Past Seminars & Events

Professor Erin E. Carlson
Department of Chemistry
University of Minnesota
Host: Professor Mark Distefano
Abstract

Chemical Microbiology: Tools for the Translation and Control of Bacterial Behavior

With the “age of antibiotics” in the 1940s, many believed that we had conquered pathogenic microbes. However, it quickly became apparent that the ability of bacteria to evolve resistance had been sorely underestimated. Today, infectious diseases are the leading cause of death in low-income countries and the death toll is projected to outpace cancer in the United States by 2050. To address this mounting challenge, our group is uniting tools from chemistry and biology to explore, exploit, and control microbial behavior. 

Microbes adapt to ever changing environments while cooperating with and defending against numerous species, invading hosts, and thriving over a vast range of conditions. This success stems from their ability to sense and respond to diverse environmental cues, including trace nutrients and signals from neighboring biota. Given the extraordinary ability of microbes to respond to myriad stimuli, the focus of my research program is to interrupt bacterial signaling processes and control bacterial actions, with particular focus on the expression of virulence and pathogenesis factors that lead to significant morbidity and mortality. This strategy is in direct contrast to traditional antimicrobial discovery efforts that aim to simply kill bacteria, which results in the rapid evolution of resistance. This seminar will touch on four intersecting research areas to generate a deeper understanding of how to manipulate bacterial behavior and eliminate infectious disease: 

1. Development of chemical tools for the profiling and inhibition of histidine kinases, a ubiquitous class of signal transduction proteins in bacteria. Our inhibitors possess anti-virulence activity in multiple high-priority pathogens, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
2. Design of chemical probes to expand our understanding of the penicillin-binding proteins, crucial players in bacterial cell wall biosynthesis and targets of the most widely used class of antibiotics, the β-lactams. Our probes enable the selective investigation of each PBP isoform, with focus on spatial mapping of their catalytic function.
3. Assessment of the effects of engineered nanoparticles on biomolecules and microbes. We have generated the first evidence of the evolution of permanent bacterial resistance to complex metal oxide nanoparticles.
4. Development of strategies to explore the molecular language, natural products, used by bacteria to respond to environmental cues through mass spectrometry and chemoselective reagents. These tools enable molecule discovery and characterization of secondary metabolites from myriad sources.

Professor Carlson

Professor Carlson earned her bachelor's degree from St. Olaf College and her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin. She was a post-doctoral researcher at The Scripps Research Institute before joining the faculty at Indiana University in 2008. In the summer of 2014, she joined the faculty in the Chemistry Department at the University of Minnesota, and was appointed as a graduate faculty member of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, and the graduate program in Biomedical Informatics and Computational Biology.

Since the start of her independent career, Carlson has won numerous awards, including being named a Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) recipient, a Pew Biomedical Scholar, the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, the Indiana University Outstanding Junior Faculty Award, the NSF CAREER Award, the Cottrell Scholar Award and was named a Sloan Research Fellow and an Indiana University Dean's Fellow. Professor Carlson has been highlighted in several videos including one produced by NBC in their Science Behind The News series, a fast-paced video series supported by the National Science Foundation. This piece was one of five videos highlighting work funded by NSF's Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences. She was also featured in a "Brilliant Minds" video. Carlson was also named one of "Tomorrow's PIs" in the sixth annual issue of Genome Technology and received the Outstanding Postdoctoral Mentor Award from the University of Minnesota Postdoctoral Association in 2017.

Professor Joseph J. Topczewski
Department of Chemistry
University of Minnesota
Host: Professor Steven Kass
Abstract

Azides and heterocycles: Fun with dynamic chemistry and reactive intermediates

Chiral amines and heterocycles are ubiquitous motifs in chemical synthesis. The efficient synthesis of certain chiral amines and heterocycles remain a tremendous challenge. Presented herein is an unusual approach to chiral amine synthesis that utilizes the spontaneous rearrangement of allylic azides (Winstein Rearrangement). One component of the equilibrating mixture can be selectively trapped, establishing the amine bearing stereocenter. However, accomplishing this in practice requires high levels of selectivity and the simultaneous application of numerous control elements. Approaches to enabling selectivity will be described along with synthetic applications of the reactions, including in the synthesis of heterocyclic products. 

