User:Pedro Silva

I am a Biochemist. In 1992, I enrolled in the "Licenciatura" in Biochemistry at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Oporto, Portugal. I finished this study in September 1996, after a 6-month training period under the supervision of Prof. Fred Hagen, at the Department of Biochemistry of the Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands. In November, I started my PhD research on the soluble hydrogenase of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus, under the joint supervision of Prof. Baltazar de Castro (Faculty of Sciences, University of Oporto, Portugal) and Prof. Fred Hagen (Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands, and later at the Department of Biotechnology, Delft Technical University, the Netherlands). Eventually, the research focus broadened to include other metalloproteins from P. furiosus, which were successively purified and characterized by biochemical, electrochemical and spectroscopic methods (electron paramagnetic resonance, UV-Vis spectroscopy, cofactor analysis, bioinformatics, enzymology, etc).

In March 2001 I graduated as a PhD in Chemistry at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Oporto, Portugal. Since then, I have been investigating enzyme mechanisms through quantum mechanical methods, in collaboration with Prof. Maria João Ramos (REQUIMTE/Fac. Ciências Univ. Porto). I lecture at a small University in Oporto.

I am an editor in Biochemistry / Chemistry / Molecular Biology. My CV is available here (in Portuguese) and here (English).

SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS

• Pedro J. Silva, Baltazar de Castro and Wilfred R. Hagen (1999) On the prosthetic groups of the NiFe sulfhydrogenase from Pyrococcus furiosus: topology, structure, and temperature-dependent redox chemistry. Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, 4, 284-291.

• Pedro J. Silva, M. João Amorim, Peter-Leon Hagedoorn, Hans Wassink, Huub Haaker and Wilfred R. Hagen (1999) Effects of temperature on the electron transfer between Pyrococcus furiosus hydrogenase and its redox partners. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, 74, 297.

• Wilfred R. Hagen, Pedro J. Silva, M.A. Amorim, Peter-Leon Hagedoorn, Hans Wassink, Huub Haaker and Frank T. Robb (2000) Novel structure and redox chemistry of the prosthetic groups of the iron-sulfur flavoprotein sulfide dehydrogenase from Pyrococcus furiosus; evidence for a [2Fe-2S] cluster with Asp(Cys)3 ligands. Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, 5, 527-534.

• Pedro J. Silva, Eyke C. D. van den Ban, Hans Wassink, Huub Haaker, Baltazar de Castro, Frank T. Robb and Wilfred R. Hagen (2000) Enzymes of hydrogen metabolism in Pyrococcus furiosus. European Journal of Biochemistry, 267, 6541-6551].

• Frank A.M. de Bok, Peter-Leon Hagedoorn, Pedro J. Silva, Wilfred R. Hagen, Emile Schiltz, Kathrin Fritsche and Alfons J.M. Stams (2003) Two W-containing formate dehydrogenases (CO2-reductases) involved in syntrophic propionate oxidation by Syntrophobacter fumaroxidans. European Journal of Biochemistry, 270, 2476-2485.

• Pedro J. Silva, Pedro A. Fernandes and Maria J. Ramos (2003) A theoretical study of radical-only and combined radical/carbocationic mechanisms of arachidonic acid cyclooxygenation by prostaglandin H synthase. Theoretical Chemistry Accounts, 110, 345-351.

• Dora Pinho, Stéphane Besson, Pedro J. Silva, Baltazar de Castro e Isabel Moura (2005) Isolation and spectroscopic characterization of the membrane-bound nitrate reductase from Pseudomonas chlororaphis DSM 50135. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta – General Subjects, 1723, 151-162.

• Pedro J. Silva and Maria J. Ramos (2005) A Density-Functional Study of Mechanisms for the Cofactor-Free Decarboxylation Performed by Uroporphyrinogen III Decarboxylase. Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 109, 18195-18200