Department of Chemistry
Seminar
Beverley Green
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Title: Algal genomics and the evolution of light-harvesting antennae
Host: Christiane Funk
Place: Lilla Hörsalen, KB3A9, KBC
Abstract:
The ocean is the new frontier in genomics research! The marine algae are particularly important because of their influence on global climate as well as their major contribution to the oceanic food web. The recently sequenced genomes of a number of these algae have illuminated the wide range of photosynthetic biodiversity in the ocean. Particularly interesting are the algae with chlorophyll a/c light-harvesting antennas, such as the diatoms and brown algae, which acquired their plastids by secondary endosymbiosis, and have derived new varieties of light-harvesting antennas.
Seminar
professor Kazuya Kikuchi
Osaka University
Graduate School of Engineering
WPI-Immunology Frontier Research Center
Osaka, Japan
Title: Design, synthesis and biological application of in vivo imaging probes with tunable chemical switches
Host: Gunnar Öquist
Place: KBC, Large Lecture hall "Stora hörsalen"
Abstract:
One of the great challenges in the post-genome era is to clarify the biological significance of intracellular molecules directly in living cells. If we can image a molecule in action, it is possible to acquire biological information, which is unavailable if we deal with cell homogenates. One possible approach is to design and synthesize chemical probes that can convert biological information to chemical output. Protein fluorescent labeling provides an attractive approach to study the localization and function of proteins in living cells. Recently, a specific pair of a protein tag and its ligand has been utilized to visualize a protein of interest (POI). In this method, a POI is fused with a protein tag and the tag is labeled with the ligand connected to a fluorescent molecule. The advantage of this protein labeling system is that a variety of fluorescent molecules are potentially available as labeling reagents, and that the protein tag is conditionally labeled with its fluorescent ligand. I have designed a protein labeling system that allows fluorophores to be linked to POI. The protein tag (BL-tag) is a mutant class A ?-lactamase (TEM-1) modified to be covalently bound to the designed specific labeling probes and the labeling probes is consisted with a ?-lactam ring (ampicillin, cephalosporin) attached to various fluorophores. A fluorogenetic labeling system can be designed using the unique property of cephalosporin, which release leaving group by subsequent reaction after opening the lactam ring. For further sophisticated application, multicolor imaging was done by adopting the colorful fluorophores.