Tom Makris
Professor
Molecular and Structural Biochemistry
Associate Faculty, Department of Chemistry
Chemical Biology
Polk Hall 351
919-515-3759 [email protected] WebsiteBio
Research Interests
My laboratory is interested in the discovery, characterization, and deployment of enzymes involved in pharmaceutical biosynthesis and bioenergy production. We are interested in developing tools to understand the structures and molecular mechanisms of these potent catalysts, and to leverage them for the synthesis of compounds with pharmacological or industrial importance. We utilize a large spectrum of techniques in our studies, ranging from genome mining and bioinformatics, molecular biology, crystallography, metabolic engineering, enzymology, transient kinetics, and biophysical spectroscopy.
Education
B.A. Biology University of Pennsylvania 1996
Ph.D. Biophysics and Computational Biology University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 2004
Post Doctoral Fellow University of Minnesota 2012
Area(s) of Expertise
Natural product biosynthesis, Non-ribosomal peptides, Structural, Bioinorganic and biophysical chemistry, Oxygen activation, Sustainable chemistry, Biofuels.
Publications
- Active-site tuning in PrnB: Resonance Raman evidence for substrate-assisted proton delivery and compound 0 reactivity , Journal of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines (2026)
- Enzymatic and Biophysical Analysis of two Highly Related Cytochrome P450 Reductases from Artemisia annua Reveals Differences in Their Ligand Interactions and Domain Motions , bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (2026)
- Heme oxygenase-like dimetal oxidases and oxygenases , Biochemical Society Transactions (2026)
- Heterobimetallic Fe/Mn Cofactor in the para ‐Aminobenzoate Synthase from Chlamydia trachomatis , Encyclopedia of Inorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry (2026)
- Temperature-dependent conformational dynamics govern regioselectivity in a CYP152 decarboxylase , Journal of Biological Chemistry (2026)
- Provision of a Redox Donor to Oxy-Ferrous PrnB Is Required for Pyrrolnitrin Synthesis , Biochemistry (2025)
- Regulation of ferryl reactivity by the cytochrome P450 decarboxylase OleT , Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry (2025)
- The Heme Oxygenase-Like Diiron Enzyme HrmI Reveals Altered Regulatory Mechanisms for Dioxygen Activation and Substrate N-Oxygenation , Journal of the American Chemical Society (2025)
- Assembly of a Heterobimetallic Fe/Mn Cofactor in the para-Aminobenzoate Synthase Chlamydia Protein Associating with Death Domains (CADD) Initiates Long-Range Radical Hole-Hopping , Biochemistry (2024)
- A Ferric-Superoxide Intermediate Initiates P450-Catalyzed Cyclic Dipeptide Dimerization , Journal of the American Chemical Society (2023)