College of Science » Chemistry-Seminars

The Eyring-Miner Lectures at the University of Utah
with W.E. Moerner

TBBC 4630
4th floor Thatcher
In-Person Seminar

Fun (and Science) with Single-Molecule Optical Microscopy Over the Last 36 Year
by W.E. Moerner

Abstract: First observed optically 36 years ago in my laboratory at IBM Research, single molecules have enabled a new field of optical microscopy of the nanoscale. Since ensemble averaging is removed, each single molecule can act as a reporter of not only its position, but also of local information about the nearby environment. Combined with blinking and photoswitching to ensure sparsity (first observed at low temperatures in 1992 and then for single GFP proteins at room temperature in 1997), in the mid-2000’s, super-resolution fluorescence microscopy based on single molecules opened up a frontier in which structures and behavior can be observed in materials and in fixed and live cells with resolutions down to 10-20 nm and below. These methods have been enhanced by PSF engineering to extract 3D position and orientation information, and by deep learning to estimate both molecular variables and structured backgrounds, plus much more. A recent super-resolution study shows fascinating intracellular structures formed by SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA and proteins in infected mammalian cells. Three-dimensional single-molecule tracking in live cells provides time-dependent information about biological regulation and condensed complexes, as well as anomalous diffusion of DNA loci in nuclei.
Another thrust area goes back to isolated single molecules, and explores dynamical behavior in solution in an Anti-Brownian ELectrokinetic (ABEL) trap, with multiparameter extraction of information about complex photodynamics and enzyme kinetics. This trap has recently been extended to non-fluorescent objects with interferometric scattering detection (ISABEL trap), with fluorescence now used as an auxiliary reporter of internal states of carboxysomes.
All of these developments in my laboratory over the past decades have been enabled by an extremely talented cadre of students and postdoctoral researchers, to whom I am very grateful.

The Eyring-Miner Lectures at the University of Utah
with Julie Biteen

TBBC 4630
4th floor Thatcher
In-Person Seminar

Determining the nature of molecular interactions and biomolecular condensates in microbes
by Julie Biteen

Abstract: Single-molecule microscopy accesses nanometer-scale information with a benchtop microscope, providing a platform to super-resolve fluorescence emission, position, and dynamics, even in living cells. The Biteen Lab is developing new single-molecule methods to answer fundamental, unanswered questions in microbiology with applications including elucidating cell regulation and misregulation, understanding epigenetic inheritance, and visualizing nutrient utilization in the microbiome. These direct, quantitative, and high-resolution approaches have consequences in understanding subcellular biochemistry and biophysics. I will focus on our recently developed approaches to quantifying how cellular components interact and organize in microbiology. On one hand, we are evaluating the millisecond- and nanometer-scale dynamics of specific partners, and, as an example, I will present how HP1 proteins specifically and selectively associate with heterochromatin to silence gene expression in fission yeast. On the other hand, we are developing a generalizable, accessible, and rigorous framework to probe the nature of biomolecular condensates on the sub-micron scale in bacterial cells, and I will show how we probed the formation, reversibility, protein dynamics, and material state of biomolecular condensates in Escherichia coli to achieve a general model of bacterial cell organization.
 

Organic Chemistry Seminar at the University of Utah
TBBC 4630 (4th floor Thatcher)

Unraveling the molecular mechanisms of endogenous cell-to-cell signaling peptides
by James Checco, University of Nebraska

Abstract: Endogenous peptides (neuropeptides and peptide hormones) act as cell-to-cell signaling molecules to carry out complex tasks in living systems. Characterizing the molecular mechanisms of endogenous peptides represents a significant goal to understand how living systems function in both healthy and disease states, and to identify novel therapeutic targets. To better understand the molecular mechanisms of intercellular communication, our group focuses on developing and utilizing chemical biology approaches to understand endogenous peptides and probe peptide-receptor interactions. One major project in the group is focused on developing methods to label neuropeptide receptors on the surface of living cells for the purpose of probing known peptide-receptor interactions and discovering novel receptors for bioactive peptides. In parallel, we are also exploring the impact of an understudied endogenous peptide post-translational modification (L- to D-residue isomerization) on receptor recognition and signaling in nature, and have discovered a neuropeptide signaling system in which peptide isomerization is utilized to alter selectivity between distinct family members. Overall, our research combines approaches from chemical biology, bioanalytical chemistry, and synthetic chemistry to advance our understanding of specific cell-cell signaling pathways, identify new pathways for further exploration, and provide innovative starting points for future therapeutics.

