Dean's Faculty Research Award Lecture:
Dr. Steven O. Mansoorabadi

“Mechanistic and Biosynthetic Studies of Methanogenesis and Bioluminescence”
Dr. Steven O. Mansoorabadi is working on groundbreaking research in the area of biochemistry. His research interest is structural and functional genomics, cofactor and natural product biosynthesis, mechanistic enzymology.

He and his team were the first to elucidate the full pathway for the biosynthesis of the F430 cofactor, which was published in Science.

Coenzyme F430 is the nickel corphinoid prosthetic group of methyl-coenzyme M reductase. The work on this project was a first for the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry since it was completed exclusively at Auburn University.

He also has spoken at three prestigious Gordon Research Conferences (Metals in Biology, Molecular Basis of Microbial One-Carbon Metabolism and Metallocofactors).

Dr. Mansoorabadi was invited to contribute to a series of special issues from the journal Biochemistry, titled The Future of Biochemistry, by the American Chemical Society’s flagship journal in this field.

His work with the identification and characterization of the enzymes involved in dinoflagellate luciferin biosynthesis may lead to the development of specific pathway inhibitors. These inhibitors could have specific applications impacting the environment such as in coastal seawaters.

Dr. Mansoorabadi received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin.