Associate Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry
305 Coulter Hall
662-915-2528 | saumenc@olemiss.edu
EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
B.Sc. (Hons.), University of Calcutta, 2004
M.Sc., IIT Madras, 2006
Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2011
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Illinois, 2011-2013
Postdoctoral Fellow, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2014-2016
Assistant Professor, University of Mississippi, 2016 – 2022
Associate Professor, University of Mississippi, 2022 – present
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Metalloprotein design, Enzymatic fuel cells, Bio-inspired C-H activation, Self-assembly, Foldamers for novel structures and functions, Synthesis and applications of nanoclusters for energy and catalysis, Biological electron transfer
RESEARCH SUMMARY
Nature carries out biochemical reactions with exquisite selectivity and efficiency often employing metal ions, metal cofactors and metal clusters organized in predefined architectures. Learning from nature the Chakraborty group aims to combine inorganic/materials (metals, organometallic cofactors, and metal clusters) and bionano components (proteins, peptides, and DNA) to design artificial entities with novel functionalities and architectures unprecedented in nature. Such hybrid systems will have promising solutions to many global challenges such as energy and healthcare. Within this broad scope we are trying to gain fundamental understanding and explore their applications in the following research areas: 1) bioinorganic chemistry-designing novel metalloenzymes, 2) designing novel metallopeptides for Alzheimer’s disease and 3) exploring the role of gold nanoclusters in energy and catalysis.
RESEARCH GROUP WEBSITE
https://olemiss.edu/research/chakrabortylab
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Chakraborty, S.; Babanova. S.; Rocha, R. C.; Desireddy, A.; Artyushkova, K.; Boncella, A. E.; Atanassov, P.; Martinez, J. S. “A Hybrid DNA-Templated Gold Nanocluster For Enhanced Enzymatic Reduction of Oxygen” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 11678–11687 (Highlighted in Science Daily, EurekaAlert, Los Alamos Daily Post, Santa Fe NewMexican, Nanotechnology News, Phys.Org, Clean Technica, Fuel Cell Works, Biofuels International)
Chakraborty, S.; Reed, J.; Ross, M.; Nilges, M. J.; Petrik, I. D.; Ghosh, S.; Hammes-Schiffer, S.; Sage, J. T.; Zhang, Y.; Schulz, C. E.; Lu, Y. “Spectroscopic and Computational Study of a Non-heme Iron-Nitrosyl Center in a Biosynthetic Model of Nitric Oxide Reductase” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 56, 2417-2421
Matsumura, H.; Hayashi, T.; Chakraborty, S.; Lu, Y.; Moenne-Loccoz, P. “The Production of Nitrous Oxide (N2O) by the Heme/Non-heme Diiron Center of Engineered Myoglobins (FeBMbs) Proceeds Through a trans Iron-Nitrosyl Dimer” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2014, 136, 2420-2431
Liu, J.; Chakraborty, S.; Hosseinzadeh, P.; Yu, Y.; Tian, S.; Petrik, I.; Bhagi, A. Lu, Y. “Metalloproteins Containing Cytochrome, Iron-sulfur or Copper Redox Centers” Chem. Rev., (special issue on bioinorganic enzymology II, Eds. Edward Solomon, and Richard Holm), 2014, 114, 4366-4469 (Equal contribution)
Chakraborty, S.; Iranzo O.; Zuiderweg, E. R. P.; Pecoraro V. L. “Experimental and Theoretical Evaluation of Multisite Cadmium(II) Exchange in Designed Three-Stranded Coiled-Coil Peptides” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2012, 134, 6191-6203
Chakraborty, S.; Kravitz, J. Y.; Thulstrup, P. W.; Hemmingsen, L.; DeGrado, W.F.; Pecoraro, V. L. “Design of a Three-Helix Bundle Capable of Binding Heavy Metals in a Triscysteine Environment” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 2049-2053. (Inside cover)
Iranzo, O.; Chakraborty, S.; Hemmingsen, L.; Pecoraro, V. L. “Controlling and Fine Tuning the Physical Properties of Two Identical Metal Coordination Sites in De Novo Designed Three Stranded Coiled Coil Peptides” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2011, 133, 239-251 (Equal contribution)
Chakraborty, S.; Touw, D. S.; Peacock, A. F. A.; Stuckey, J. A.; Pecoraro, V. L. “Structural Comparisons of Apo- and Three Stranded Coiled Coils Clarify Metal Binding Determinants in Thiolate Containing Designed Peptides” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2010, 132, 13240-13250