Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Research in the Pierce group focuses on the interface of inorganic chemistry and biology. Approximately one third of all proteins contain a catalytically or structurally essential metal cofactor (V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mo, and W). In most instances the high selectivity, regiospecificity, and chemical reactivity associated with a metalloenzyme is regulated by outer sphere protein-ligand, protein-protein, and even protein-DNA interactions. Thus, central to our understanding of biological chemistry is how these interactions modulate the physical properties of the metal within the enzymatic active site.

Joshua A. Crawford, Wei Li, Brad S. Pierce “Single turnover of substrate-bound ferric cysteine dioxygenase (CDO) with superoxide anion: enzymatic reactivation, product formation, and a transient intermediate” Biochemistry, 2011, 50 (47), pp 10241–10253.

David M. Granum, Paul J. Riedel, Joshua A. Crawford, Thomas K. Mahle, Chelsea M. Wyss, Anastasia K. Begej, Navamoney Arulsamy, Brad S. Pierce, and Mark P. Mehn "Synthesis and Characterization of Sterically Encumbered ß-Ketoiminate Complexes of Iron(II) and Zinc(II)" Dalton Trans., 2011, 40 (22), 5881 - 589

Shane Z Sullivan; Alexandru S Biris; Sharon Pulla; Anna M Brezden; Samuel L Collom; Ross M Woods; Pradip Munshi; Laura Schnackenberg; Brad S. Pierce; Ganesh K Kannarpady; Anindya Ghosh "Fe Complex of a Tetraamido Macrocyclic Ligand: Spectroscopic Characterization and Catalytic Oxidation Studies" Chem Phys Lett 2010 (498) 359-365

Jessica D. Gardner; Brad S. Pierce, Brian G. Fox, and Thomas C. Brunold "Spectroscopic and Computational Characterization of Substrate-Bound Mouse Cysteine Dioxygenase: Nature of the Ferrous and Ferric Cysteine Adducts and Mechanistic Implications" Biochemistry 2010 (49) 6033-6041

Michelle Oppenheimer, Brad S. Pierce, Joshua A. Crawford, Keith Ray, Richard R. Helm, and Pablo Sobrado "Recombinant expression, purification, and characterization of ThmD, the oxidoreductase component of tetrahydrofuran monooxygenase" Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 2010 492(2); 423-31

Lucas J. Bailey, Nathaniel L. Elsen, Brad S. Pierce, Brian G. Fox "Soluble Expression and Purification of the Oxidoreductase Component of Toluene-4-Monooxygenase" Protein Expr Purif. 2008 Jan; 57 (1): 9-16

Brad S. Pierce, Jessica D. Gardner, Lucas J. Bailey, Thomas C. Brunold, and Brian G. Fox "Characterization of the Nitrosyl Adduct of Substrate-Bound Mouse Cysteine Dioxygenase by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance: Electronic Structure of the Active Site and Mechanistic Implications" Biochemistry 2007 46(29) 8569-78

George N. Phillips, Jr., Brian G. Fox, John L. Markley, Euiyoung Bae, Eduard Bitto, Craig A . Bingman, Ronn Frederick, Jason McCoy, Brad Pierce, Jikui Song, Brian Volkman "Structures off Proteins of Biomedical Interest from the Center for Eukaryotic Structural Genomics" J. Struct Funct Genomics. 2007 Sep;8(2-3):73-84

Brad S. Pierce and Michael P. Hendrich; "Local and Global Effects of Metal Binding Within the small Subunit of Ribonucleotide Reductase" J Am Chem Soc. 2005 127 (10); 3613-3623

Brad S. Pierce, Timothy E. Elgren, and Michael P. Hendrich; "Mechanistic Implications for the Formation of the Diiron Cluster in Ribonucleotide Reductase Provided by Quantitative EPR Spectroscopy" J Am Chem Soc. 2003, 125 (29), 8748-8759  (Recommended by Amy Rosenzweig: Faculty of 1000 Biology, 24 July 2003)  http://f1000biology.com/article/id/1009123/evaluation

David M. Arciero, Brad S. Pierce, Michael P. Hendrich, and Alan B. Hooper; "Nitrosocyanin, a Red Cupredoxin-like Protein from Nitrosomonas europaea" Biochemistry 2002; 41 (6); 1703-1709 (Accelerated Publication)

Dongwhan, Lee, Brad Pierce, Carsten Krebs, Michael P. Hendrich, Boi Hanh Huynh, and Stephan J. Lippard; "Functional Mimic of Dioxygen-Activating Centers in Non-Heme Diiron Enzymes: Mechanistic Implication of Paramagnetic Intermediates in the Reactions between Diiron(II) Complexes and Dioxygen" J Am Chem Soc. 2002, 124 (15) 3993-4007

Dongwhan Lee, Jennifer L. DuBois, Brad Pierce, Britt Hedman, Keith O. Hodgson, Michael P. Hendrich, and Stephan J. Lippard; "Structural and Spectroscopic Studies of Valence-Delocalized Diiron(II,III) Complexes Supported by Carboxylate-Only Bridging Ligands" Inorganic Chemistry, 2002, 41 (12), 3172-3182

B.S., Chemistry, California State University, Chico (1996)

Ph.D., Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University (2003)
(Graduate advisor Michael P. Hendrich)

NIH NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2004-2008)
(Laboratory of Brian Fox, Department of Biochemistry)

Brad Pierce joined the faculty of the department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Arlington in 2008. Research in the Pierce lab utilizes a variety of biophysical and spectroscopic techniques (CD, UV, and EPR) to investigate the aspects of inorganic chemistry relevant to biologic chemistry and enzymology.

Prior to his appointment at The University of Texas at Arlington, Dr. Pierce was an NIH postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Professor Brian Fox (University of Wisconsin, Department of Biochemistry). Within the Fox lab, his work focused on the spectroscopic and pre-steady state kinetic investigation of the soluble stearoyl-ACP delta-9-desaturase enzyme. Dr. Pierce received his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2003 from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. Under the mentorship of Professor Michael Hendrich, his work focused on the use of dual-mode and multifrequency electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy to characterize transition metal biomimetic model complexes and metalloproteins.

Brad Pierce received his B.S in Chemistry with a minor in Biology from California State University at Chico.  In between undergraduate and graduate education, Brad worked in the pharmaceutical industry as research associate for the drug delivery R&D division of Matrix Pharmaceuticals (Fremont, CA). At Matrix he assisted Dr. Kathy Roskos on the development, formulation, and physicochemical characterization of collagen gel-based cisplatin/epinephrine antineoplastic pharmaceutical drugs.

Dr. Pierce currently lives in Ft. Worth with his wife Christy.