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Welcome to the Kerfeld Lab Website!
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A postdoctoral researcher position is available at the Kerfeld Lab East for work with Bacterial Microcompartments (BMCs) (link)
Lab News:
March 2, 2023
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The CCBC held its All-hands kickoff meeting in Berkeley, at the Molecular Foundry, February 22-24!
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February 13, 2023
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In January, the Kerfeld West hosted a job shadow day through Berkeley Lab Empowerment in STEM Day, a co-hosted event between K-12 Outreach and the Women’s Support and Empowerment Council. Two students from Oakland walked through the lab space at the Joint Genome Institute and then our lab in building 64 at Berkeley Lab. We loved demonstrating our techniques and passion for our field and answering the questions from the curious students.
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December 15, 2022
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Our Energy Frontier Research Center is announced in MSU News:
Developing bacterial microcompartment shells for diverse applications in catalysis is the subject of a new Energy Frontier Research Center, the Center for Catalysis in Biomimetic Confinement (CCBC); a collaboration among MSU, Berkeley National Lab and Argonne National Lab (link to announcement) |
September 30, 2022
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Join the Kerfeld Lab and other MSU Labs as part of a new DOE Energy Frontier Research Center, the Center for Catalysis in Biomimetic Confinement:
https://careers.msu.edu/en-us/job/512433/research-associatefixed-term |
September 20, 2022
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A paper from a collaboration about the spectroscopic properties of the Fremyella Phycobilisome just came out!
Excitation energy transfer and vibronic coherence in intact phycobilisomes Sourav Sil, Ryan W. Tilluck, Nila Mohan T. M., Chase H. Leslie, Justin B. Rose, Maria Agustina Domínguez-Martín, Wenjing Lou, Cheryl A. Kerfeld & Warren F. Beck (link) |
August 31, 2022
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Our Phycobilisome structures paper is finally out in Nature!
Structures of a phycobilisome in light-harvesting and photoprotected states María Agustina Domínguez-Martín, Paul V. Sauer, Henning Kirst, Markus Sutter, David Bína, Basil J. Greber, Eva Nogales, Tomáš Polívka & Cheryl A. Kerfeld The story in MSU News: (link) LBNL press release based on MSU story: (link) (link) (free download link) |
August 25, 2022
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A paper about X-ray footprinting from a collaboration just came out!
An automated liquid jet for fluorescence dosimetry and microsecond radiolytic labeling of proteins Matthew Rosi, Brandon Russell, Line G. Kristensen, Erik R. Farquhar, Rohit Jain, Donald Abel, Michael Sullivan, Shawn M. Costello, Maria Agustina Dominguez-Martin, Yan Chen, Susan Marqusee, Christopher J. Petzold, Cheryl A. Kerfeld, Daniel P. DePonte, Farid Farahmand, Sayan Gupta & Corie Y. Ralston (link) |
July 20, 2022
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Our review about applications of BMCs phytonanotechnology just became available!
The potential of bacterial microcompartment architectures for phytonanotechnology Raba DA, Kerfeld CA (link) |
May 20, 2022
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A paper from a collaboration with KT Scott about alpha carboxysome loci just came out!
Atypical Carboxysome Loci: JEEPs or Junk? USF Genomics Class 2020, USF Genomics Class 2021, Sutter M, Kerfeld CA, Scott KM (link) |
April 28, 2022
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The paper about our new webtool, BMC Caller, is out!
BMC Caller: a webtool to identify and analyze bacterial microcompartment types in sequence data Sutter M, Kerfeld CA (link) (pdf link) BMC Caller website: https://bmc-caller.prl.msu.edu |
April 27, 2022
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Our PNAS BMC engineering paper got featured in MSU today!
(link) |
February 22, 2022
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Our paper about engineering a bacterial microcompartment with a designed function is out in PNAS!
Toward a glycyl radical enzyme containing synthetic bacterial microcompartment to produce pyruvate from formate and acetate Henning Kirst, Bryan H. Ferlez, Steffen N. Lindner, Charles A. R. Cotton, Arren Bar-Even, and Cheryl A. Kerfeld (link to article) |
January 21, 2022
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Our most recent spectroscopy paper with the Polivka group made the cover of this month's ChemPhotoChem issue!
