 William H Fuchsman,
Professor, at Oberlin since 1970
Research Interests:
Chemical and spectroscopic properties of
the heme sites in animal and plant hemoglobins.
My principle research interest is in characterizing
the abilities of hemoglobin, myoglobin,
and soybean leghemoglobin (all proteins
with known physiological roles that involve
reversible O2 binding) to catalyze the
reactions of O2 with the biological reducing
agents NADH and NADPH to produce hydrogen
peroxide, as well as to catalyze the reaction
of hydrogen peroxide with NADH and NADPH
to produce water. At certain pH’s
the two reactions can be teased apart,
and at other pH’s they combine and
the hydrogen peroxide does not accumulate.
My experimental studies on the stoichiometry
of these reactions have run afoul of the
problem of trying to use spectrophotometric
methods to measure hydrogen peroxide concentrations
in the presence of NADH and NADPH. Therefore,
I am examining several different spectrophotometric
methods for assaying hydrogen peroxide
in order to establish which they are partly
or completely inhibited by NADH and NADPH,
and whether either of two strategies (removal
of NADH through oxidation by enzyme-catalyzed
reactions, or three-dimensional calibration
curves that take into account concentrations
of NADH and NADPH) will circumvent the
inhibition. The information gained will
allow more accurate determination of the
ratio of NADH (or NADPH) consumed to hydrogen
peroxide produced or consumed in these
reactions.
I also have scholarly interests in clarifying some misapprehensions I have encountered
in textbooks and the research literature: overly simplistic interpretations of
patterns of inhibition and cooperativity in enzyme kinetics, mechanistic over-interpretation
of saturation kinetics, and the meaning of reducing sugars. My clarification
efforts involve simple derivations and some experimental work.
Teaches:
Bioorganic Chem, General Chem, Origins
of Cancer Contact
Information:
PH: 440 775 8309
FAX: 440 775 6682
william.fuchsman@oberlin.edu
Science Center Office: N273 |
BA, Harvard
PhD, Johns
Hopkins
Representative
Works:
- W.H. Fuchsman, "Plant Hemoglobins",
Adv. Comp. Env. Physiol., 1992,
13, 23.
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