Dioxygen Binding and Sensing Proteins

Following their own brilliant careers in haeme protein research, the outstanding scientists Jonathan and Beatrice Wittenberg continue to provide inspiration to the research community in the study of oxygen-binding proteins. Their research has provided the intellectual stimulus to bring together scientists from all over the world with the common goal of developing fascinating new ideas and performing innovative experiments.

This book is dedicated to Jonathan’s and Bea’s lifetime careers. It further illuminates the facts and ideas which dot the paths they traced in Biochemistry and Physiology, elaborating on how these landmark achievements were made and how the haeme proteins community still refers to them. With the field of haeme protein science such a flourishing area, the contributors to this book predict Jonathan and Bea, having played such a seminal role, will continue to be key figures for quite some time to come.


Praise for the Wittenbergs and their lasting contributions to research:


"Oxygen: a two-atom molecule, but what a wealth of chemistry, and what implications for life! I was always convinced that the deep roots of such a simple statement have constantly inspired the seminal work of the Wittenbergs on the mechanisms of oxygen diffusion and on the varied cellular roles of dozens of different haeme proteins." (Martino Bolognesi)


"All of us who study oxygen transport and all who value good science are in their debt." (Ken van Holde)


"Beatrice and Jonathan Wittenberg have inspired generations of scientists to explore the mysteries of haeme proteins. Their papers…prompted discussions… in the 1970s and led to investigations on numerous invertebrate myoglobins and haemoglobins…" (Nora Terwilliger)


"I was one of many PhD students in the late 1980s who were weaned on the seminal work by the Wittenbergs on myoglobin-facilitated oxygen diffusion. Before reading that article, myoglobin and oxygen diffusion was a mystery to me. With their work, biochemistry and physiology became a dynamic presence in my life." (Cinzia Verde)