Host: Andrew Roberts

Special Chemistry Seminar at the University of Utah
Hosted by NATo (Nucleic Acid Topics group)

TBBC 4630
4th floor Thatcher

Mapping the chemistry of genotoxicity and ageingby Professor Shana J. Sturla
Department of Health Sciences & Technology
ETH Zürich, Switzerland

Host: Cindy Burrows & Ming Hammond

The Parry Lecture at the University of Utah
with John A Gladysz, Texas A&M University
TBBC 4630
4:00 PM

From Molecular Gyroscopes to Homeomorphic Isomerization:
Molecules that Turn Themselves Inside-Out
by John A Gladysz, Texas A&M University

Abstract: The Houdini-like escape of metal fragments from the cage-like dibridgehead diphosphine ligands of so-called "gyroscope-like" complexes (e.g., 1) will be described. The resulting diphosphines P((CH2)n)3P (2) can exist as in,in, out,out, and in,out isomers. The in,in and out,out isomers can interconvert by "homeomorphic isomerization" (3), a process that turns a molecule inside-out, like an article of clothing, exchanging exo and endo functionality. At temperatures sufficient for pyramidal inversion at phosphorus (ca. 150 °C), the in,in and out,out isomers equilibrate with in,out isomers. Trends in the rates and K(eq) values will be interpreted, together with a wealth of crystallographic data.
     
Metal complexes are easily reconstituted from the "empty" dibridgehead diphosphines 2. Ap-plications of these phenomena in the selective binding and transport of various metal fragments will be reported. The synthesis and properties of analogous diphosphine dioxides, diarsines, and di(triaryl)phosphines will also be described.

Bio: John A. Gladysz is a native of the Kalamazoo, Michigan area, and obtained his B.S. degree from the University of Michigan (1971) and his Ph.D degree from Stanford University (1974) with E. E. van Tamelen. He subsequently held appointments at UCLA (Assistant Professor, 1974-1982), the University of Utah (Associate Professor and Professor, 1982-1998), and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany (Professor Ordinarius, 1998-2007). He then assumed the Dow Chair in Chemical Invention at Texas A&M University, where he is Distinguished Professor of Chemistry.

Gladysz received an Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award in 1988, the University of Utah Distinguished Research Award in 1992, the ACS Award in Organometallic Chemistry in 1994, the International Fluorous Technologies Award in 2007, the Texas A&M Distinguished Achievement Award in Research in 2013, and the Royal Society of Chemistry Award in Organometallic Chemistry in 2013. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Chemical Society in the inaugural year, 2009, and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2013.

From June 1984 through July 2010, he served as the Associate Editor of Chemical Reviews. He then succeeded Dietmar Seyferth as the Editor in Chief of Organometallics, a position he held until January 2015.
Gladysz has authored over 500 scientific papers and 75 patents and editorials. His research spans a wide range of problems in the general areas of synthetic and mechanistic organometallic chemistry and catalysis. He and his wife (Janet Blümel, also a chemist) live on the Crow's Nest Ranch, which consists of 140 acres (57 hectares) seven miles east of Texas A&M

Host: Peter Armentrout

The Parry Lecture at the University of Utah
with Janet Bluemel, Texas A&M University
TBBC 4630
10:45 AM - 12:00 PM

Title: TBA
by Janet Bluemel, Texas A&M University

Abstract: TBA

Host: Peter Armentrout

Organic Chemistry Seminar at the University of Utah
with Myles Smith, UT Southwestern

