Chemical Biology: Unlocking Nature's Secrets
University of Minnesota NIH Training Grant Symposium
Chemical Biology Initiative Event
June 1, 2005
Symposium Speakers
Scott A. Strobel
Keynote SpeakerScott A. Strobel is a professor at Yale in the Departments of Molecular Biophysics, Biochemistry and Chemistry. His educational background includes a B.A. from Brigham Young University and a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology. He was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Fellow.
Research in his group focuses on understanding the chemical basis of RNA structure and function. They take a bioorganic approach by combining the tools of molecular biology and synthetic organic chemistry. His primary research focus is the study of catalytic RNAs including the ribosome, the group I intron, and small self-cleaving ribozymes. The goal is to understand the mechanisms of RNA catalysis including the role played by specific nucleoside functional groups and metal ions.
Valeria Culotta
Dr. Valeria Culotta is a professor in the department of Environmental Health Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Culotta received her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Culotta’s research interest focuses on the role of metal ions in biology and in disease. Her lab uses molecular genetic approaches to clone and characterize several genes involved in metal trafficking in yeast. In particular, Dr. Culotta and colleagues discovered the CCS copper chaperone protein responsible for transporting copper to the superoxide dismutase enzyme (SOD1). Mutations in human SOD1 is believed to be responsible for amyotrophiclateral sclerosis (ALS), known as Lou Gehrigs disease. Her discovery of how copper is chaperoned within the cell to the SOD1 has given researchers a viable target for potential drug therapies to treat ALS.
Blake Peterson
Dr. Blake Peterson is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at Penn State, University Park, PA. His educational background includes a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Nevada and a Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was a Damon Runyon Walter Winchell Postdoctoral Fellow in Chemical Biology at Harvard University. His awards in 2004 include a Camille Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award, a Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Concept Award, and a Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Idea Award. He was also an invited speaker at the 2004 Chemistry and Biology of Peptides Gordon Conference.
Research in the Peterson lab is focused on synthesis and evaluation of biologically-active small molecules. One major research thrust focuses on the construction of compounds that mimic receptors found on the surface of living mammalian cells. These compounds are used to probe and manipulate biological systems as part of a strategy termed "synthetic receptor targeting". Other research projects underway include the synthesis of anticancer ligands of nuclear receptors and antiviral nucleosides that function as lethal mutagens.
Jon D. Stewart
Dr. Jon D. Stewart is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Florida. Dr. Stewart received both a B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry at Bucknell University. He then went on to receive his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Cornell University. Before continuing onto the University of Florida, Dr. Stewart was a Helen Hay Whitney Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Penn State University. His professional activities include being the North American Editor of Journal of Molecular Catalysis B: Enzymatic, organizer of the Florida Environmental Chemistry Conference (Palm Coast, FL, 1 – 5 December 1998), co-organizer of Frontiers in Bioorganic Chemistry (Penn State University, 11 – 13 June 1999), and co-chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Biocatalysis (July 7-12, 2002).
Dr. Stewart’s lab is focused on the construction and application of engineered microorganisms for asymmetric organic synthesis, particularly ketone reductions and Baeyer-Villiger oxidations. His lab is also interested in the use of directed evolution to improve enzyme enantioselectivity. Additional research projects currently underway in the Stewart lab may be viewed at his lab’s research web page listed below.
Claudia Schmidt-Dannert
Dr. Claudia Schmidt-Dannert is an assistant professor here at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics. She received her B.S. in Biology, followed by her M.S. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany. She continued her research at the Institute of Technical Biochemistry at the University of Stuttgart as a Postdoctoral Associate, eventually becoming the Head of Molecular Biotechnology Group. Prior to accepting a faculty position here at the U of M, Dr. Schmidt-Dannert was awarded a habilitation-fellowship from the German Science Foundation to conduct research on in vitro pathway evolution. As part of Frances Arnold's group at the California Institute of Technology, she worked on molecular breeding of carotenoid biosynthetic pathways.
Research in the Schmidt-Dannert group is focused on the development of novel metabolic pathways for the production of new and useful compounds. In particular, the techniques of metabolic engineering and in vitro molecular evolution are currently being applied to two important classes of natural products: Terpenoids and Porphyrins.
T. Andrew Taton
Dr. Andrew Taton is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry here at the University of Minnesota. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from Yale University and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard University. Following his work as Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University, he accepted a faculty position here at the U of M.
Research in the Taton laboratory explores the interface of nanomaterials science, polymer chemistry, and chemical biology, focusing on finding general chemistries to connect nano-objects to biological molecules. Using these technologies, the Taton group develops many novel materials, including sensors, nanocomposites, and drug delivery vehicles.
