MIT Associate Professor Daniel Suess is taking a deep dive into the ancient world, specifically looking into the chemical processes that powered early cellular life, with the goal of finding solutions for today's energy and climate issues. As noted in a report by MIT News, his research revolves around enzymes that facilitated elemental electron transfer, a process critical for creating organic and nitrogenous compounds. Suess's exploration of these reactions has implications for carbon capture and alternative fuel development.
The crucial reactions Suess is concerned with are not only of academic interest, he aims to rewrite current societal reliance on fossil fuels. According to a MIT News interview, he stated, "What we’re doing is we’re looking backward, up to a billion years before oxygen and photosynthesis came along, to see if we can identify the chemical principles that underlie processes that aren’t reliant on burning carbon." Suess, originally from Spokane, Washington, pursued his mixed interest in chemistry and English at Williams College before further advancing his studies at MIT and Caltech, where he refined his focus on inorganic molecule synthesis.
His investigation has led him to the realm of metalloproteins and their role in cellular metabolism. An important example Suess worked on is the iron-iron hydrogenase, an enzyme found in anaerobic bacteria, which is pivotal for various cellular metabolic processes. This enzyme balances the transfer of protons and electrons, creating hydrogen as one of the outcomes. According to MIT News, Suess explained, "That enzyme is really important because a lot of cellular metabolic processes either generate excess electrons or require excess electrons."
In his research efforts, Suess employs synthetic metalloenymes and isotopic labeling to better understand and control these chemical reactions at the microscopic level which, translates to global implications. The enzymes he studies are critical for the creation carbon radicals and the conversion of nitrogen to ammonia, a key step in synthetic fertilizer production. Suess's laboratory uses a dual approach, developing less complex synthetic versions for greater control, and substituting natural proteins with isotopes for enhanced spectroscopic analysis.
Looking beyond the academic boundaries, Suess hopes to find avenues to leverage this knowledge to address pressing environmental issues. The chemical mechanisms behind these enzymes have the potential to revolutionize the way we remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout agricultural practices, as articulated in MIT News. "Our primary focus is on understanding the natural world, but I think that as we’re looking at different ways to wire biological catalysts to do efficient reactions that impact society, we need to know how that wiring works. And so that is what we’re trying to figure out," Suess said. The intersection of fundamental scientific inquiry and real-world applications in Suess's research is poised to inspire innovative strategies, tackling some of humanity's biggest challenges today.