(link to article) (link to cover) |
October 7, 2021
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A spectroscopy paper about OCP/HCP from a collaboration with the Polívka group just came out!
UV Excitation of Carotenoid Binding Proteins OCP and HCP: Excited‐state Dynamics and Product Formation Khan T, Dominguez-Martin MA, Šímová I, Fuciman M, Kerfeld CA, and Polívka T (link) |
September 28, 2021
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Our new postdoc Matt Dwyer was highlighted in the newsletter of the American Society of Plant Biologists for one of his PhD papers!
(link) |
September 17, 2021
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Our recent book chapter about bacterial microcompartment shells is out in Encyclopedia of Biological Chemistry!
The Shells of Bacterial Microcompartments John F.C. Steele and Cheryl A. Kerfeld (link) |
September 14, 2021
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Our paper about a more efficient, engineered isoprene synthase is available!
Validation of an insertion-engineered isoprene synthase as a strategy to functionalize terpene synthases C. Raul Gonzalez-Esquer, Bryan Ferlez, Sarathi M. Weraduwage, Henning Kirst, Alexandra T. Lantz, Aiko Turmo, Thomas D. Sharkey and Cheryl A. Kerfeld (link) |
September 13, 2021
Matt Dwyer joined the East Lab as a postdoctoral research associate!
September 1, 2021
Liwei Hui joined the West Lab and Roberto Espinoza the East lab as postdoctoral researchers!
July 1, 2021
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Our review about bacterial microcompartment associated regulators and transporters is out!
Clues to the function of bacterial microcompartments from ancillary genes Henning Kirst, Cheryl A. Kerfeld (link) |
June 21, 2021
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Our Bacterial Microcompartment survey is out in Nature Communications!
A catalog of the diversity and ubiquity of bacterial microcompartments Markus Sutter, Matthew R. Melnicki, Frederik Schulz, Tanja Woyke & Cheryl A. Kerfeld (link) |
June 5, 2021
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Our review comparing shell proteins of Carboxysomes and Metabolosomes is out!
Evolutionary relationships among shell proteins of carboxysomes and metabolosomes Matthew R. Melnicki, Markus Sutter, Cheryl A. Kerfeld (link) (free download until July 25th) |
May 8, 2021
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Our review about methods of characterizing carotenoid-protein interactions is out!
Integrated Structural Studies for Elucidating Carotenoid-Protein Interactions Corie Y Ralston, Cheryl A Kerfeld (link) |
March 13, 2021
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Our recent review of bacterial microcompartments in the human microbiome is out!
A survey of bacterial microcompartment distribution in the human microbiome Kunica Asija, Markus Sutter, Cheryl A Kerfeld (link) |
December, 18, 2020
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Check out the website for the Proteocell NSF project that Cheryl and Eric are involved in!
(link) |
September 30, 2020
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Congratulations to Bryan for winning the MSU Anton Lang Memorial Research Excellence Award!
The Anton Lang Memorial Fund was established in honor of the founding director of the Plant Research Laboratory, who passed away in 1996. The award recognizes a graduate student and a postdoctoral research associate who exemplify the research excellence, ideas, dedication, and vision of Anton Lang. (link to story from MSU) |
September 23, 2020
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Our new research article characterizing the C-terminal domain homolog of OCP is out!
Structural analysis of a new carotenoid-binding protein: the C-terminal domain homolog of the OCP Maria Agustina Dominguez-Martin, Michal Hammel, Sayan Gupta, Sigal Lechno-Yossef, Markus Sutter, Daniel J. Rosenberg, Yan Chen, Christopher J. Petzold, Corie Y. Ralston, Tomáš Polívka & Cheryl A. Kerfeld (free download link) |
September 8, 2020
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Non-scientist outreach:
Henning gave a talk about "Improving Photosynthesis" and BMCs to a Rotary Club audience. |
September 8, 2020
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Our 2014 article about identifying new types of BMCs "A Taxonomy of Bacterial Microcompartment Loci Constructed by a Novel Scoring Method" is in the 10% most cited of PLOS Computational Biology!
(link to paper) |
September 1, 2020
June 27, 2020
A paper from a collaboration with the Scott group about inorganic carbon transporters just came out!
