Chemistry

Amanda Reig
Amanda Reig

Amanda J. Reig

Professor Amanda Reig was born and raised in southern California.  She received her undergraduate degree in chemistry at Claremont McKenna College and then left the sunshine for the frozen tundra, earning her Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2006 under Prof. Thomas Brunold.  Dr. Reig then moved to Philadelphia where she was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania with Bill DeGrado before coming to Ursinus in 2009.  When not in Pfahler Hall, Dr. Reig enjoys hiking, camping, kayaking, cooking, playing Ultimate Frisbee, and spending time with her husband Mike and daughters Cora and Lena.

As a bioinorganic chemist, Prof. Reig’s research interests lie at the intersection of inorganic chemistry and biochemistry.  Along with her research students, she designs and characterizes small model proteins that mimic di-iron carboxylate enzymes to gain insight into how specific amino acid changes affect their chemical reactivities.  The research involves DNA mutagenesis, protein expression, production and purification, and spectroscopic characterization using a wide range of tools and techniques.  Her work has recently been funded by the National Institutes of Health. 

Prof. Reig is a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the Society of Biological Inorganic Chemistry (SBIC), and the Council for Undergraduate Research (CUR). 

Department

Chemistry

Degrees

  • B.A., Claremont McKenna College
  • Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison

Teaching

General Chemistry I (CHEM 105 and 105L)
General Chemistry II (CHEM 206 and 206L)
Effective Communication for Chemists (CHEM 201W)
Inorganic Chemistry (CHEM 322 and 322L)
Advanced Inorganic Chemistry (CHEM 435W)
Common Intellectual Experience 200 (CIE 200)

Research Interests

Bioinorganic Chemistry
De novo metalloprotein design

Recent Work

Paredes, A.*; Peduzzi, O. M.*; Reig, A. J.; Buettner, K. M. A de novo Binuclear Zinc Enzyme with DNA Cleavage Activity. Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00775-020-01845-5.

Paredes, A.; Loh, B.M.; Peduzzi, O.M.; Reig, A.J.; Buettner, K.M. “DNA Cleavage by a De Novo Designed Protein–Titanium Complex”, Inorganic Chemistry, 2020, 59(16), 11248-11252. DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.0c01707.

Reig, A. J.; Goddard, K.; Kohn, R.; Jaworski, L.; Lopatto, D. The FUTURE program: Engaging underserved populations through early research experiences. In Best Practices for Supporting and Expanding Undergraduate Research in Chemistry; Gourley, B., Jones, R., Eds.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018; Vol. 1275, pp 3-21.

Snyder, R. A.; Butch, S. E.*; Reig, A. J.; DeGrado, W. F.; Solomon, E. I. “Molecular level insight into the differential oxidase and oxygenase reactivities of de novo Due Ferri proteins,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 9302-9314.

Snyder, R. A.; Betzu, J.*; Butch, S. E.*; Reig, A. J.; DeGrado, W. F.; Solomon, E. I. “Systematic perturbations of binuclear non-heme iron sites: structure and dioxygen reactivity of de novo Due Ferri proteins,” Biochemistry, 2015, 54, 4637-4651.

Reig, A. J.; Pires, M. M.; Snyder, R. A.; Wu, Y.; Jo, H.; Kulp, D. W.; Butch, S. E.*; Calhoun, J. R.; Szyperski, T.; Solomon, E. I.; DeGrado, W. F. “Alteration of the Oxygen-Dependent Reactivity of De Novo Due Ferri Proteins,” Nature Chem. 2012, 4, 900-906.