Thomas G. Spiro

Thomas G. Spiro is an Affiliate Professor at the Department of Chemistry, University of Washington. He moved to UW in 2007 after a long tenure at Princeton University, where he chaired the Chemistry Department. His research focuses on bioinorganic chemistry, biophysical chemistry, environmental chemistry, and spectroscopic methods like resonance Raman. He pioneered laser resonance Raman techniques to study metalloproteins and protein dynamics. Spiro also co-authored textbooks on environmental chemistry, including Chemistry of the Environment. He collaborates on projects like solar energy conversion via the CLEAN initiative and manganese oxide studies with Scripps, UC Berkeley, and SSRL. His lab explores protein folding, allostery, and environmental bioinorganic systems.

Education: PhD, MIT (1960); BS, UCLA (1956).

Research Interests: Metal ion roles in biology, resonance Raman spectroscopy, protein dynamics, solar energy materials, and environmental chemistry. His lab combines synthetic and biological systems to investigate structural and mechanistic questions.

Grants & Collaborations: Participation in UW’s CLEAN initiative for solar energy research. Collaborations include materials science (C. Luscombe) and biochemistry (D. Baker).

Lab Members: Postdocs (e.g., Eric Jones, Brandon Kier), researchers (Gurusamy Balakrishnan), and students. Research spans spectroscopic methodologies and environmental chemistry.