Staff profile

Tessa Young obtained her PhD in bioinorganic chemistry from the University of Melbourne (2017) working with Prof. Tony Wedd and Dr Zhiguang Xiao, focussing on the quantification of metal-protein affinities. She developed new spectroscopic probes to study copper-binding interactions and employed these to characterise the copper chemistry of the amyloid precursor protein (APP), an important biomolecule in Alzheimer's disease. 

Tessa joined Durham University in 2018 as a Junior Research Fellow (COFUND), working at the interface of chemistry and biology to investigate how cobalt is supplied for vitamin B12. In 2019, she was awarded a Research Fellowship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 to continue her work in the fascinating field of 'metals in biology'. 

• Cell biology of metals
• Spectroscopic probes
• Vitamin B12
• Metalloenzymes

• Biomolecular Interactions

• 1851 Fellowship Public Summary

Journal Article

• Young, Tessa R., Deery, Evelyne, Foster, Andrew W., Martini, Maria Alessandra, Osman, Deenah, Warren, Martin J. & Robinson, Nigel J. (2023). Two Distinct Thermodynamic Gradients for Cellular Metalation of Vitamin B12. JACS Au
• Foster, Andrew W., Young, Tessa R., Chivers, Peter T. & Robinson, Nigel J. (2022). Protein metalation in biology. Current Opinion in Chemical Biology 66: 102095.
• Foster, Andrew W, Clough, Sophie E, Aki, Zeynep, Young, Tessa R, Clarke, Alison R & Robinson, Nigel J (2022). Metalation calculators for E. coli strain JM109 (DE3): Aerobic, anaerobic and hydrogen peroxide exposed cells cultured in LB media. Metallomics 14(9).
• Paterson, Joy R., Beecroft, Marikka S., Mulla, Raminder S., Osman, Deenah, Reeder, Nancy L., Caserta, Justin A., Young, Tessa R., Pettigrew, Charles A., Davies, Gareth E., Williams, J.A. Gareth & Sharples, Gary J. (2022). Insights into the antibacterial mechanism of action of chelating agents by selective deprivation of iron, manganese and zinc. Applied and Environmental Microbiology
• Bhamidimarri, Satya Prathyusha, Young, Tessa R., Shanmugam, Muralidharan, Soderholm, Sandra, Baslé, Arnaud, Bumann, Dirk & van den Berg, Bert (2021). Acquisition of ionic copper by the bacterial outer membrane protein OprC through a novel binding site. PLOS Biology 19(11): e3001446.
• Young, Tessa R. & Xiao, Zhiguang (2021). Principles and practice of determining metal–protein affinities. Biochemical Journal 478(5): 1085-1116.
• Young, TR Martini, MA Foster, AW Glasfeld, A, Osman, D, Morton, RJ Deery, E Warren, MJ & Robinson, NJ (2021). Calculating metalation in cells reveals CobW acquires Co(II) for vitamin B12 biosynthesis while related proteins prefer Zn(II). Nature Communications 12: 1195.
• Osman, D, Cooke, A, Young, TR, Deery, E, Robinson, NJ & Warren, MJ (2021). The requirement for cobalt in vitamin B12: A paradigm for protein metalation. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Molecular Cell Research 1868(1).
• Young, Tessa R., Pukala, Tara L., Cappai, Roberto, Wedd, Anthony G. & Xiao, Zhiguang (2018). The Human Amyloid Precursor Protein Binds Copper Ions Dominated by a Picomolar Affinity Site in the Helix-Rich E2 Domain. Biochemistry 57(28): 4165-4176.
• Young, Tessa R., Wedd, Anthony G. & Xiao, Zhiguang (2018). Evaluation of Cu(I) binding to the E2 domain of the amyloid precursor protein – a lesson in quantification of metal binding to proteins via ligand competition. Metallomics 10(1): 108-119.
• Yako, Nineveh, Young, Tessa R., Cottam Jones, Jade M., Hutton, Craig A., Wedd, Anthony G. & Xiao, Zhiguang (2017). Copper binding and redox chemistry of the Aβ16 peptide and its variants: insights into determinants of copper-dependent reactivity. Metallomics 9(3): 278-291.
• Wijekoon, Chathuri J. K., Young, Tessa R., Wedd, Anthony G. & Xiao, Zhiguang (2015). CopC Protein from Pseudomonas fluorescens SBW25 Features a Conserved Novel High-Affinity Cu(II) Binding Site. Inorganic Chemistry 54(6): 2950-2959.
• Young, Tessa R., Wijekoon, Chathuri J. K., Spyrou, Benjamin, Donnelly, Paul S., Wedd, Anthony G. & Xiao, Zhiguang (2015). A set of robust fluorescent peptide probes for quantification of Cu(II) binding affinities in the micromolar to femtomolar range. Metallomics 7(3): 567-578.
• Young, Tessa R., Kirchner, Angie, Wedd, Anthony G. & Xiao, Zhiguang (2014). An integrated study of the affinities of the Aβ16 peptide for Cu(I) and Cu(II): implications for the catalytic production of reactive oxygen species. Metallomics 6(3): 505-517.
• Leong, Su Ling, Young, Tessa R., Barnham, Kevin J., Wedd, Anthony G., Hinds, Mark G., Xiao, Zhiguang & Cappai, Roberto (2014). Quantification of copper binding to amyloid precursor protein domain 2 and its Caenorhabditis elegans ortholog. Implications for biological function. Metallomics 6(1): 105-116.