Biocatalysis

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITIONS:
Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Microbial Biochemistry and Max Planck Fellow of the MPI for Terrestrial Microbiology

EDUCATION:
• Diplom (Chemistry), Universität München, 1965
• Dr rer nat (Biochemistry), Universität München, 1968

CAREER:
• Akademischer Rat/Oberrat/Direktor, Universität Regensburg, 1969-1987
• Postdoc (Microbiology), University of California, Berkeley, 1970-1971
• Habilitation (Biochemistry), Universität Regensburg, 1975
• Professor of Microbiology, Philipps-Universität Marburg, 1987-2008

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:
• Dean of the Fachbereich Biologie, Philipps-Universität, Marburg, 1994-1995
• Speaker of the DFG-Schwerpunktprogramm 'Radicals in Enzymatic Catalysis' 1998-2006
• Speaker of the Graduiertenkolleg 'Proteinfunction at the Atomic Level' since 1999-2006
• Editor of 'Archives of Microbiology' and 'FEMS Microbiology Letters'

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
The absence of oxygen enables the use of radical enzymes in anaerobes. The radicals are generated either by complex cofactors such as coenzyme B12 or just by transient one-electron oxidation or reduction. In all cases the radical or the electron are recycled after each turnover. Such enzymes that stabilize radical intermediates open a new chapter of chemical biology. Recently enzymes were discovered that catalyse electron bifurcations, in which an exergonic reduction drives an endergonic reduction. This new reaction explains the long-time elusive energy metabolism of strict anaerobes, especially those of fermentative bacteria and cytochrome-less methanogens.