Welcome to the Howe Lab
We use the tools of physical organic chemistry to understand the detailed chemical mechanisms of enzymes. we study both how modern enzymes work and how Nature evolved these amazing catalysts.
These studies inform our enzyme engineering efforts.
Recent Updates
August 2021
Neil and Graeme's study on the mechanism of sulfite-catalyzed degradation of thiamin was published in the Journal of Organic Chemistry. Read here!
Mechanistic Enzymology
Enzymes catalyze difficult reactions with very high efficiency and selectivity.
How do they achieve this?
Evolution of catalysis
Many biologically necessary reactions are too slow to sustain life. How did enzymes cross the “catalytic void” to bring these processes into the realm of biology?
biocatalyst development
Directed evolution facilitates the production of efficient enzymes with unnatural activities. How does this process
compare to natural evolution?