Senior Investigators

List of Biographies

Ambika Bhagi-Damodaran

Biography

The Bhagi-Damodaran lab uses tools in chemistry and biology to discover new drugs and design novel catalysts. To achieve these goals, we focus on proteins that use metals as cofactors, called metalloproteins. Metalloproteins are excellent candidates for drug discovery and catalysis as both biochemical (e.g. crystallography, activity assays, NMR) and inorganic chemistry (e.g. UV-Vis, EPR, EXAFS) techniques can be used to investigate and characterize them.

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Carrie M. Wilmot

Biography

In the Wilmot lab we seek to understand the structural basis of catalysis by metalloenzymes. The principle tool of our research is macromolecular X-ray crystallography, in combination with spectroscopic techniques both in the crystal and solution, kinetics, mass spectrometry and mutagenesis. We freeze trap catalytic intermediates in the crystal, which give structural "snapshots" along the reaction pathway. These are then assembled into a "movie of catalysis" at the molecular level.

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Connie C. Lu

Biography

We seek to unravel how metalloenzymes convert small molecules using inorganic chemistry. Our approach is to develop, investigate, and exploit unusual structure-function motifs that are found in nature. For example, Fe-Fe hydrogenases may utilize metal-metal bonding for activating hydrogen. By preparing model coordination complexes featuring reactive metal-metal bonds, we can extract a detailed picture of their physical and electronic structures that may elucidate the underpinnings of their function.

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Jason Goodpaster

Biography

We focus on the development and application of new electronic structure theories. Specifically, we are interested in multi-scale models, which allow for the study of large and extended systems. We are developing quantum-embedding theories, which treat different regions of the system at different levels of accuracy. This allows for a high chemical accuracy in a small region, such as an active site of a catalyst, and a less accurate, but more computationally efficient description of the remainder.

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John D. Lipscomb

Biography

We study the mechanisms used by metalloenzymes to activate molecular oxygen. The specific enzymes we study fall into two broad classes. Some catalyze incorporation one or both atoms of oxygen from dioxygen into their organic substrates (methane monooxygenase, aromatic ring cleaving dioxygenases, or cis-diol forming Rieske dioxygenases).  The second class create an in situ reagent from the activate oxygen for biosynthetic purposes without oxygen incorporation (isopenicillin N synthase, fosfomycin synthase, ACC oxidase).

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Lawrence Que, Jr.

Biography

The Que group focuses on bio-inorganic chemistry, specifically on the topic of iron, oxygen and biocatalysis. Our research efforts, involving a combination of biochemical, synthetic inorganic, and spectroscopic approaches, are aimed at understanding the oxygen activation mechanisms of nonheme iron enzymes, designing functional models for such enzymes, trapping and characterizing reaction intermediates, and developing bio-inspired oxidation catalysts for green chemistry applications.

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Valerie C. Pierre

Biography

Our group employs coordination and supramolecular chemistry to solve medical and environmental problems. We exploit siderophores, natural products synthesized by bacteria to chelate iron, as new diagnostic and theranostic tools for bacterial infections. We design and synthesize analogues of these natural products that can rapidly detect, quantify and identify bacteria in complex media. We design unique metal-based receptors to modernize dialysis and treat hyperphosphatemia - a condition affecting millions of patients with kidney diseases.

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