Ruma Banerjee is a professor of enzymology and biological chemistry at the University of Michigan Medical School.
Banerjee's work focuses on the enzymes, coenzymes and metabolic pathways that support and interact with the sulfur network in mammals.
The enzymes that she studies are involved in the biogenesis and oxidation of hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and in the assimilation, trafficking and utilization of the essential vitamin B12 cofactor.
The coenzymes that she studies include vitamins B2 (flavin), B6 (pyridoxal phosphate), B12 (cobalamin), and heme, which support key junction enzymes that commit the flow of sulfur to metabolic tributaries and are major hubs of regulation.
Her research been instrumental in elucidating the structural enzymology of the complex B12 trafficking pathway chaperones found in humans, illuminating how redox-linked coordination chemistry controls the reactivity and translocation of this large organometallic cofactor between proteins, and how mutations described in homocystinuria and methylmalonic aciduria patients, dysregulate this pathway.