Collaboration between the Spiro and Tebo labs has revealed how a multi-copper oxidase protein complex allows bacteria to biomineralize manganese, as part of the global manganese cycle1. Brad Tebo is a distinguished environmental microbiologist who joined the UW Department of Chemistry as an affiliate professor allowing integration of the two labs for a higher level of coordination and productivity. A new collaboration with scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory aims to provide atomic details of the biomineralization process through cryo-EM and other advanced techniques. Tom Spiro is a UW professor of Chemistry and Brad Tebo was formerly a professor of environmental & biomolecular systems at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.
A fruitful collaboration
Butterfield, C. N.; Soldatova, A. V.; Lee, S.-W.; Spiro, T. G.; Tebo, B. M., Mn(II,III) oxidation and MnO₂ mineralization by an expressed bacterial multicopper oxidase. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2013, 110 (29), 11731-11735.DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1303677110