Research

Professor Joseph Topczewski's research lab aims to invent transformative synthetic methods to reduce chemical waste generation, while simultaneously redefining how chemists approach making medicines. His researcher discovers and optimizes innovative synthetic methods to address this 21st century challenge. Superior methods i) prevent unnecessary resource consumption, ii) minimize the generation of chemical waste, and iii) provide access to new chemical space. New chemical space contains molecular diversity with unknown potential. Current research focuses on i) enhancing chiral amine synthesis, ii) discovering salt-free coupling reactions, and iii) improving access to bromodomain inhibitors. These focus areas address specific longstanding synthetic challenges. The methods provide unique access to untapped chemical space, which researchers are exploring through collaboration for medicinal chemistry applications.

Professor Topczewski

Professor Joseph Topczewski earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin at Parkside, and his doctorate from the University of Iowa. He was a post-doctoral research at the University of Iowa and Michigan before joining the Department of Chemistry at the University of Minnesota in 2015.

Departmental Seminar Kickoff
Professor Marc Hillmyer
Department of Chemistry
University of Minnesota
Host: Professor Valérie Pierre
Abstract

Sustainable aliphatic polyester block polymers from start to finish

In this presentation I will highlight the importance and impact of fundamental, basic research on the next-generation of sustainable polymeric materials using aliphatic block polymers as examples. I will discuss the origins, synthesis, properties, recycling, and degradation of these new advanced materials. I will also emphasize how integration of the chemical sciences in a cooperative and collaborative way plays an essential role in advancing the field of sustainable polymers, a philosophy we embrace with our work in the NSF Center for Sustainable Polymers.

Research

Professor Hillmyer's research group focuses on the design, synthesis, characterization, and applications of advanced macromolecular materials. We strive to establish structure-property relationships and to discover and develop technologically important applications of polymers. We use modern polymer synthesis techniques that include various controlled polymerizations and selective polymer modifications, and these synthetic efforts provide the foundation for most projects. Ultimately, we aim to combine contemporary polymer synthesis with detailed molecular, morphological and property characterization to expand our knowledge of fundamental polymer science and advance new technologies. 

Professor Hillmyer

Professor Hillmyer received his Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the University of Florida in 1989 and his doctorate in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1994. After completing a postdoctoral research position in the University of Minnesota’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, he joined the chemistry faculty at Minnesota in 1997. He is currently the McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Chemistry and leads a research group focused on the synthesis and self-assembly of multifunctional polymers. In addition to his teaching and research responsibilities, he served as an associate editor for the ACS journal Macromolecules from 2008-2017, and is currently the editor-in-chief of Macromolecules. He is the director of the Center for Sustainable Polymers headquartered at the University of Minnesota, a National Science Foundation Center for Chemical Innovation.

Professor Jessica Lamb
Department of Chemistry
University of Minnesota
Host: Poly/PMSE Student Chapter

Zoom
Meeting ID: 915 3936 5139
Passcode: 1WSG1Y

Abstract

Studying Mechanism and Methodology of Controlled Polymerizations

Understanding the mechanisms of polymerizations is vital to designing robust techniques towards polymers with targeted characteristics. In this talk, I will discuss two projects where we performed mechanistic experiments to more fully understand two very different polymerization systems. In the first, 13C-labeled α-olefin monomers were used to monitor both insertion and "chain-walking" of nickel α-diimine catalysts under different conditions. We then interpreted the 13C NMR spectra using a mathematical model to differentiate between eight unique insertion pathways to better correlate ligand structure with polymer branching architecture. In the second project, we explored additive-free, photocontrolled radical polymerizations of acrylates and acrylamides in completely open vials. Going against conventional wisdom, we discovered that polymers with decent molecular weight and narrow dispersities could be obtained without a photocatalyst in 1 hour, enabled by high light intensity, large reaction volume, no stirring, and DMSO as the solvent.

Professor Lamb

Professor Lamb received her Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the University of North Dakota before going on to get her master's and doctorate in chemistry at Cornell University as a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow. There, she primarily worked in small molecule catalysis but also contributed to some polymer methodology and mechanism projects. She expanded her experience in polymers and materials chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow. She joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in the summer of 2020, where she hopes to build a group that studies new ways to make polymers through catalysis, physical organic chemistry, and mechanistic studies.