Spencer Anthony-Cahill , PhD

Professor of Biochemistry

Research Interests

Research in the Anthony-Cahill group is focused on the design and characterization of stable variants of circularly permuted human hemoglobin and sperm whale myoglobin. Engineered hemoglobin has applications in blood replacement therapy, and for radiosensitization in cancer treatment. We have generated several variants of these proteins and are determining their functional and structural properties. Students in my research group learn how to: clone genes, express mutant proteins in bacteria, purify the mutants, and characterize the stability of the purified proteins by spectroscopic methods (UV-Vis; circular dichroism). We study the structures of our mutants using x-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Students are also expected to present their results at weekly group meetings, as well as local, and national scientific meetings as appropriate.

Educational & Professional Experience

  • B.A. Whitman College, 1984.
  • Ph.D. University of California, Berkely, 1990.
  • NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, DuPont Central Research/DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Co., 1990-1992.
  • Research Scientist, Somatogen Inc., 1992-1997.
  • Visiting Research Scientist, Chemistry Department, Cambridge University (UK), 2005-2006.
  • Visiting Research Scientist, Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington, 2012-2013.

Recent Publications

Baldwin A. J., Anthony-Cahill, S. J., Knowles, T., Lippens, G., Christodoulou, J., Barker, P. D., Dobson, C. M., “Measurement of amyloid fibril length distributions by inclusion of rotational motion in solution-state NMR diffusion measurements”, Ang. Chemie Int’l Ed. Engl., 2008, 47, 3385-3387.

Asmundson. A., Taber, A.M., van der Walde, A., Lin, D., Olson, J.S.,  and Anthony-Cahill, S., "Co-expression of and circularly permuted -globins yields a hemoglobin with normal R state but modified T state properties", Biochemistry, 2009, 48, 5456-5465

Baldwin, A., Knowles, T., Tartaglia, G., Fitzpatrick, A., Devlin, G., Shammas, S., Waudby, C., Mossuto, M., Gras, S., Christodoulou, J., Anthony-Cahill, S., Barker, P., Vendruscolo, M., Dobson, C., “Metastability of Native Proteins and the Phenomenon of Amyloid Formation”; J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 2011, 133, 14160-14163.

Forman, C.J., Nickson, A., Anthony-Cahill, S., Baldwin, A.J., Kagwa, G., Feber, U., Sheikh, K., Jarvis, S., Barker, P., “Decorated Amyloid Fibril Morphology is Controlled by the Conformation and Position of the Displayed Protein.” ACS Nano, 2012, 6, 1332-1346;  doi:10.1021/nn204140a

Marquardt, D. A., Doyle, M. P., Davidson, J. S., Epp, J. K., Aitken, J., Lemon, D. D., Anthony-Cahill. S. J.  "Monodisperse 130 kDa and 260 kDa Recombinant Human Hemoglobin Polymers as Scaffolds for Protein Engineering of Hemoglobin-Based Oxygen Carriers." J. Functional Biomater., 2012, 3, 61-78; doi:10.3390/jfb3010061

 

Textbook Authorship

“Biochemistry” 4th ed., C. K. Mathews, K. E. van Holde, D. R. Appling, S. J. Anthony-Cahill, published February 2012.  ISBN: 978-0-13-800464-4

 “Biochemistry: Concepts and Connections” 1st  ed., D. R. Appling, S. J. Anthony-Cahill, C. K. Mathews, published January 2015. ISBN: 978-0-321-83976-3