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Myles Cheesman graduated from University of Cambridge with a B.A. in Natural Sciences in 1983. He then moved to UEA to join the group of Professor Andrew Thomson and studied for a PhD on the spectroscopic properties of nickel ions and iron-sulphur clusters in bacterial proteins. Post-doctoral research on heme-copper oxidases was followed by a period as Senior Research Officer responsible for the Magnetic Circular Dichroism (MCD) and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) laboratories of the Centre for Metalloprotein Spectroscopy and Biology (CMSB) and then appointment to faculty in 2004.

Myles’ research centres on the use of of MCD and EPR spectroscopy to study proteins containing transition metal ions:

One third of all proteins would not function were it not for the presence of one or more metal cofactors. Enzymes which catalyse the redox transformation of small inorganic substrates, such as O2, NO, NO2- and S2O32-, invariably contain transition metal ions, both as electron transfer centres and at the active site itself. Thus the bacterial enzymes which drive the global nitrogen and sulphur cycles and the enzymes of the O2-terminated respiratory chains of many organisms are almost all transition metalloproteins.

The techniques of MCD and EPR detect species which possess colour and paramagnetism and are therefore eminently suited to the study of these protein-bound inorganic complexes, providing information on metal identity, redox state, nature of ligands and interactions with other adjacent metal sites. These methods are currently used to study a wide variety of metalloproteins with a current emphasis on multiheme enzymes. Much of this work necessitates active collaboration with other research groups within the Henry Wellcome Laboratories for Biological Chemistry and with members of the School of Biological Sciences through the Centre for Metalloprotein Spectroscopy and Biology (CMSB).

Selected Publications

R.S. Pitcher, M.R. Cheesman and N.J.Watmough.
Molecular and spectroscopic analysis of the cytochrome cbb3 oxidase from Pseudomonas stutzeri
J. Biol. Chem., 2002, 277, 31474 – 31483.
DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M204103200

R.S. Zajicek, M.R. Cheesman, E.H.J. Gordon and S.J. Ferguson.
Y25S Variant of Paracoccus pantotrophus Cytochrome cd₁ Provides Insight into Anion Binding by d₁ Heme and a Rare Example of a Critical Difference between Solution of Crystal Structures
J. Biol Chem., 2005, 280, 26073-26079.
DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M501890200

S.J. Field, L. Prior, M.D. Roldan, M.R. Cheesman, A.J. Thomson, S. Spiro, J.N. Butt, N.J. Watmough and D.J. Richardson.
Spectral properties of bacterial nitric-oxide reductase - Resolution of pH-dependent forms of the active site heme b3
J. Biol. Chem., 2002, 277, 20146 – 20150.
DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M112202200

M.R. Cheesman, P.J. Little, and B.C. Berks.
Novel heme ligation in a c-type cytochrome involved in thiosulfate oxidation: EPR and MCD of SoxAX from Rhodovulum sulfidophilum
Biochemistry, 2001, 40, 10562 – 10569.
DOI: 10.1021/bi0100081

Research Funding

EPSRC
Molecular nanomagnets: Synthetic and spectroscopic exploration of the limits of information storage
Thomson, AJ and Cheesman, MR
01-Oct-03 - 30-Jun-09
£327,877

BBSRC
The molecular enzymology of nitric oxide reductase: cellular saviour and global bandit
Watmough, NJ, Butt, JN, Cheesman, MR and Richardson, DJ
01-Sep-05 - 31-Aug-08
£221,432

BBSRC
Mottle-MCD Spectroscopy with in situ electrochemical control
Butt, JN, Cheesman, MR and Durrant, J (Imperial)
01-Aug-05 - 31-Jul-08
£146,297

BBSRC
Signal perception by the global transcription factor FNR
Thomson, AJ, Cheesman, MR and LeBrun, NE
15-Nov-04 - 14-Nov-07
£251,717

BBSRC
Relaxation of electron spins by anisotropic paramagnetic metal centres; a novel probe of protein structure and dynamics
Thomson, AJ and Cheesman, MR
01-Aug-04 - 30-Sep-07
£227,361

BBSRC
The cytochrome c nitrate reductase: an integrated study of nitrite and nitric oxide reduction by a deca-heme enzyme complex
Richardson, DJ, Butt, JN, Cheesman, MR, Hemmings, AM and Cole, J (Birmingham)
20-Oct-03 - 19-Jul-07
£354,500

Wellcome Trust
JIF: Biophysical Chemistry at UEA
Thomson, AJ, Cheesman, MR, Le Brun, NE, Kleanthous, CK (York), Richardson, DJ, Watmough, NJ, Moore, GR, Butt, JN, Hemmings, AM and Hayward, S
01-Jun-01 - 30-Jun-06
£3,457,321

BBSRC
Mapping of membrane proteins by multi-frequency time domain EPR
Thomson, AJ and Cheesman, MR
01-Oct-02 - 16-Jun-06
£181,016

BBSRC
Structure-function studies of a novel haemoprotein involved in bacterial oxidation of thiosulfate & sulfide
Hemmings, AM, Butt, JN, Cheesman, MR and Berks, B (Oxford)
01-Jan-02 - 30-Apr-05
£42,300

BBSRC
Structure and function of nitric oxide reducatase: An ancient oxidase
Thomson, A J, Cheesman, M R, Watmough, N, Richardson, D J & Spiro S
15-Nov-98 - 25-Nov-02
£207,624

Postdoc

• Sophie Marritt
• Jessica van Wonderen
• Gaye White
• Justin Bradley
• Sarah Field

PhD

• Susan Bennett
• John Holmes
• Kate Haynes
• Gemma Kemp
• Louise Ottignon