Chemistry & Biochemistry

Carrano Group Page

Research Interests

I have published extensively in the field of bioinorganic chemistry and have authored over 130 research publications. In addition, I am the Editor in Chief for the International Journal BioMetals. My group generally contains a mix of undergraduates, graduate students, as well as postdocs. Indeed, I consider the training of graduate students and postdocs for careers in academic teaching/research institutions to be an important duty. My students have been most successful in this regard with many now holding such positions. I also bring my extensive international experience, having spent (in total) several years in Europe working with my many foreign collaborators, which presents possibilities for my students to do work overseas if they wish.

Currently, I have funding from both the NSF and the Dreyfus Foundation and therefore am actively recruiting students to work in my laboratory. My research interests are wide ranging. In bioinorganic chemistry, these extend from models for zinc, molybdenum and non-heme iron metalloprotein active sites, to design of metal complexes as artificial restriction enzymes for molecular biology to the mechanisms of iron transport and storage in microorganisms to the design and synthesis of new metallodrugs to the study of isotopic fractionation of iron in microorganisms. A recent area of interest is in marine science and the relationship between harmful algal blooms (the so called red tides) and iron and boron metabolism in phytoplankton and bacteria symbiotic with them. This is a collaborative project between us and workers at UC Santa Barbara and at the Scottish Association for Marine Science. Finally, I am interested in materials science and the rational synthesis of solid state materials using a building block approach.

These projects expose students to a wide range of modern research techniques including X-ray crystallography, NMR, computational chemistry, natural-products isolation, HPLC, ESI-MS, ICP-MS, molecular biology, electron microscopy, etc. I bring particular strengths in X-ray crystallography and am in charge of our new CCD based diffractometer. My former students, previous postdocs, and I have solved over 500 structures, and there will be ample opportunity for any interested students to learn this important technique. This goes for both the graduate students and the undergraduates. In fact, I had one undergraduate student who solved more than 20 structures and had 13 papers with me when he finished!

I hope this brief outline of my background and interests is helpful. I look forward to hearing from you if you are interested.

