Education

• Licence en Sciences Chimiques, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgium
• M.S. in Chemistry, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh
• Ph.D. in Chemistry, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh (1982)
• Postdoctoral research in Chemistry, University of California, Davis

Professional Experience

• 3/87 – 6/93: The Pennsylvania State University; Assistant Professor of Chemistry
• 7/93 – 6/07: The Pennsylvania State University; Associate Professor of Chemistry
• 7/07 – 8/07: The Pennsylvania State University; Professor of Chemistry
• 9/07 – present: Johns Hopkins University; Professor of Biophysics

The Lecomte group is interested in the structural, functional, and evolutionary properties of heme proteins. The main experimental technique used for the studies is nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Undergraduate level

Spectroscopy and its application in biophysical reactions (AS.250.381)

Graduate level (modules shared with other faculty)

Solutions biophysics (AS.250.620)

NMR spectroscopy (AS.250.624)

Selected publications.

Johnson, E.A., Russo, M.M., Nye, D.B., Schlessman, J.L.,and Lecomte J.T.J. (2018) Lysine as a Heme Iron Ligand: A Property Common to Three Truncated Hemoglobins from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta – General Subjects 1862:2660–2673. doi:10.1016/j.bbagen.2018.08.009

Nye, D.B. and Lecomte J.T.J.  (2018) Replacement of the Distal Histidine Reveals a Non-Canonical Heme Binding Site in a 2-on-2 Hemoglobin.  Biochemistry 57:5785–5796. doi:10.1021/acs.biochem.8b00752

Nye, D.B., Preimesberger, M.R., Majumdar, A., and Lecomte J.T.J. (2018) Histidine-Lysine Axial Ligand Switching in a Hemoglobin: A Role for Heme Propionates. Biochemistry 57:631–644.  doi:10.1021/acs.biochem.7b01155

Preimesberger, M.R., Johnson, E.A., Nye, D.B., and Lecomte J.T.J. (2017) Covalent Attachment of the Heme to Synechococcus Hemoglobin Alters Its Reactivity Toward Nitric Oxide.  Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 177:171–182.  doi:10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2017.09.018

Preimesberger, M.R., Majumdar, and Lecomte, J.T.J. (2017) Dynamics of Lysine as a Heme Axial Ligand: NMR Analysis of the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Hemoglobin THB1. Biochemistry 56:551–569. doi:10.1021/acs.biochem.6b00926

Johnson, E.A. and Lecomte J.T.J. (2015) The Haemoglobins of Algae. Advances in Microbial Physiology 67:177–234. doi:10.1016/bs.ampbs.2015.08.003

Preimesberger, M.R., Majumdar, A., Rice, S.L., Que, L., and Lecomte, J.T.J. (2015) Helix-capping histidines: Diversity of N-H^...N Hydrogen Bond Strength Revealed by ^2hJ_NN Scalar Couplings.  Biochemistry, 54:6896–6908.  doi:10.1021/acs.biochem.5b01002

Rice, S.L., Boucher, L.E., Schlessman, J.L., Preimesberger, M.R., Bosch, J., and Lecomte, J.T.J. (2015) Structure of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii THB1, a Group 1 Truncated Hemoglobin with a Rare Histidine-Lysine Heme Ligation.  Acta Crystallographica Section F Structural Biology Communications 71:718–725. doi:10.1107/S2053230X15006949

Preimesberger, M.R., Majumdar, A., Aksel, T., Sforza, K., Lectka, T., Barrick, D., and Lecomte, J.T.J. (2015) Direct NMR Detection of Bifurcated Hydrogen Bonding in the α-Helix N-Caps of Ankyrin Repeat Proteins.  Journal of the American Chemical Society 137:1008–1011.  doi:10.1021/ja510784g

Johnson, E.A. and Lecomte J.T.J. (2014) Characterization of the Truncated Hemoglobin THB1 from Protein Extracts of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.  F1000Research 3:294.  doi:10.12688/f1000research.5873.1

Rice, S.L., Preimesberger, M.R., Johnson, E.A., and Lecomte, J.T.J. (2014) Introduction of a Covalent Histidine–Heme Linkage in a Hemoglobin: A Promising Tool for Heme Protein Engineering.  Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 141:198–207.  doi:10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2014.09.009

Johnson, E.A., Rice, S.L., Preimesberger, M.R., Nye, D.B., Gilevicius, L., Wenke, B.B., Brown, J.M., Witman, G.B., and Lecomte, J.T.J. (2014) THB1, a Truncated Hemoglobin with Lysine as a Distal Heme Ligand, Is Linked to Nitrogen Metabolism in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.  Biochemistry 53:4573–4589. 

Wenke, B.B., Lecomte, J.T.J., Héroux, A., and Schlessman, J.L. (2014) The 2/2 Hemoglobin from the Cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 with Covalently Attached Heme:  Comparison of X-ray and NMR Structures.  Proteins 82:528–534.  doi:10.1002/prot.24409

Preimesberger, M.R., Wenke, B.B., Gilevicius, L., Pond, M.P., and Lecomte, J.T.J. (2013) Covalent Heme Attachment in Synechocystis Hemoglobin: Implications for Facile Histidine Posttranslational Modification. Biochemistry 42:3478–3488. doi:10.1021/bi400289e

Dellarole, M., Roumestand, C., Royer, C., and Lecomte, J.T.J. (2013) Volumetric Properties Underlying Ligand Binding In a Monomeric Hemoglobin: A High-Pressure NMR Study.  Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1834:1910–1922. doi:10.1016/j.bbapap.2013.04.016

Pond, M.P., Majumdar, A., and Lecomte, J.T.J. (2012) Influence of Heme Post-Translational Modification and Distal Ligation on the Backbone Dynamics of a Monomeric Hemoglobin. Biochemistry 51:5733–5747.  PMID: 22775272 doi:10.1021/bi300624a