Chemistry Group Comps Presentation

A Sweet Biomarker:  Asparagine-Linked Glycosylation

Michael Bonin, Chris Choo, Caitlin Dole, Sara Doyle, Sarah Duane, Jeremy Grevet, Liz Hecht

Wednesday, April 20, 7:30 p.m. (TODAY)
Olin 141

Asparagine-linked (N-linked) glycosylation is a protein modification essential to many biological processes.  N-linked glycosylation occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum via a complex and integrated sequence of enzymatic transformations.  Our seminar will focus on the work of Barbara Imperiali, Professor of Chemistry and Biology at MIT.  Using a wide range of chemical and biological tools, Imperiali uncovers the mechanistic and structural properties of the enzymes involved in N-linked glycosylation.  We will close with one of her most interesting case studies: the implications of glycosylation in spongiform encephalopathy.

Seminar Announcement

Friday, April 22, 2011
3:30 p.m.
Olin 02

Kirk Williams
Section on Statistical Genetics, Biostatistics Department
University of Alabama at Birmingham

Approaches to Understanding Obesity:  Computational Chemistry and Molecular Dynamics

The western population has seen the most dramatic increase in obesity over the years.  By year 2000 approximately two-thirds of the US population was either overweight or obese.  Worldwide there were approximately 300 million obese adults, but that number has risen within the last ten years.  By 2030, 58% of the world population will be obese and/or over weight.  Research within the US has seen a correlation within the rise in obese and morbidly obese individuals and deaths from other causes, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and simple reductions in longevity.

Various studies have found that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) play a large role in increasing risk factors for these disorders in relation to obesity.  We are investigating whether mutations in proteins that affect obesity (such as the alpha-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase FTO) cause a decrease in function, while mutations in proteins that affect weight gain/BMI (such as Obestatin and Ghrelin) result in an increase in function.  We are developing computational modeling techniques to observe these phenomena.  Preliminary selection of a subset of the SNPs and the computational process suggests that the change in amino acid structure and sequence are indicative of the change in function.  This seminar will focus on the use of molecular modeling programs such as SYBYL-X-1.2 and molecular dynamics simulations using NAMD as tools in this research.

Journal Club Meets This Week

Journal Club meets this Thursday at noon in Mudd 171 to discuss a paper relating to this week’s seminar.  Go to the following for information about what to read beforehand:  http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/chem/events/?category=171005&no_search=1.

Geology Department
COMPRES Distinguished Lecturer Series

Friday, April 22, 2011
12:00 p.m.
Mudd 73

Wendy Panero
Ohio State University

The New Mineralogy and Chemistry of the Earth’s Inner Core

Understanding the evolution of the Earth’s interior requires knowledge of the mineralogy, temperature and viscosity of the Earth’s inner core.  Recent seismic results showing significant yet heterogeneous seismic anisotropy for the inner core suggest that it is undergoing a dynamic process of unknown origin.

This talk presents new methods for measuring transport properties under the high-pressure, high-temperature conditions of the Earth’s core, combining synchrotron-based X-ray experiments at high pressure and temperature with post-run focused-ion beam milling and transmission electron microscopy.  Combined with models for texture evolution in metals, the mechanism by which the inner core develops and maintains anisotropy appears to be a combination of preferential growth in equatorial regions combined with solid-state deformation in response to mass variations in the Earth’s mantle.