Prof Claudia Blindauer

Professor of Chemistry

C.Blindauer@warwick.ac.uk
+44 (0)2476 5 28264
Blindauer GroupLink opens in a new window

About Me

We are working in the field of inorganic biochemistry, focusing on metal-binding proteins from a variety of organisms including mammals, invertebrates, plants, and bacteria, with the aim to contribute to the understanding of mechanisms of zinc homeostasis.

Protein structure, dynamics of metal uptake and release, and biomolecular interactions are studied using recombinant protein expression and purification, multinuclear NMR, mass spectrometry, optical spectroscopies, multi-elemental analysis, chromatography, and most recently metalloproteomics.

My research group pages: Blindauer Group

Biography

June 2020: Professor of Chemistry

2012-2020: Reader in Chemistry

2008-2012: Associate Professor of Chemistry

2004-2008: Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Oct 2004-Sept. 2009: Royal Society Olga Kennard Research Fellow

1999-2004: Post-doctoral studies at the University of Edinburgh

1994-1999: PhD and Post-doctoral studies at the University of Basel, Switzerland

1994: Diplom Chemie, Albert-Ludwigs-Universitaet Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

Research interests

Current projects:

Plasma zinc speciation and its biomedical implications (in collaboration with Dr Alan Stewart, St Andrews, and Profs Marco Zezzi-Arruda and Carlos Ramos, Campinas, Brazil)

Zinc homeostasis and its regulation in marine cyanobacteria (in collaboration with Prof David Scanlan, Warwick SLS)

Plant metallothioneins and their impact on edible seeds (in collaboration with Dr Agnieszka Mierek-Adamska, University of Torun, Poland, and Prof Jose Gutierrez-Marcos, Warwick School of Life Sciences)

Publications

Juggling cadmium detoxification and zinc homeostasis: A division of labour between the two C. elegans metallothioneins. Yona J. Essig, Oksana I. Leszczyszyn, Norah Almutairi, Alexandra Harrison-Smith, Alix Blease, Sukaina Zeitoun-Ghandour, Sam M. Webb, Claudia A. Blindauer, Stephen R. Stürzenbaum, Chemosphere, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.141021

Structural and biochemical characterisation of Co²⁺-binding sites on serum albumins and their interplay with fatty acids. Dongmei Wu, Michal Gucwa, Mateusz P. Czub, David R. Cooper, Ivan G. Shabalin, Remi Fritzen, Swati Arya, Ulrich Schwarz-Linek, Claudia A. Blindauer, Wladek Minor and Alan J. Stewart, Chem. Sci.,2023, 14, 6244-6258. DOI: 10.1039/D3SC01723KLink opens in a new window

Bacterial catabolism of membrane phospholipids links marine biogeochemical cycles. Linda M. Westermann, Ian D.E.A. Lidbury, Chun-Yang Li, Ning Wang, Andrew R.J. Murphy, Maria del Mar Aguilo Ferretjans, Mussa Quareshy, Muralidharan Shanmugan, Alberto Torcello-Requena, Eleonora Silvano, Yu-Zhong Zhang, Claudia A. Blindauer, Yin Chen, David J. Scanlan, Science Advances, 2023, 9, eadf5122. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adf5122

A single sensor controls large variations in zinc quotas in a marine cyanobacterium. Alevtina Mikhaylina, Amira Z. Ksibe, Rachael C. Wilkinson, James P. C. Coverdale, Vilmos Fülöp, David J. Scanlan, Claudia A. Blindauer, Nature Chem. Biol., 2022, 18, 869-877. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-022-01051-1Link opens in a new window

Albumin-mediated extracellular zinc speciation drives cellular zinc uptake. James P. C. Coverdale, Hugo A. van den Berg, Siavash Khazaipoul, Hannah E. Bridgewater, Alan J. Stewart, Claudia A. Blindauer, Chem. Commun., 2022, 58, 7384-7387. DOI: 10.1039/D2CC02278HLink opens in a new window

Direct determination of free Zn concentration in samples of biological interest. Lucía López-Solís, Encarna Companys, Jaume Puy, Claudia A. Blindauer, Josep Galceran, Anal. Chim. Acta, 2022, 1229, 340195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2022.340195Link opens in a new window

Speciomics as a concept involving chemical speciation and omics. Marco A. Zezzi Arruda, Jemmyson R. de Jesus, Claudia A. Blindauer, Alan J. Stewart, J. Proteomics, 2022, 263, 104615. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jprot.2022.104615 Link opens in a new window

Teaching and Supervision

I am giving tutorials in 1st and 2nd year Inorganic Chemistry, teach a 3rd year module (CH3F8) in Advanced Coordination and Bio-Inorganic Chemistry, and a postgraduate taught module on Analytical Methods (CH921; Frontiers in Analytical Science).

I am supervising the following PDRAs:

Dr Sirilata Polepalli (A “speciomic” toolkit to investigate fatty acid-mediated changes in plasma zinc speciation and their physiological effects; funded by the BBSRC)

I am supervising the following PhD students:

Azzobir Emhemed (Metal-binding by cysteine-rich proteins and peptides)

We are always interested in considering applications from students excited by our work, and in principle are able and willing to support your application for studentships.