Matthew Liptak, an associate professor in the UVM Chemistry Department, was recently awarded a 5-year $1.4 million Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) from the NIH to study heme oxygenase enzymes. Heme oxygenases have diverse biological functions ranging from iron recycling (humans) to iron acquisition (pathogenic bacteria). The Liptak group uses spectroscopic characterization and computational modeling to elucidate the mechanisms of these enzymes. The grant proposal was based upon the research of several current and former UVM students, including: Amanda Graves (Ph.D. '16), Matt Conger (Ph.D. '18), Biswash Thakuri (Ph.D. '20), Cheryl Lockhart (M.S. '14), Kayla Johnson (current), Aarzoo Grover (current), and Taylor Kocian (current).