“Protein & RNA Chemistry: Views from Inside & Outside Cells” by Professor Gary J. Pielak, Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of North Carolina. Monday, December 9th @ 3:00 pm, LSC #3, 2350 Health Sciences Mall
BMBDG Seminars: Gary J Pielak, Dec 9 @ 3:00 pm
2013 Michael John Page Postdoctoral Fellow Award
The Michael John Page Postdoctoral Fellow Award recognizes a Postdoctoral Fellow who reflects Dr. Pages academic excellence and his passion for life. Dr. Julien Bergeron is our inaugural recipient.
BMBDG Seminar: Thierry Vernet, Nov 21 @3:00 pm
“Making peptidoglycan from a Gram positive bacteria in a test tube”, by Thierry Vernet, Pneumococcus Group Leader, Institut de Biologie Structurale, Grenoble, France. Thursday, November 21, @ 3:00 pm, LSC #3, 2350 Health Sciences Mall
BMBDG Seminar: James Fraser, Dec 2 @3:00 pm
“Some like it hot: Protein Ensembles from X-ray Crystallography” by James Fraser, Assistant Professor, Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, California Institute of Quantitative Biosciences, University of California San Francisco. Monday, December 2, @ 3:00 pm, LSC #3, 2350 Health Sciences Mall
BMBDG Seminar: Tara L Klassen, Nov 25 @3:00 pm
“Structural channotyping: Homology models and genetic risk prediction in epilepsy” by Tara L Klassen, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UBC. Monday, November 25 @ 3:00 pm, LSC #3, 2350 Health Sciences Mall
November Convocation
Congratulations Biochem grads!! Fall Graduation a time to celebrate your momentous achievements. UBC will be conferring MSc and PhD degrees on Friday, November 29th at 9:00 a.m.
BMBDG Seminar: Gaurav Sahay – Jan 27 @3:00 pm
“Cellular factors that impact drug delivery,” Dr. Gaurav Sahay, Post-Doctoral Associate, MIT.
BMBDG Seminar: Metka Lenassi – Nov 18 3:00 pm
“A fungus on a high salt diet, and what its genome tells us about it,” by Dr. Metka Lenassi, Institute of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Ljubljana. Monday, November 18, @ 3:00 pm, LSC #3, 2350 Health Sciences Mall
Jonathan Penfield – Completed MSc Thesis
Congratulations Jonathan! Jonathan successfully defend his MSc thesis,“The substrate specificity and conformational flexibility of ketosteroid hydroxylases”. Jonathan studied in the Eltis lab.
Antonio Ruzzini’s research highlighted in Biochemistry
Some of Antonio Ruzzini’s PhD thesis work has been selected to be highlighted on Biochemistry’s website.
http://pubs.acs.org/journals/bichaw/index.html
“A substrate-assisted mechanism of nucleophile activation in a Ser-His-Asp containing C-C bond hydrolase.”
Author(s): Ruzzini, Antonio; Bhowmik,Shiva; Ghosh, Subhangi; Yam, Katherine; Bolin, Jeffrey; Eltis, Lindsay
Published in American Chemical Society Journal Biochemistry. Biochemistry. 2013 52:7428-38.
Summary
Meta-Cleavage product (MCP) hydrolases are involved in the bacterial degradation of aromatic compounds and steroids: one homolog is a determinant in the degradation of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) while another is a potential target for novel therapeutics to treat TB. These enzymes utilize a Ser-His-Asp triad to catalyze the unusual hydrolysis of a carbon-carbon bond. In this study, we used kinetic, mutagenesis and structural approaches to demonstrate that the substrate plays a role in activating the catalytic serine for subsequent nucleophilic attack. This substrate-assisted mechanism of nucleophilic catalysis distinguishes MCP hydrolases from other serine hydrolases, and highlights the versatility of the catalytic triad.