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Metals in Biology

Gordon Research Conference

January 28 - February 2, 2007
Chair Robert A. Scott
Vice Chair Julie A. Kovacs
Four Points Sheraton / Holiday Inn Express
1050 Schooner Drive
Ventura, California, United States
 Venue and Travel Information

Conference Description

Metals play many important roles in biological systems, from essential functional or structural cofactors in proteins, to environmental toxins. The Metals in Biology Gordon Research Conference is one of the longest-running GRCs (starting in 1962). It brings together researchers that span expertise from physical methods and synthetic chemistry through biology and biomedicine. The strength of this multidisciplinary group is reflected in the number of other GRCs that have "spun off" from Metals in Biology. Inorganic biochemistry continues to be an active and vibrant area, resulting in a perennial oversubscription to this GRC. To provide graduate students in this area with the possibility to participate, our community started the first Gordon Research Seminar (in Bioinorganic Chemistry), which has overlapped and met after the Metals in Biology GRC for over 10 years.

Julie Kovacs will Chair the 2008 conference and Peter Kroneck will Chair the 2009 conference.

Related Meeting

This GRC will be held in conjunction with the "Bioinorganic Chemistry" Gordon Research Seminar (GRS). Those interested in attending both meetings must submit an application for the GRS in addition to an application for the GRC. Refer to the associated GRS program page for more information.

