The announcement was made last week that Professor Shelley Minteer will be the inaugural chair of the Dale and Susan Poulter Chair in Biological Chemistry. Minteer’s career has focused on using nature as an inspiration and solution to chemistry problems, and using biology as inspiration for biosensing, energy storage, energy conversion, and electrosynthesis.
The Minteer Group focuses on improving the abiotic-biotic interface between biocatalysts and electrode surfaces for enhanced bioelectrocatalysis. These biocatalysts include microbial cells, organelles (mitochondria and thylakoid membranes), redox proteins, and oxidoreductase enzymes. We design electrode structures for enhanced flux at electrode surfaces for biosensor and biofuel cell applications. The group utilizes a variety of electroanalytical techniques (linear polarization, cyclic voltammetry, differential pulse voltammetry, differential pulse amperometry), as well as a variety of biological and spectroscopic techniques to accomplish these goals. The group also has an active program in electrocatalysis for synthetic organic electrochemistry.
Professor Emiritus Dale Poulter and his wife Susan graciously endowed a Chair to the chemistry department last fall.