Matthew Neibergall

Job Titles

  • Assistant Professor of Chemistry
    Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences
    Biochemistry College of Arts and Sciences

Highlight

Neibergall studies the mechanisms by which oxygenase enzymes activate O2 for insertion into organic compounds during cellular metabolism. The formation of DNA nucleotides from their RNA nucleotide precursors, the conversion of the amino acid phenylalanine to tyrosine and then to the neurotransmitter dopamine, and the production of prostaglandins are biological pathways that require oxygenase enzymes. Currently, his research group is studying nitrobenzene-1,2-dioxygenase, a Rieske non-heme iron oxygenase isolated from a soil bacterium that degrades the priority pollutant nitrobenzene. They apply a broad array of techniques in order to obtain mechanistic information, such as recombinant DNA technology, protein expression and purification, enzyme kinetics, chromatography, as well as several spectroscopic techniques.

Started at Bethel

2007

Education

  • Bethel College - B.A., 1998
  • Bethel College - B.S., 1998
  • University of Minnesota - Ph.D., 2006

Research interests

Neibergall studies the mechanisms by which oxygenase enzymes activate O2 for insertion into organic compounds during cellular metabolism. The formation of DNA nucleotides from their RNA nucleotide precursors, the conversion of the amino acid phenylalanine to tyrosine and then to the neurotransmitter dopamine, and the production of prostaglandins are biological pathways that require oxygenase enzymes. Currently, his research group is studying nitrobenzene-1,2-dioxygenase, a Rieske non-heme iron oxygenase isolated from a soil bacterium that degrades the priority pollutant nitrobenzene. They apply a broad array of techniques in order to obtain mechanistic information, such as recombinant DNA technology, protein expression and purification, enzyme kinetics, chromatography, as well as several spectroscopic techniques.