Amy Rosenzweig

Amy C. Rosenzweig is a professor of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences at Northwestern University. She was born in 1967 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her current research interests include structural biology and bioinorganic chemistry, metal uptake and transport, oxygen activation by metalloenzymes, and characterization of membrane protein. For her work, she has been recognized by a number of national and international awards, including the MacArthur "Genius" Award in 2003.

Education and training She received her BA in chemistry from Amherst College in 1988, and her Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994. At MIT, Rosenzweig worked under the supervision of Stephen J. Lippard where she pioneered the structural studies of the hydroxylase component of methane monooxygenase from methyloccous capsulatus.

Biological Methane Oxidation

Rosenzweig determined the molecular structures of Nature's main methane oxidation catalysts. Methane monooxygenases (MMO) are metalloenzymes found in the family of methanotrophic bacteria. These enzymes belong in the oxidoreductase class. They activate carbon-hydrogen bonds to selectively install oxygen onto their substrate. Two major species of MMO exist—soluble MMO (sMMO) and particulate MMO (pMMO). Despite mediating the same chemical reaction, these two enzymes' structure and mechanism are significantly different.

Since the early 1990s, Rosenzweig has studied MMO enzymes in various biological systems. Her team was the first to solve the crystal structure of particulate MMO in 1993. In the following years, she made major advances in determining the enzyme's bioactivity and chemical constitution, including vast contributions to research on the metal-coordinated active site.

The currently proposed mechanism for sMMO involves an Iron (II) coordination complex that is twice oxidized to form a metalloperoxide species. This species then undergoes reduction in the presence of substrate methane to afford the oxidized alkyl methanol. The crystal structure of the sMMO protein-protein complex has been determined.

Currently, there remains a mystery in the direct understanding of pMMO-substrate interaction, particularly in diagnosing a complex mechanism. According to Rosenzweig, this elusive problem remains "one of the major unsolved problems in bioinorganic chemistry."

Awards Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic or Bioorganic Chemistry Recipient American Chemical Society, 2021 Elected Member, National Academy of Sciences, 2017 Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2014 Royal Society of Chemistry Joseph Chatt Award, 2014 Ivano Bertini Award, 2014 Elected Fellow, American Association For the Advancement of Science, 2007 Honorary degree, Doctor of Science, Amherst College, 2005 MacArthur Fellow, 2003 David and Lucille Packard Fellow, 1999 Lieberman, R. L & Rosenzweig, A. C. "Crystal structure of a membrane-bound metalloenzyme that catalyses the biological oxidation of methane", Nature 2005, 434, 177-182. Lieberman, R. L., Kondapalli, K. C., Shrestha, D. B., Hakemian, A. S., Smith, S. M., Telser, J., Kuzelka, J., Gupta, R., Borovik, A. S., Lippard, S. J., Hoffman, B. M., Rosenzweig, A. C., & Stemmler, T. L. "Characterization of the particulate methane monooxygenase metal centers in multiple redox states by X-ray absorption spectroscopy". Inorg. Chem. 2006, 45, 8372-8381. Sazinsky, M. H., Mandal, A. L, Argüello, J. M., & Rosenzweig, A. C. "Structure of the ATP binding domain from the Archaeglobus fulgidus Cu1+-ATPase". J. Biol. Chem.. 2006, 281, 11161-11166. Yatsunyk, L. A. & Rosenzweig, A. C. "Copper binding and transfer by the N-terminus of the Wilson disease protein", J. Biol. Chem.. 2007, 282, 8622-8631. Rosenzweig, Lippard, "Structure and Biochemistry Methane Monooxygenase Enzyme Systems", Transition metals in microbial metabolism, Editors Günther Winkelmann, Carl J. Carrano, CRC Press, 1997, Rosenzweig, Feng, Lippard, "Studies of Methane Monooxygenase and Alkane Oxidation Model Complexes", Applications of enzyme biotechnology, Editors Jeffery W. Kelly, Thomas O. Baldwin, Springer, 1991,