Brian W. Matthews, a UO physicist in the Institute of Molecular Biology, was profiled in the June 26 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry as part of the journal’s long-running centennial series.
Two groundbreaking studies from the 1970s by the Australian-born Matthews were republished and noted for their contributions to the understanding of thermolysin, an enzyme used widely in research on protein structure. Matthews was first to publish the three-dimensional structure of the enzyme in 1972. Two years later he provided an important electron density map. His work shed remarkable light on its various interactions.
The two articles reprinted by JBC appeared in 1974 and 1977. Matthew’s conclusions, according to the journal, have held up in all subsequent studies of proteins taken from thermophiles, organisms that thrive in extremely hot environments such as hot springs at Yellowstone National Park or deep-sea hydrothermal vents.
Matthews joined the UO faculty after completing a postdoctoral fellowship, 1967-69, at the National Institutes of Health. He continues to study protein folding and stability. He also is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