Ubiquity and Functional Uniformity in CO2 Concentrating Mechanisms in Multiple Phyla of Bacteria Is Suggested by a Diversity and Prevalence of Genes Encoding Candidate Dissolved Inorganic Carbon Transporters
Scott KM, Harmer TL, Gemmell BJ, Kramer AM, Sutter M, Kerfeld CA, Barber KS, Bari S, Boling JW, Campbell CP, Gallard-Gongora JF, Jackson JK, Lobos A, Mounger JM, Radulovic PW, Sanson JM, Schmid S, Takieddine C, Warlick KF, Whittaker R.
(link)
Ubiquity and Functional Uniformity in CO2 Concentrating Mechanisms in Multiple Phyla of Bacteria Is Suggested by a Diversity and Prevalence of Genes Encoding Candidate Dissolved Inorganic Carbon Transporters
Scott KM, Harmer TL, Gemmell BJ, Kramer AM, Sutter M, Kerfeld CA, Barber KS, Bari S, Boling JW, Campbell CP, Gallard-Gongora JF, Jackson JK, Lobos A, Mounger JM, Radulovic PW, Sanson JM, Schmid S, Takieddine C, Warlick KF, Whittaker R.
(link)
June 15, 2020
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Our review article about bacterial microcompartments is out!
Engineered Bacterial Microcompartments: Apps for Programming Metabolism Cheryl A Kerfeld, Markus Sutter (free link for 50 days) (link) |
March 23, 2020
Our paper with the Montgomery Group at MSU about the small subunit domain of RuBisCO is out:
Binding Options for the Small Subunit-Like Domain of Cyanobacteria to Rubisco
Rohnke BA, Kerfeld CA, Montgomery BL
(link)
Binding Options for the Small Subunit-Like Domain of Cyanobacteria to Rubisco
Rohnke BA, Kerfeld CA, Montgomery BL
(link)
February 24, 2020
Dan Raba joined the East Lab as a postdoctoral researcher!
Dan Raba joined the East Lab as a postdoctoral researcher!
January 16, 2020
December 23, 2019
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Our paper describing the electrochemical properties of an engineered microcompartment shell protein is out!
Redox Characterization of Electrode-Immobilized Bacterial Microcompartment Shell Proteins Engineered To Bind Metal Centers Jefferson S. Plegaria, Matthew D. Yates, Sarah M. Glaven, Cheryl A. Kerfeld (link) link to MSU Story: Modifying a bacterial microcompartment shell proteins to bind metal ions for electron transfer with electrodes |
December 2, 2019
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Several postdoctoral positions are available both at the LBNL site in Berkeley as well as the MSU site in East Lansing!
See links above |
November 26, 2019
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Cheryl was named a AAAS fellow! This is a recognition for her “distinguished contributions to the field of structure of microbial photosynthetic proteins and compartments, particularly the elucidation of design criteria of bacterial microcompartments.”
(link to LBNL story) (link to MSU story) |
November 14, 2019
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Our paper analyzing OCP1/2 in collaboration with the Polivka and Ralston groups is out:
Comparative ultrafast spectroscopy and structural analysis of OCP1 and OCP2 from Tolypothrix Valentyna Kuznetsova, Maria Agustina Dominguez-Martin, Han Bao, Sayan Gupta, Markus Sutter, Miroslav Kloz, Mateusz Rebarz, Martin Přeček, Yan Chen, Christopher J. Petzold, Corie Y. Ralston, Cheryl A. Kerfeld, Tomáš Polívka (link) (free download link for 50 days) |
October 11, 2019
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Our review about BMCs and their applications is out!
Bacterial microcompartments: catalysis-enhancing metabolic modules for next generation metabolic and biomedical engineering Henning Kirst & Cheryl A. Kerfeld (link) |
September 16, 2019
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Our paper about a cyanobacterial RuBisCO-activase-like protein is out!
Cyanobacterial Carboxysomes Contain a Unique Rubisco-Activase-Like protein Sigal Lechno‐Yossef, Brandon A Rohnke, Ana CO Belza, Matthew R Melnicki, Beronda L Montgomery, Cheryl A Kerfeld (link) Read more on the PRL website. |
September 12, 2019
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The paper describing the cryo-EM structure of a synthetic carboxysome shell is out!
