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Biological Chemistry Seminar: Dr. Jeffrey Rudolf, University of Florida

Abstract: Terpenoids are the largest and most structurally diverse family of natural products and are a rich reservoir of pharmaceuticals, vitamins, flavors, fragrances, and biofuels. There are over 100,000 known terpenoids but less than 2% of these (≅1500) are of bacterial origin. Genomics, however, supports vast untapped biosynthetic potential for terpenoids in bacteria. Here, I will summarize some of our recent, unpublished work on genome mining for bacterial terpenoids and the enzymes that create these structurally complex small molecules.

CANCELLED: Biological Chemistry Seminar: Dr. Nina Hartrampf, University of Zurich

The protein MYC is an intrinsically disordered transcription factor that is upregulated in >50% of cancers and engages in numerous protein-protein interactions [1]. These interactions are often regulated through posttranslational modifications (PTMs) within MYC’s N-terminus (transactivation domain), most commonly (poly)phosphorylation. Studying these interactions on a molecular level requires proteins with unique and defined PTM patterns, which are challenging to obtain by recombinant methods [2].

César de la Fuente

César de la Fuente is a Presidential Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where he leads the Machine Biology Group. Previously, he pursued postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and earned a PhD at the University of British Columbia (UBC). His research goal is to use the power of machines to accelerate discoveries in biology and medicine.

Biological Chemistry Seminar: Dr. Laura Sanchez

In nature, small molecules are often produced by macro- and microorganisms in order to facilitate communication and drive biological processes to the benefit (or detriment) of the community as a whole. Chemical gradients and chemical cues via the production of small molecules are ubiquitous across biological systems and my lab has previously applied imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) to study these cues and gradients in microbial systems. IMS can detect molecular signatures of interest in a sample as well as their spatial distributions across the entire sample.

Biological Chemistry Seminar: Dr. Kathy Liu

My laboratory is interested in understanding enzyme-mediated RNA processing in sex-specific gene regulation. It has been demonstrated recently that a diverse set of enzyme-mediated modifications are found internally within RNAs, which markedly influence the fate of RNAs in the cell. Many enzymes responsible for regulating protein and DNA modifications are targets of current therapies. RNA epitranscriptomics, the study of RNA modifications, is the new frontier in this arena.

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