Maricopa, AZ). Issued June 4, 2019
  9. US Patent #11136525- LIQUID AND SEMISOLID LUBRICANT COMPOSITIONS, METHODS OF MAKING, AND USES THEREOF Inventor(s): Diana Berman, Kent Dean Chapman, Trevor Bradley Romsdahl, Edgar Benjamin Cahoon, Robert Earl Minto, December 14, 2018. Issued October 5, 2021.
  10. US Patent App. 18/894,418 (PENDING)- Liquid and semisolid lubricant compositions, methods of making, and uses thereof. D Berman, A Shirani, K CHAPMAN, J Sedbrook, US Provisional filed, September 24, 2024.
  11. US Provisional Patent Application 63/633,417 (PENDING)-- Skellam, EJ, Chapman, KD (2024) Greenhouse-based production of fungal derived medicines. Filed April 12, 2024.
  12. U.S Provisional Patent Application 63/738,301 (PENDING)-- Inventors: Kent CHAPMAN, Payton WHITEHEAD, Title: METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR TARGETED MODIFICATION OF LIPID DROPLET-ASSOCIATED PROTEIN ACTIVITY IN PLANTS, Filing Date: December 23, 2024.