Transition Metals in Biology
Chathuri Wijekoon will soon leave to visit the laboratories of Dr. Rumiana Dimova who leads the Biophysics Laboratory within the Department of Theory and Bio-Systems of the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany. She will gain experience with generating so-called giant uni-laminar vesicles as simple mimics of biological cells.
Sean Lim has joined us to undertake his Honours degree. Initially, he will work with Chathuri Wijekoon on aspects of CopA chemistry.
Our paper entitled “Metal binding to the N-terminal cytoplasmic domain of the PIB ATPase HMA4 is required for metal transport in Arabidopsis” by C. Laurent, G. Lekeux, A. A. Ukuwela, Z. Xiao, J.-B. Charlier, B. Bosman, M. Carnol, P. Motte, C. Damblon, M. Galleni and M. Hanikenne has been accepted for publication in the journal Plant Molecular Biology
Our paper entitled “Evaluation of Employing Poly-lysine Tags versus Poly-histidine Tags for Purification and Characterization of Recombinant Copper-Binding Proteins” by C. J. K. Wijekoon, A. A. Ukuwela, A. G. Wedd and Z. Xiao has been accepted for publication in the issue of the Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry dedicated to the memory of Prof. Graeme Hanson. Prof. Hanson was Prof. Wedd’s second PhD student and graduated from La Trobe University in 1984.
Ben Spyrou has completed his Masters degree and will go on to a PhD with Dr. Paul Donnelly
DingCyuan (Mobrick) Zeng has now completed the research section of his Masters degree and submitted his thesis.
Laura Cortes won a Best Poster award at the 17th International Conference on Biological Inorganic Chemistry (ICBIC17) in Beijing, China for her poster was entitled “The Nature of the Cuprous and Ferrous Oxidase Active Sites in the Multi-Copper Oxidases CueO and Ceruloplasmin”. The poster was so good that it was stolen off the display board at the end of the conference !
At the conference, Doctor Xiao delivered his keynote lecture entitled “Probes for quantitative characterization of Cu(II) sites in proteins and peptides”.
Saumya Udagedra has received the news that her PhD thesis has been accepted. Congratulations, Saumya !!
Doctor Xiao has been invited to deliver a keynote lecture at the 17th International Conference on Biological Inorganic Chemistry (ICBIC17) in Beijing, China from July 20-24, 2015. His title is “A set of robust fluorescent peptide probes for quantitative characterization of Cu(II) binding sites in proteins and peptides”
Saumya Udagedara has submitted her PhD thesis entitled “Molecular Characterisation of Copper Resistance and Transport Proteins in E. coli” for examination. This was achieved only three months after the birth of her son Desandu. Well done, Saumya !!
Nineveh Yako has joined us to undertake her MS degree. Initially, she will work with Tessa Young on fluorescent probes.
Our paper entitled “The CopC Protein from Pseudomonas fluorescens SBW25 Features A Conserved Novel High Affinity Cu(II) Binding Site” by C. J. K. Wijekoon, T. R. Young, A. G. Wedd and Z. Xiao has now been published (Inorg. Chem. 2015, 54, 2950-59).
In addition, our paper entitled “The Functional Roles of The Three Copper Sites Associated with The Methionine-Rich Insert in the Multicopper Oxidase CueO from E. coli” by L. Cortes Castrillon, A. G. Wedd and Z. Xiao has appeared on the Web (Metallomics, 2015, DOI: 10.1039/C5MT00001G).
Number of posts found: 74