Conference Program

SUNDAY
4:00 pm - 9:00 pmArrival and Check-in
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:00 pmMETALLOPROTEIN CRYSTAL STRUCTURES
7:30 pm - 7:45 pmRobert A. Scott (University of Georgia)
"Welcome & Introduction" / Introductory Comments by GRC Site Staff
Discussion Leader: David M. Dooley (Montana State University)
7:45 pm - 8:45 pm Hans C. Freeman (University of Sydney)
"Metalloprotein Crystal Structures: How To Find the Facts Despite the Pictures"
8:45 pm - 9:00 pm Discussion
9:00 pm - 9:20 pmHarry Gray (Caltech); Tom Spiro (Princeton); Jay Groves (Princeton)
"Ed Stiefel, Friend and Colleague"
9:20 pm Chair's Reception / Poster Session A
MONDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
8:30 amGroup Photo
9:00 am - 12:30 pmNONHEME IRON
Discussion Leader: Julie Kovacs (University of Washington)
9:00 am - 9:30 am J. Martin Bollinger (Pennsylvania State University)
"Novel mechanism of oxygen activation for C-H and C-C bond cleavage by a non-heme diiron cluster in myo-inositol oxygenase"
9:30 am - 9:45 am Discussion
9:45 am - 10:15 am Andrew S. Borovik (University of California, Irvine)
"Lessons from Nature: Utilizing Non-Covalent Interactions in the Activation of Dioxygen"
10:15 am - 10:25 am Discussion
10:25 am - 10:45 am Coffee Break
10:45 am - 11:00 am Short Presentation: Eckard Münck (Carnegie-Mellon University)
"Mössbauer, EPR and Density Functional Studies of an Fe(V)-oxo Complex"
11:00 am - 11:30 am John D. Lipscomb (University of Minnesota)
"Intermediates in Oxygenase Reactions - Art and Science"
11:30 am - 11:45 am Discussion
11:45 am - 12:15 pm Donald M. Kurtz, Jr. (University of Texas at San Antonio)
"Non-heme iron enzyme scavengers of diatomic oxygen and nitrogen species: avoiding high-valent iron intermediates"
12:15 pm - 12:30 pm Discussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 6:00 pmFree Time
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmNO CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGY
Discussion Leader: Ann M. English (Concordia University)
7:30 pm - 8:00 pm Bruce Demple (Harvard School of Public Health)
"Heme oxygenase regulation and function in NO resistance"
8:00 pm - 8:10 pm Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:40 pm Brian R. Crane (Cornell University)
"Bacterial Nitric Oxide Synthases"
8:40 pm - 8:50 pm Discussion
8:50 pm - 9:20 pm Nicholas J. Watmough (University of East Anglia)
"Bacterial NO reductase; cellular saviour and global bandit"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm Discussion
9:30 pm Poster Session A
TUESDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmMETAL-RADICAL CHEMISTRY
Discussion Leader: Catherine L. Drennan (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
9:00 am - 9:30 am Ruma Banerjee (University of Nebraska Lincoln)
"A Radical B12 Enzyme and Its Escorts"
9:30 am - 9:45 am Discussion
9:45 am - 10:15 am Wolfgang Buckel (Philipps-Universität, Marburg)
"The involvement of iron-sulfur clusters and radicals in the dehydrations of 2-and 4-hydroxyacyl-CoA"
10:15 am - 10:30 am Discussion
10:30 am - 11:00 am Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:30 am Kurt Warncke (Emory University)
"Structural and Dynamical Factors that Guide Radical Catalysis in B12 Enzymes"
11:30 am - 11:45 am Discussion
11:45 am - 12:15 pm Squire J. Booker (Pennsylvania State University)
"Kinetic Dissection of the Lipoyl Synthase Reaction"
12:15 pm - 12:30 pm Discussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 6:00 pmFree Time
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmMETALLOPROTEIN DESIGN & ENGINEERING
Discussion Leader: Yi Lu (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
7:30 pm - 8:00 pm Shigeru Negi (Doshisha Women's University)
"Designer zinc fingers: Tools for creating artificial DNA-binding functional proteins"
8:00 pm - 8:10 pm Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:40 pm Saltman Lecture: Brian R. Gibney (Columbia University)
"Elucidating the Biological Roles of Hemes a, b, c, d and o Via Protein Design"
8:40 pm - 8:50 pm Discussion
8:50 pm - 9:20 pm Michael Y. Ogawa (Bowling Green State University)
"Incorporating Electron-Transfer Functionality into Synthetic Metalloproteins"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm Discussion
9:30 pm Poster Session B
WEDNESDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmPHOTOSYSTEM II OXYGEN-EVOLVING COMPLEX
Discussion Leader: R. David Britt (University of California, Davis)
9:00 am - 9:30 am Jan Kern (Technical University of Berlin)
"Refined X-ray Structure of Photosystem II at 3.0 Å Resolution"
9:30 am - 9:45 am Discussion
9:45 am - 10:15 am Vittal K. Yachandra (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)
"Where Water is Oxidized to Oxygen: Structure of the Photosynthetic Mn4Ca Cluster"
10:15 am - 10:30 am Discussion
10:30 am - 11:00 am Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:30 am Wolfgang Lubitz (Max-Planck Institute for Bioinorganic Chemistry, Mülheim)
"Electronic structure of the water oxidizing complex in PS II as determined from Pulse EPR/ENDOR spectroscopy"
11:30 am - 11:45 am Discussion
11:45 am - 12:15 pm Richard J. Debus (University of California Riverside)
"FTIR Studies of the Oxygen-Evolving Complex in Photosystem II"
12:15 pm - 12:30 pm Discussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 6:00 pmFree Time
6:00 pmDinner
7:00 pm - 7:30 pmBusiness Meeting
(Nominations for the next Vice Chair; Fill out Conference Evaluation Forms; Discuss future Site & Scheduling preferences; Election of the next Vice Chair)
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmAPPLICATIONS OF TIME-RESOLVED TECHNIQUES
Discussion Leader: James E. Penner-Hahn (University of Michigan)
7:30 pm - 8:00 pm Brian Bennett (Medical College of Wisconsin)
"Rapid-freeze-quench and EPR of S = 3/2 Co(II): applications to metalloenzyme mechanisms"
8:00 pm - 8:10 pm Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:40 pm R. Brian Dyer (Los Alamos National Laboratory)
"Time-Resolved Infrared Studies of PCET"
8:40 pm - 8:50 pm Discussion
8:50 pm - 9:20 pm Holger Dau (Free University of Berlin)
"Reaction intermediates in photosynthetic water oxidation tracked by time-resolved X-ray spectroscopy"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm Discussion
9:30 pm Poster Session B
THURSDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmMETAL HOMEOSTASIS
Discussion Leader: Dennis R. Winge (University of Utah)
9:00 am - 9:30 am Valeria Culotta (Johns Hopkins University)
"Manganese sensing and trafficking in a eukaryotic cell"
9:30 am - 9:45 am Discussion
9:45 am - 10:15 am Lucia Banci (University of Florence)
"Metal specificity and metal-mediated interactions in metal transporting proteins"
10:15 am - 10:30 am Discussion
10:30 am - 11:00 am Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:30 am P. John Hart (University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio)
"The Novel Conformation of Nascent Superoxide Dismutase 1: Implications for Copper Chaperone Action and the Etiology of Familial ALS"
11:30 am - 11:45 am Discussion
11:45 am - 12:15 pm Marc Solioz (University of Bern)
"How bacteria deal with copper"
12:15 pm - 12:30 pm Discussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 6:00 pmFree Time
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmJOINT SESSION WITH GORDON RESEARCH SEMINAR
Discussion Leader: Robert A. Scott (University of Georgia)
7:30 pm - 8:30 pm Chris T. Walsh (Harvard University)
"Enzymatic Strategies for Halogenative Tailoring of Natural Product Scaffolds"
8:30 pm - 8:45 pm Discussion
8:45 pm Joint Poster Session (presented by the Gordon Research Seminar in Bioinorganic Chemistry)
FRIDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 amDepart

Conference Links

Conference History Bioinorganic Chemistry (GRS)
Additional Fee Info

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