Dr Andreea Iorgu

Andreea received her BEng in Chemical Engineering (2012) and MEng in Advanced Materials (2014) from Politehnica University of Bucharest. During her undergrad and master’s studies, Andreea worked on materials science projects, from characterising multiferroics and catalysts for water denitrification to designing novel biocompatible drug delivery systems using inorganic matrices. Her interest in scientific research headed her move to the UK, where she took an Early Stage Marie Curie Fellow position at Manchester Institute of Biotechnology in the group of Nigel Scrutton. This position introduced her to the biological sciences and the field of enzymology. Andreea worked on understanding the molecular basis of ene-reductases reactivity and selectivity towards nicotinamide coenzymes and was awarded a PhD in Biophysical Chemistry (2019) from The University of Manchester. Andreea continued her research as a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Sam Hay, where she focused on understanding the physical basis of enzyme catalysis. Andreea joined the Micklefield lab in June 2022, where she will contribute her expertise in mechanistic enzymology, structural biology and biophysics to the development new pathways to antibiotics to combat emerging resistance and to treat neglected diseases.

Publication list:

  1. Hedison TM, Iorgu AI, Calabrese D, Heyes D, Shanmugam M, Scrutton M (2022) Solution-state inter-copper distribution of redox partner-linked copper nitrite reductases: a pulsed electron-electron double resonance spectroscopy study, under review.
  2. Hardman SJO, Iorgu AI, Heyes DJ, Scrutton NS, Sazanovich IV & Hay S (2020) Ultrafast vibrational energy transfer between protein and cofactor in a flavoenzyme.The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 124, 5163-5168.
  3. Johannissen LO, Iorgu AI, Scrutton NS & Hay S (2020) What are the signatures of tunnelling in enzyme-catalysed reactions? (2020)Faraday Discussions 221, 367-378.
  4. Philips RS, Craig S, Kovalevsky A, Gerlits O, Weiss K, Iorgu AI, Heyes DJ, Hay S (2020) Pressure and temperature effects on the formation of aminoacrylate intermediates of tyrosine phenol-lyase demonstrate reaction dynamics ACS Catalysis 10, 1692-1703.
  5. Hedison TM, Shenoy RT, Iorgu AI, Heyes DJ, Fisher K, Wright G, Hay S, Eady RR, Antonyuk S, Hasnain SS & Scrutton NS (2019) Unexpected roles of a tether harbouring a tyrosine gatekeeper residue in modular nitrite reductase catalysis ACS Catalysis 9, 6087-6099.
  6. Iorgu AI, Hedison TM, Hay S & Scrutton NS (2019) Selectivity through discriminatory induced fit enables switching of NAD(P)H coenzyme specificity in Old Yellow Enzyme ene-reductasesThe FEBS Journal, 286, 3117-3128.
  7. Iorgu AI, Cliff MJ, Waltho JP, Scrutton NS & Hay S (2019) Isotopically labelled flavoenzymes and their uses in probing reaction mechanisms. Methods in Enzymology, 620, 145-166.
  8. Hedison TM, Heyes DJ, Shanmugam M, Iorgu AI & Scrutton NS (2019) Solvent-slaved protein motions accompany proton coupled electron transfer reactions catalysed by copper nitrite reductase. Chemical Communications, 55, 5863-5866.
  9. Iorgu AI, Baxter NJ, Cliff MJ, Levy C, Waltho JP, Hay S & Scrutton NS (2018) Non-equivalence of second sphere ‘non-catalytic’ residues in pentaerythritol tetranitrate reductase in relation to local dynamics linked to h-transfer in reactions with NADH and NADPH coenzymes ACS Catalysis 8, 11589-11599.
  10. Iorgu AI, Baxter NJ, Cliff MJ, Waltho JP, Hay S & Scrutton NS (2018) 1H, 15N and 13C backbone resonance assignments of pentaerythritol tetranitrate reductase from Enterobacter cloacae PB2 Biomolecular NMR Assignments 12, 79-83.
  11. Iorgu AI, Maxim F, Matei C, Ferreira L, Ferreira P, Cruz MM & Berger D (2015) Fast synthesis of rare-earth (Pr3+, Sm3+, Eu3+ and Gd3+) doped bismuth ferrite powders with enhanced magnetic properties Journal of Alloys and Compounds 629, 62-68.
  12. Mitran RA, Nastase S, Stan C, Iorgu AI, Matei C & Berger D (2014) doxycycline encapsulation studies into mesoporous SBA-15 silica type carriers and its in vitro release SGEM2014 Conference Proceedings 1, 53-60.
  13. Iorgu AI, Berger D, Alexandrescu L, Vasile BS & Matei C (2013) Synthesis of photoluminescent pure and doped cadmium sulfide by reverse microemulsion method Chalcogenide Letters 10, 525-531
  14. Bou-Orm N, Iorgu AI, Daniele S & Guilhaume N (2013) Modification of acid–base properties of TiO2 by Nb and Mg dopants: Influence on the activity of Pd–Cu/(Mg, Nb)–TiO2 catalysts for nitrate hydrogenation Applied Catalysis A: General 457, 414-420.