Ragsdale, Stephen
Faculty
David Ballou Collegiate Professor of Biological Chemistry
Professor of Biological Chemistry
Biography
The students and postdoctors in my laboratory work at the interfaces between chemistry, biology, and physics and are studying processes that are important in the global carbon cycle, basic energy sciences, and in biomedical problems. We focus on three major areas: microbial metabolism of one-carbon compounds (CO, CO2, methane); the roles of metal ions in biology (including the mechanisms of nickel, B12, heme, and iron-sulfur enzymes); the regulation of metabolism and protein function by heme, CO, and thiol-disulfide redox switches. Techniques that we use in addressing research questions in these areas include transient and steady-state kinetics, spectroscopy, cell biology, genetics and molecular biology. The research is funded by NIH and DOE.