Karl-Erik L. Eriksson
Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular BiologyEminent Scholar in Biotechnology
Professor Eriksson received his B.S. (1958) and Ph.D. (1962) degrees from the University of Uppsala, Sweden, and D. Sc. (1967) from the University of Stockholm, Sweden. He was a Research Assistant, Swedish Forest Products Research Laboratory, Postdoctoral Fellow, California Institute of Technology and Head, Biochemical, Microbial and Biotechnical Research at the Swedish Forest Products Laboratory before joining the Georgia faculty in 1988. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST) since 1990.
The focus in my laboratory is on studies of enzyme mechanisms involved in the degradation of cellulose and lignin, particularly by white-rot fungi. In particular, we are studying two enzymes which are related to CMS activities, i.e., laccase as involved both in biosynthesis and biodegradation of lignin, and cellobiose dehydrogenase, a heme and FAD enzyme which reduces quinones and phenoxy radicals in the presence of cellobiose. Studies of lignin biosynthesis for development of forest trees with less lignin is also a big project. Use of enzymes such as xylanases, laccases, and proteases in pulp bleaching as well as use of a mixture of cellulases for ink removal from recycled papers, are more applied aspects of our research.
"The Lignolytic System of the White-Rot Fungus Pycnoporus cinnabarinus: Purification and Characterization of the Laccase," Eggert, C.; Temp, U.; Eriksson, K.-E. L. Appl. Env. Microbiol. 1995, in press.
"Laccase-Mediated Formation of the Phenoxazinone Derivative, Cinnabarinic Acid," Eggert, C.; Temp, U.; Dean, J. F. D.; Eriksson, K.-E. L. FEBS Lett. 1995, 376, 202-206.
E-mail contact:
eriksson@arches.uga.edu
