Lab News & Updates

 February 2022
Jian defended his thesis and became the first PhD from the Cotruvo Lab. Congratulations Jian!

December 2021
We welcome Wonseok Choi, Wyatt Larrinaga, and Dianxiong Wang, first year Chemistry graduate students, to the Cotruvo Lab!

October 2021
Our latest publication about protein-based all-aqueous separation of rare earths with our great collaborators at LLNL is out now in ACS Cent. Sci. Congrats, Joey M. on this exciting new work!

Check out Joey Cotruvo's interview with The Naked Scientists on BBC. He talks about our work leveraging biochemistry to supply rare earths more sustainably! Great interview, Joey!

We welcome our newest lab member, Dr. Saborni Biswas, to the Cotruvo Lab!

September 2021
Joey's latest paper in JACS in collaboration with LLNL shows that LanM binds both americium and curium ~5x tighter than it binds lanthanides.

Our paper in collaboration with the Baiz group at UT Austin is out in Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.

August 2021
Check out Emily's exciting new work about developing a LanM-based luminescent sensor that quantifies terbium in acid mine drainage out in JACS.

Jian, Joey M., and Emily present their work at ACS Fall 2021 in the Inorganic division.

June 2021
Joey Cotruvo is announced as one of the 2022 Stiefel Award Winners on behalf of Metals in Biology. Congrats Joey on such a meaningful honor!!

We welcome Jacob DeVos, a first year BMMB graduate student, to the Cotruvo Lab!

May 2021
Joey Mattocks has been selected to serve as part of the DOE's Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Congrats, Joey!

March 2021
Our Methods in Enzymology chapter on determination of affinities of Ln-binding proteins is out. Congrats Joey Mattocks and Jon Tirsch.

February 2021
Joey Cotruvo is named a 2021 Sloan Research Fellow! Congrats, Joey!

October 2020
Emily's review on lanthanide biochemistry is published in BBA. We discuss lanthanide utilization along with the state of the lanthanome.

Joey's review on using biological ligands to selectively and sustainably recover, separate, and sense rare earths and actinides is published in Chem. Soc. Rev.. This paper is highlighted as part of the 2020 Emerging Investigators collection!

August 2020
Our work on a protein-based method for rare earth separations usuing LanM is highlighted in C&EN.

July 2020
Joey's collaborative paper with Lawrence Livermore National Lab is published in Inorganic Chemistry! We show that LanM is very stable and extracts rare earth elements from coal and e-waste leachates is published.

Our work on applications of lanmodulin for harvesting rare earths is featured by LLNL.

June 2020
Congrats to Joey Cotruvo for being named Recipient of DOE Early Career Award!

April 2020
Jian's paper is published in Biochemistry!

January 2020
We welcome two new undergraduates in the lab, Hannah Gizenski '23 and Anna Terzian '23!

September 2019
We welcome two new undergraduates in the lab, Tim Hamilton '23 and Kennedy Miller '21!

August 2019
Joey's review on the chemistry of lanthanides in biology is published in ACS Central Science!

May 2019
Jackson's paper on PqqT, a periplasmic binding protein for the cofactor PQQ is published in Biochemistry! We also welcome undergraduate Theresa Buckley to the lab for a summer REU!

April 2019
Emily's collaborative paper with Amie Boal's lab is published in ChemBioChem! The paper uses biochemistry and x-ray crystallography to probe the redox consequences of the presence of different lanthanides in the lanthanide-dependent methanol dehydrogenase. Congratulations, Emily!

March 2019
Joey and Jackson's lanthanide sensor paper is featured in a JACS Spotlight and in a Penn State news article.

February 2019
Our paper describing a genetically encoded fluorescent sensor for rare earth elements and its uses to probe the mechanism of lanthanide acquisition in bacteria is accepted in JACS! Congratulations to Joey and Jackson!

January 2019
Our work on lanmodulin is featured in Nature Chemical Biology!

November 2018
Our work on lanmodulin is featured in a C&E News article!
We welcome two new graduate students to the lab: Paoning Chong and Jonathan Tirsch!

October 2018
Joey gives a seminar at Juniata College.

October 2018
The Cotruvo lab's first two papers have been accepted, to JACS and Biochemistry! The papers describe the discovery and biochemical and structural characterization of a highly selective, high-affinity lanthanide-binding protein, "lanmodulin." Congratulations to Emily, Joey, and Jackson!

September 2018
Nathan Brittin '20 has joined the lab - welcome!

August 2018
The Cotruvo lab is awarded its first grant, from the Charles E. Kaufman Foundation! The grant supports our work to develop sensors to probe metal homeostasis in pathogenic bacteria.

June 2018
We welcome two new undergrads to the lab - Eddie Issertell '21 and Anish Ari '21!

February 2018
We welcome a new undergraduate researcher, Hailee Strom '19, to the lab!

November 2017
We welcome three new graduate students to the lab: Emily Featherston, Joseph Mattocks, and Jennifer Park!

September 2017
Jackson Ho, a 2016 graduate of Penn State, has joined the lab.

August 2017
We welcome Emma Gogarnoiu '19, a chemistry major, to the lab!

May 2017
Nicholas Young '19, a chemistry major and BMB minor, has joined the lab. Welcome, Nick! We also welcome Claire Overly, an NSF REU student, for the summer.

April 2017
Joey gives a seminar at Ursinus College.

March 2017
Jian is awarded a Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium fellowship. Congratulations, Jian!

February 2017
We welcome our first undergraduate student, Megan Menzel '20. Megan is a prospective chemical engineering major.

November 2016
The Cotruvo lab welcomes its first graduate student, Jiansong Xu. Jian did his undergrad at the University of California, Berkeley.

April 2016
The Cotruvo lab will be starting at Penn State in July 2016!