Jifu Duan
Graphical Abstract
“My biggest inspiration is critical thinking from reading papers … The most challenging part of my research is handling tiny protein crystals (about 0.2 mm long) under anaerobic conditions …” Find out more about Jifu Duan in his Introducing … Profile.
Jifu Duan
The author presented on this page has published his first article as a submitting corresponding author in Angewandte Chemie:
“Cyanide Binding to [FeFe]-Hydrogenase Stabilizes the AlternativeConfiguration of the Proton Transfer Path”: J. Duan, A. Hemschemeier, D. J. Burr, S. T. Stripp, E. Hofmann, T. Happe, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, 62, e202216903; Angew. Chem. 2023, 135, e202216903.
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Position:
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Independent researcher at Ruhr University Bochum (Germany)
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ORCID:
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Education:
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2006–2010, Bachelor degree, Hubei Engineering University, (China)
2013–2018, Master thesis, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, (China)
2013–2018, PhD thesis, supervised by Prof. Thomas Happe, Ruhr University Bochum, (Germany)
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Research:
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[FeFe]-hydrogenase, catalytic and inhibitory mechanisms, protein crystallography, hydrogen bond networks, protein film electrochemistry
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Hobbies:
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Running, listening to music, watching kung fu dramas
My first experiment was preparing medium for growing E. coli cells.
The most exciting thing about my research is I can mostly see what would happen from the structural analysis.
Science is fun because there is always something surprising you.
The most challenging part of my research is handling tiny protein crystals (about 0.2 mm long) under anaerobic conditions.
I'm always in a good mood when I go on a run while listening to music.
I lose track of time when I isolate O2-sensitive [FeFe]-hydrogenase.
When I was a kid I wanted to be a scientist.
A good day at work starts with a joke with colleagues.
My biggest inspiration is critical thinking from reading papers.
If I had one year of paid leave I would travel around the world with my family.
I can never resist the dishes prepared by my mother and my wife.
The principal aspect of my personality is diligence.
My favorite structure is [FeFe]-hydrogenase I from Clostridium pasteurianum.
My favorite places on earth are parks.
My favorite food is rice.
My favorite song is Tomorrow, Hello by Milk Coffee.
Behind the Science
During my PhD studies (around 2016), I was asking myself what if I treat [FeFe]-hydrogenase with extrinsic cyanide. Before Christmas 2021, I finally made my first attempt to treat my favorite CpI crystals with cyanide. A few weeks later, I got the first structure. Then I knew the findings would form the basis of a good publication. I did a literature search and could find only one paper from 41 years ago that reported “CN− has little effect on [FeFe]-hydrogenase activity”. After struggling to distinguish the CO/CN ligands in the crystal structure and collecting good infrared spectra of the extrinsic cyanide-treated protein samples, I made the whole story complete.
