Rate My Professor Fernando Estrada

Estrada's research employs biochemical, biophysical, and structural biology approaches, including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, to investigate structure-function relationships in class I cytochrome P450 metalloenzymes. Key areas include protein-protein interactions between P450s and their redox partners, such as adrenodoxin, and substrate recognition in mitochondrial enzymes CYP11A1, CYP24A1, and CYP27B1 involved in cholesterol, steroid, and vitamin D metabolism, as well as the bacterial enzyme CYP121A1 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Representative publications encompass "NMR-guided identification of CYP11A1–Adrenodoxin interactions that differentially govern cholesterol and vitamin D3 metabolism" (Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2025), "A molecular basis of Ferredoxin Reductase (FdxR) mutations that result in mitochondriopathies" (Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, 2025), "Structural basis of bidirectional allostery across the heme in a cytochrome P450 enzyme" (Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2023), "Asparagine-85 Stabilizes a Structural Active Site Water Network in CYP121A1 of Mycobacterium tuberculosis" (Biochemistry, 2024), "Surface hydrophobics mediate functional dimerization of CYP121A1 of Mycobacterium tuberculosis" (Scientific Reports, 2021), and the highly influential "Substrate-modulated cytochrome P450 17A1 and cytochrome b5 interactions revealed by NMR" (Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2013). Estrada's contributions to drug metabolism research were honored with the 2025 Richard Okita Early Career Award in Drug Metabolism and Disposition from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.