Office Address
6-155 Jackson Hall
321 Church Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
United States
Carrie Wilmot
Professor
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics
I determine at the atomic level how enzyme cofactors are synthesized and used. I use X-ray crystallography, spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and freeze-trapping to define these processes both in solution and in crystals of the enzymes.
Research interests
Would you like to see biochemistry in motion? To learn exactly how enzymes accelerate and control chemistry at the molecular level? My lab is interested in bacterial natural product biosynthesis from peptides or activated fatty acids. The natural products we currently study range from enzyme cofactors (pyrroloquinoline quinone, PQQ), β-lactone containing molecules of therapeutic value (e.g. lipstatin), and long-chain hydrocarbons.
The principle tool of my research is macromolecular X-ray crystallography in combination with spectroscopic techniques both in the crystal and solution, kinetics and mass spectrometry. My approach has been to freeze trap catalytic intermediates in the crystal, leading to "snapshots" along the reaction pathway. These are then assembled into a "movie of catalysis" at the molecular level.
Education and background
Ph.D., Birkbeck College, University of London, 1989
Cancer Research Institute Postdoctoral Fellow, The Scripps Research Institute, 1989
Research Fellow, University of Leeds, UK, 1992
EMBO Postdoctoral Fellow, Uppsala University, Sweden, 1997