TBBC 4630 (4th floor Thatcher)

Title: TBA
by Myles Smith, UT Southwestern

Abstract: TBA

Host: Andrew Roberts

Analytical Chemistry Seminar at the University of Utah
TBBC 4630 (4th floor Thatcher)

Learning from the Heterogeneity at the Electrode-Electrolyte Interface with Electrochemical Correlative Microscopy
by Hang Ren, UT Austin

Abstract: Understanding the structure-reactivity relationship at electrochemical interfaces is central to unraveling nearly all electrochemical processes. However, these interfaces are typically structurally heterogeneous, which impedes interpreting the structure-activity relationships using conventional ensemble electrochemical measurements. In this presentation, I will discuss our efforts toward developing and applying electroanalytical techniques—such as scanning electrochemical cell microscopy (SECCM) and correlative microscopy—to gain new knowledge from electrochemical interfacial heterogeneity. First, I will discuss our efforts towards probing local product selectivity in electrocatalytic reactions by integrating SECCM with scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM). When combined with correlative electron microscopy, this approach enables simultaneous mapping of the facet-dependent activity and selectivity in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on polycrystalline Au and Pt. Finally, I will discuss our method of measuring site-specific nucleation kinetics in electrodeposition and electrodissolution, which plays an important role in the cyclability of batteries that use metal anodes.

Bio: Hang Ren is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He received B.S. in Chemistry from Sun Yat-Sen University (2011) and Ph.D. Analytical Chemistry from the University of Michigan (2016) under Prof. Mark Meyerhoff, followed by a postdoc with Prof. Henry White at the University of Utah. Currently, his lab develops electroanalytical methods to elucidate interface heterogeneity and dynamics for electrocatalysis, energy storage, and biology systems.

Dr. Ren have received several awards, including NSF CAREER, DARPA Young Faculty Award, DARPA Director's Award, Sloan Research Fellowship, SEAC Young Investigator Award, NIH MIRA, Scialog Fellowship, ACS Rising Star in Measurement Science, and Nanoscale Emerging Investigator.

Host: Long Luo/Henry White

Materials Chemistry Seminar at the University of Utah
with Julia Kalow

TBBC 4630 (4th floor Thatcher)

Title: TBA
by Julia Kalow

Abstract: TBA

Host: Jacob Lessard

Chemistry Seminar at the University of Utah
with Professor Kelsey Stoerzinger, University of Minnesota
4:00-5:00PM

TBBC 4360
4th floor Thatcher

Title: TBA
by Kelsey Stoerzinger, University of Minnesota

Abstract: TBA

Host: Long Luo
 

Materials Chemistry Seminar at the University of Utah
with AJ Boydston, University of Wisconsin

TBBC 4630
4th Floor Thatcher

Title: TBA
by AJ Boydston, University of Wisconsin

Abstract: TBA

Host: Jacob Lessard

Materials Chemistry Seminar at the University of Utah
with Seth Marder, CU Boulder

TBBC 4630
4th floor Thatcher

Title: TBA
by Seth Marder

Abstract: TBA

Host: Connor Bischak

Organic Chemistry Seminar at the University of Utah
with Juan Del Valle, Notre Dame

TBBC 4630 (4th floor Thatcher)

Title: TBA
by Juan Del Valle, Notre Dame

Abstract: TBA

Host: Andrew Roberts

Materials/Organic Chemistry Seminar at the University of Utah
with Frank Leibfarth, UNC

TBBC 4630 (4th floor Thatcher)

Title: TBA
by Frank Leibfarth, UNC

Abstract: TBA

Host: Jacob Lessard

Organic Chemistry Seminar at the University of Utah
with Zachary Wickens, University of Wisconsin-Madison

TBBC 4630 (4th floor Thatcher)

Title: 
by Zachary Wickens, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Abstract: TBA

Host: Qilei Zhu