Selected Publications

1. "Key aspects of the iodine metabolism in brown algae: a brief critical review,"
   Kupper, Frithjof C.; Carrano, Carl J.,
   Metallomics 11, 756-764 (2019). (doi: 10.1039/C8MT00327K.)
2. "Distribution of dissolved iron and bacteria producing the photoactive siderophore, vibrioferrin, in waters off Southern California and Northern Baja,"
   Yarimizu, K.; Cruz-Lopez, R.; Garcia-Mendoza, E.; Edwards, M.; Carter, M. L.; Carrano, C. J.,
   BioMetals 32, 139-154 (2019). (doi: 10.1007/s10534-018-00163-3.)
3. "Emission of volatile halogenated compounds, speciation and localization of bromine and iodine in the brown algal genome model Ectocarpus siliculosus`,"
   Kupper, Frithjof C.; Miller, Eric P.; Andrews, Stephen J.; Hughes, Claire; Carpenter, Lucy J.; Meyer-Klaucke, Wolfram; Toyama, Chiaki); Muramatsu, Yasuyuki; Feiters, Martin C.; Carrano, Carl J.,
   J. Biol. Inorg. Chem. 23, 1119-1128 (2018). (doi: 10.1007/s00775-018-1539-7.)
4. "Some aspects of the iodine metabolism of the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera (phaeophyceae),"
   Tymon, Teresa M.; Miller, Eric P.; Gonzales, Jennifer L.;,
   J. Inorg. Biochem. 177, 82-88 (2017). (doi: 10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2017.09.003.)
5. "Iron uptake and storage in the HAB dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum,"
   Kyoko Yarimizu, Ricardo Cruz-Lopez, Hendrik Auerbach, Larissa Heimann, Volker Schuenemann, and Carl J. Carrano,
   BioMetals 30, 945-953 (2017). (doi:10.1007/s10534-017-0061-7.)
6. "Mossbauer Spectroscopic Characterization of Iron(III)-Polysaccharide Coordination Complexes: Photochemistry, Biological, and Photoresponsive Materials Implications,"
   Hendrik Auerbach, Giuseppe E. Giammanco, Volker Schuenemann, Alexis D. Ostrowski, and Carl J. Carrano,
   Inorganic chemistry 56, 11524-11531 (2017). (doi:10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b00686.)
7. "The potential role of kelp forests on iodine speciation in coastal seawater,"
   Jennifer Gonzales, Teresa Tymon, Frithjof C. Kupper, Matthew S. Edwards, and Carl J. Carrano,
   Plos one 12, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0180755 (2017). (Article-Number = {{e0180755.)
8. "A Family of Homo- and Heteroscorpionate Ligands: Applications to Bioinorganic Chemistry,"
   Carl J. Carrano,
   European journal of inorganic chemistry 2377-2390, doi:10.1002/ejic.201501476 (2016). (}.)
9. "Examination of oxygen atom transfer reactivity of heteroscorpionate dioxo-Mo(VI) complexes: Geometric isomers, solvent effect, intermediates, and catalytic oxidation,"
   Ba L. Tran, Amy Arita, Andrew L. Cooksy, and Carl J. Carrano,
   Inorganica chimica acta 447, 45-51 (2016). (doi:10.1016/j.ica.2016.03.035.)
10. "Surface binding, localization and storage of iron in the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera (vol 8, pg 403, 2016),"
    Eric P. Miller, Hendrik Auerbach, Volker Schuenemann, Teresa Tymon, and Carl J. Carrano,
    Metallomics 8, 551 (2016). (doi:10.1039/c6mt90018f.)
11. "Surface binding, localization and storage of iron in the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera,"
    Eric P. Miller, Hendrik Auerbach, Volker Schuenemann, Teresa Tymon, and Carl J. Carrano,
    Metallomics 8, 403-411 (2016). (doi:10.1039/c6mt00027d.)
12. "Boron uptake, localization, and speciation in marine brown algae,"
    Eric P. Miller, Youxian Wu, and Carl J. Carrano,
    Metallomics 8, 161-169 (2016). (doi:10.1039/c5mt00238a.)
13. "Molecular characterization of a homolog of the ferric-uptake regulator, Fur, from the marine bacterium Marinobacter algicola DG893,"
    Ryan A. Barker, Jerrell Tisnado, Lisa A. Lambert, Astrid Gaerdes, Mary W. Carrano, Paul N. Carrano, Christopher Gillian, and Carl J. Carrano,
    BioMetals 28, 197-206 (2015). (doi:10.1007/s10534-014-9815-7.)
14. "Surface-bound iron: a metal ion buffer in the marine brown alga Ectocarpus siliculosus?,"
    Eric P. Miller, Lars H. Boettger, Aruna J. Weerasinghe, Alvin L. Crumbliss, Berthold F. Matzanke, Wolfram Meyer-Klaucke, Frithjof C. Kuepper, and Carl J. Carrano,
    Journal of experimental botany 65, 585-594 (2014). (doi:10.1093/jxb/ert406.)
15. "Evaluation of photo-reactive siderophore producing bacteria before, during and after a bloom of the dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum,"
    Kyoko Yarimizu, Geraldine Polido, Astrid Gaerdes, Melissa L. Carter, Mary Hilbern, and Carl J. Carrano,
    Metallomics 6, 1156-1163 (2014). (doi:10.1039/c4mt00053f.)
16. "Borate as a Synergistic Anion for Marinobacter algicola Ferric Binding Protein, FbpA: A Role for Boron in Iron Transport in Marine Life,"
    Aruna J. Weerasinghe, Shady A. Amin, Ryan A. Barker, Thaer Othman, Ariel N. Romano, Claire J. Parker Siburt, Jerrell Tisnado, Lisa A. Lambert, Tom Huxford, Carl J. Carrano, and Alvin L. Crumbliss,
    Journal of the american chemical society 135, 14504-14507 (2013). (doi:10.1021/ja406609s.)
17. "Detection of photoactive siderophore biosynthetic genes in the marine environment,"
    Astrid Gaerdes, Christopher Triana, Shady A. Amin, David H. Green, Ariel Romano, Lyndsay Trimble, and Carl J. Carrano,
    BioMetals 26, 507-516 (2013). (doi:10.1007/s10534-013-9635-1.)
18. "Synthesis, Characterization, and Dynamic Behaviour of Triosmium Clusters Containing the Tridentate Ligand \{Ph2PCH2CH2\}2S (PSP),"
    Roger Persson, Marc J. Stchedroff, Roberto Gobetto, Carl J. Carrano, Michael G. Richmond, Magda Monari, and Ebbe Nordlander,
    European journal of inorganic chemistry , 2447-2459 (2013). (doi:10.1002/ejic.201201403.)
19. "Regulation of iron transport related genes by boron in the marine bacterium Marinobacter algicola DG893,"
    Ariel Romano, Lyndsay Trimble, Ashtian R. Hobusch, Kristine J. Schroeder, Shady A. Amin, Andrej D. Hartnett, Ryan A. Barker, Alvin L. Crumbliss, and Carl J. Carrano,
    Metallomics 5, 1025-1030 (2013). (doi:10.1039/c3mt00068k.)

Full Publications List