Gary Black

Professor of Protein Biochemistry Gary Black

Head Of Department

Department: Applied Sciences

Gary studied for his BSc in Applied Biology (awarded by CNAA in 1988) at Sunderland Polytechnic, which included a sandwich placement at the Public Health Laboratory Service, Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research, Porton Down, Salisbury.

Gary stayed at Sunderland Polytechnic to study his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (awarded by CNAA in 1992) under the supervision of Dr Catherine O'Reilly. Gary then moved to Newcastle University as a Post-doctoral Research Associate and worked in the research group of Prof. Harry Gilbert for 4 years, returning to Sunderland University in 1996 as a Lecturer.

Gary then moved to 51�� in 2000 to take up the post of Reader and obtained his Personal Chair in 2006.

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Key Publications

Structure/activity relationships of two alginate lyases from Flavobacterium spp. and their potential application in detergents, Morley, C., Yau, H., Houppy, W., Singh, W., Lant, N., Black, G., Munoz-Munoz, J. 1 May 2025, In: International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
Impact of the T296S Mutation in P450 GcoA for Ary-O-demethylation: A QM/MM study, Gomes Dos Santos, S., Bommareddy, R., Black, G., Singh, W. 11 Jan 2024, In: Frontiers in Chemistry
Rational design of a cyclohexanone dehydrogenase for enhanced α,β-desaturation and substrate specificity, Singh, W., Brown, N., McCue, H., Marriott, S., Wilson, R., Perry, J., Turkenburg, J., Dubey, K., Prior, S., Carnell, A., Taylor, E., Black, G. 7 Apr 2024, In: Chemical Science
A computational approach to optimising laccase-mediated polyethylene oxidation through carbohydrate-binding module fusion, Gollan, M., Black, G., Muñoz-Muñoz, J. 6 Jul 2023, In: BMC Biotechnology
Biocatalytic and Chemo-Enzymatic Synthesis of Quinolines and 2-Quinolones by Monoamine Oxidase (MAO-N) and Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) Biocatalysts, Xiang, H., Ferla, S., Varricchio, C., Brancale, A., Brown, N., Black, G., Turner, N., Castagnolo, D. 3 Mar 2023, In: ACS Catalysis
Fungal β-glucan-facilitated cross-feeding activities between Bacteroides and Bifidobacterium species, Fernández Juliá, P., Black, G., Cheung, W., Van Sinderen, D., Munoz-Munoz, J. 30 May 2023, In: Communications Biology
In Search of Complementary Extraction Methods for Comprehensive Coverage of the Escherichia coli Metabolome, Gould, H., Cheung, W., Finnigan, J., Muñoz-Muñoz, J., Charnock, S., Black, G. 14 Sep 2023, In: Metabolites
Substrate Conformation Regulates Aromatic C-H Vs C-F Bond Activation in Heme-Dependent Tyrosine Hydroxylase, Singh, W., Gomes Dos Santos, S., Yadav, S., Black, G., Dubey, K. 16 May 2023, In: Biochemistry
The substrate specificity in the O-demethylation of 4-alkylguaiacols by cytochrome P450 AgcAP450, Santos, S., Bommareddy, R., Black, G., Singh, W., Huang, M. 7 Apr 2023, In: Catalysis Science and Technology
Towards a Self-sustaining Home: Circular Flows of Materials and Energy in the Domestic Environment, McLeod-Brown, P., Bridgens, B., Mackenzie, L., Modi, K., Kalathil, S., Bommareddy, R., Black, G., Perry, O. 6 Jun 2023, Bioprotopia: Designing the Built Environment with Living Organisms, Basel, Switzerland, Birkhauser

PGR Supervision

Megan Grey The discovery of novel carbohydrate active enzymes for improved detergent sustainability Start Date: 01/10/2021
Henry Gould A metabolomics-based approach to identify novel metabolites of recombinant Escherichia coli Start Date: 01/09/2021
Derek Stobo Novel Amine Oxidases and Amine Dehydrogenases for Potential Usage in Biocatalysis Start Date: 01/10/2018 End Date: 26/07/2025