Krebs Receives Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry

Carsten Krebs, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and of chemistry, has received the 2008 Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry in recognition of "outstanding work in enzyme chemistry where the presence of enzyme action is unequivocally demonstrated." Established in 1945, the award, which is administered by the Division of Biological Chemistry of the American Chemical Society, is given to stimulate fundamental research in enzyme chemistry by scientists under age forty. Krebs will be presented with a gold medal and an honorarium during a symposium in his honor at the American Chemical Society national meeting in Philadelphia in August 2008.

Krebs is a bioinorganic chemist whose research interests concern iron-containing enzymes; primarily, the activation of oxygen by non-heme enzymes. These enzymes play key roles in human biochemistry and are involved in diverse biological processes, including oxygen sensing, DNA repair, and gene regulation. Krebs has a joint research group with J. Martin Bollinger, Jr., Penn State associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and of chemistry. Together, they study the function of these enzymes using a combination of spectroscopic, kinetic, biochemical, and molecular-biological methods. The work recognized by the Pfizer Award has emerged from the joint efforts of the Bollinger/Krebs group. "This is not an individual accomplishment," said Krebs, "but rather that of a group which includes my exceptional colleagues Marty Bollinger, Squire Booker, and Mike Green."

Krebs joined the faculty at Penn State as an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in 2002 and was named assistant professor of chemistry in 2004. He earned his bachelor's degree and diploma degrees at Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany in 1991 and 1994, respectively. He earned his doctoral degree in inorganic chemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Radiation Chemistry in Mülheim, Germany in 1997. He also was a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University from 1997 to 2002. In 2005, Krebs received a Young Investigator Award from the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, and in 2006, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.

CONTACTS:

Carsten Krebs: (+1) 814-863-0484, cdk10@psu.edu

Barbara Kennedy (PIO): (+1) 814-863-4682, science@psu.edu