Faculty Research Interest

Chemistry, Biology and Molecular Biology of Iron Metabolism

Faculty Record

Dr. Aisen's research focuses on the role of iron-binding proteins in the biochemistry and regulation of iron metabolism. The principal subjects of ongoing investigation are the transferrings, a class of metal-binding proteins important in the transport of iron in physiological fluids and across cell membranes, and the purple acid phosphatases, a newly described group of proteins with binuclear iron centers and as yet unclear functions in cellular metabolism.

Questions currently under study include the role of oxygen-derived radicals in the toxicity of iron, interactions between transferrin and ferritin (the second major class of proteins of iron metabolism) in modulating cellular iron metabolism, the role of macro phases in iron metabolism, the functional consequences of the two-sided nature of transferrin, the role of specific membrane receptors in human and bacterial cells in cellular transport of iron, and the relations between ligand structure, oxidation state and functional activity of the iron centers in the purple acid phosphatases.

Instrumental resources and techniques for the research are wide ranging, encompassing electron spin resonance (ESR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR), electron spin echo (ESE) spectroscopy, cloning and site-directed mutagenesis, ultrastructural analysis, and ligand-receptor interactions.