Shelley Copley

Shelley Copley is a Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado Boulder, with a joint appointment at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). She earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1987 and has established herself as a leading researcher in enzyme evolution and molecular biology.

Her educational background includes:

• Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Harvard University, 1987

Professor Copley's research focuses on the molecular evolution of enzymes and metabolic pathways. Her lab investigates how metabolic enzymes, which accelerate chemical reactions by up to 20 orders of magnitude, also catalyze adventitious secondary reactions due to their highly reactive active sites. These 'promiscuous' activities provide an evolutionary repertoire that organisms can draw upon when conditions change. Her work explores two main research directions: the evolution of new enzymes by gene duplication and divergence, and the role of promiscuity in creating novel metabolic pathways through serendipitous combinations of available enzymatic activities.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong focus on genomic approaches to understanding enzyme evolution in bacterial systems, particularly Escherichia coli. Her work demonstrates how bacteria can evolve new metabolic capabilities through genomic mutations that improve fitness by mechanisms beyond simple gene duplication, and how promiscuous enzymes can be patched together to form entirely new metabolic pathways when essential genes are deleted.

Her scientific contributions have been recognized with multiple CIRES awards across different years (2014, 2007, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999) for research on topics including unbiased methods for identifying regulatory proteins, bioremediation of toxins, post-genomics approaches to microbial fitness, atmospheric aerosols, metabolic enzyme phylogeny, and chemical reactivity in organic aerosols.

Professor Copley has advised numerous graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who have co-authored significant publications with her. Her research has been supported by various grants focused on environmental bioremediation, genomic approaches to enzyme evolution, and metabolic pathway analysis. She has also contributed to science education through integrating historical science materials into undergraduate biology courses.

Her laboratory work involves extensive use of Escherichia coli as a model system to study enzyme evolution, with particular emphasis on how bacteria can evolve new metabolic capabilities through genomic changes. Her team employs a combination of genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic approaches to understand the mechanisms of enzyme promiscuity and the evolution of novel metabolic pathways.