Chemistry & Biochemistry Seminars
Fall 2022
Utah State University
Kick off to the beginning of the school year, come learn about how to get involved in our new Chemistry and Biochemistry undergraduate student Association, our Career Builder Series, undergraduate Research, and get pumped up for the year ahead by mingling with fellow students, faculty, and staff.
Bio: Ryan Jackson uses structural biology, biophysics, and biochemistry to answer questions about nucleic acid biology. He has extensive experience determining structures of macromolecules and macromolecular complexes, including structures of multi-subunit CRISPR RNA-guided complexes.
Wardle Enterprises
Host: Jordan Truex/Lance Seefeldt
September 21, 2022 / Wednesday / 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. / ESLC 046
Bio: Dr. Robert Wardle is the principal at Wardle Enterprises: Energetics, Services & Technologies and previous senior director of Advanced Programs at Northrop Grumman, will be discussing the development of energetic materials and methods to use them. The discussion will include how discoveries, impact and ramifications come together and shape many aspects of our culture today, including how industrial chemical research is conducted and corporations are organized. he will also share perspective gained from a 35-year career industry.
Bio : Gregory Beutner earned a BS in Chemistry from Tufts University in Medford MA and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign under the direction of Prof. Scott Denmark in the area of Lewis base catalysis. He completed an NIH post-doctoral fellowship with Prof. Robert Grubbs at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena CA, working in the area of rhenium catalysis. He started his industrial career in 2006 as a process chemist at Merck in Rahway NJ. In 2011, he moved to his current position at Bristol Myers Squibb in New Brunswick NJ. As part of the Reaction Sciences group in Chemical Process Development, he uses physical organic chemistry to develop safe and scalable chemistry in a data-driven fashion. His work was recognized with the Organic Letters Outstanding Publication Award for 2019 and he is currently a member of the Editorial Advisory Board at Organic Letters.
Utah State University
Host: Lance Seefeldt
October 12, 2022 / Wednesday / 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. / ESLC 046
Bio : Yi has obtained his PhD in 2003 under the supervision of Dr. Hong-fei Wang, in Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science. In 2004, he joined Dr. Kenneth Eisentha’s group at Columbia University as a postdoctoral fellow, in the area of experimental nonlinear interfacial spectroscopy. After his postdoc, Yi continued his career as a research associate, in collaboration with Drs. Nicholas Turro and Kenneth Eisenthal at Columbia University. Before his independent career, Yi worked as a research associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at Temple University in 2014. Yi joined the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Utah State University as an assistant professor in 2017. His research interest is focused primarily on interfacial physical chemistry for environmental issues, solar energy conversion, and catalysis. Since 2017, Yi’s team has developed several state-of-the-arts interface-specific nonlinear optical spectroscopies for structures and dynamics at different interfaces. Yi is a recipient of National Science Foundation CAREER award.
Bio : David Ecker, armed with a Ph.D in biochemistry from USU, founded 3 companies, one of which created a functional cure for spinal muscular atrophy. He will discuss the science of precision genetic medicine and his journey on how to be a scientific entrepreneur.
Bio : Natarajan Kannan, associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Institute of Bioinformatics, employs a multi-disciplinary approach to understand fundamental functions of biomedically important protein families. His pioneering research addresses the evolutionary systems biology of protein kinases, which are enzymes that turn signals on and off in cells—a critical part of cell communication. Protein kinases are involved in a range of diseases from malaria to cancer. Kannan develops computational and experimental approaches to understand how natural sequence variation contributes to functional variation in protein kinases and how non-natural variation contributes to disease. With his interdisciplinary approach combining biochemistry and bioinformatics, he is advancing understanding of the mechanisms of protein kinase regulation and specificity, which are poised to advance ongoing drug development studies in this class of anti-cancer and infectious disease targets.
Bio : Medicinal Chemistry doctorate and a Biotech Engineer who loves tackling challenges and figuring out innovative solutions. I would love to combine my life science background, investment diligence experience and analytical skills in helping bridge the gap between life sciences and business.
Utah State University
November 16, 2022 / Wednesday / 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Utah State University
November 30, 2022 / Wednesday / 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Utah State University
December 7, 2022 / Wednesday / 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.