Structure of a synthetic beta-carboxysome shell Markus Sutter, Thomas G Laughlin, Nancy B Sloan, Daniel Serwas, Karen M Davies, Cheryl A Kerfeld (link) |
August 15, 2019
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East meets West at the Kerfeld Lab summer retreat at the Arrowood resort and conference center in Alexandria, Minnesota!
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August 1, 2019
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Congratulations to Bryan for winning an outstanding poster award at the 2019 Enzymes, Coenzymes and Metabolic Pathways Gordon Research Conference!
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July 24, 2019
Kunica Asija joined the West lab and Lior Doron joined the lab at MSU as a postdoctoral fellow!
July 1, 2019
Wenjing Lou joined the East lab as a postdoctoral fellow!
June 10, 2019
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Check out the animation below that explains our bacterial microcompartment shell engineering:
Video made by Igor Houwat at MSU |
June 4, 2019
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Congratulations to Aiko who just passed her qualifying exam!
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May 9, 2019
May 7, 2019
April 15, 2019
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Our paper about the X-ray footprinting of OCP and FRP is out!
X-ray radiolytic labeling reveals the molecular basis of orange carotenoid protein photoprotection and its interactions with fluorescence recovery protein Gupta S, Sutter M, Remesh SG, Dominguez-Martin MA, Bao H, Feng XA, Chan LG, Petzold CJ, Kerfeld CA, Ralston CY (link) |
April 8, 2019
Anna Stapelfeldt joined the Kerfeld Lab West as a Research Associate!
March 25, 2019
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The structure of our recent synthetic BMC is out as "just accepted"!
Structural Characterization of a Synthetic Tandem-domain Bacterial Microcompartment Shell Protein Capable of Forming Icosahedral Shell Assemblies Markus Sutter*, Sean McGuire*, Bryan Ferlez*, and Cheryl A. Kerfeld (link) (free download link) |
March 20, 2019
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Our review about applications of the orange carotenoid protein in synthetic biology is out!
Engineering the orange carotenoid protein for applications in synthetic biology Maria Agustina Dominguez-Martin, Cheryl A. Kerfeld (link) (free download link until May 9) |
March 18, 2019
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Our paper about characterizing the HCP2 of Fremyella is out!
Structural and spectroscopic characterization of HCP2 Maria Agustina Dominguez-Martin, Tomáš Polívka, Markus Sutter, Bryan Ferlez, Sigal Lechno-Yossef, Beronda L. Montgomery, Cheryl A. Kerfeld (link) |
March 4, 2019
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Our paper describing the high resolution Cryo-EM structure of the Haliangium ochraceum BMC shell is out!
The Plasticity of Molecular Interactions Governs Bacterial Microcompartment Shell Assembly Basil J. Greber*, Markus Sutter*, Cheryl A. Kerfeld (link) |
January 9, 2019
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Our review about GRM microcompartments is out!
Glycyl Radical Enzyme-Associated Microcompartments: Redox-Replete Bacterial Organelles Bryan Ferlez, Markus Sutter, Cheryl A. Kerfeld (link) |
January 4, 2019
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Our image was chosen for the cover of this month's Plant Physiology!
(link) |
November 6, 2018
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Our work about the unique CcmK3/CcmK4 proteins in carboxysomes is out!
Heterohexamers Formed by CcmK3 and CcmK4 Increase the Complexity of Beta Carboxysome Shells Manuel Sommer, Markus Sutter, Sayan Gupta, Henning Kirst, Aiko Turmo, Sigal Lechno-Yossef, Rodney L Burton, Christine Saechao, Nancy B Sloan, Xiaolin Cheng, Leanne-Jade G Chan, Christopher J Petzold, Miguel Fuentes-Cabrera, Corie Y Ralston, Cheryl A Kerfeld (link) |
October 23, 2018
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We published our method of assembling bacterial microcompartments completely in vitro!
In vitro assembly of diverse bacterial microcompartment shell architectures Andrew Hagen, Jefferson S. Plegaria, Nancy Sloan, Bryan Ferlez, Clément Aussignargues, Rodney Burton, and Cheryl A. Kerfeld (link) Check out the MSU-PRL article about this paper here! |