Resolving a catalytic mechanism at an electrode surface with high time-resolution: Experimental identification of theoretical descriptors Abstract: Catalytic mechanisms at electrode surfaces guide the development of electrochemically-controlled energy storing reactions and chemical synthesis. The intermediate steps of these mechanisms are challenging to identify experimentally, but are critical to understanding the speed, stability, and selectivity of […]
“Strategies for Modulating Stabilities of Soft and Hard Hybrid Materials with Boron Clusters” Carbon chemistry is ubiquitous across the development of modern materials. In comparison, use of boron building blocks is underdeveloped, owing to the historic instability of simple boranes. Polyhedral boranes, however, fundamentally differ from their borane precursors and exhibit exceptional chemical stability as […]
Abstract: There is a global need for novel contraceptive methods because worldwide about 40% of pregnancies are still unintended, about 42 million pregnancies are terminated by abortion, and 658 women per day die of pregnancy-related problems in the US (CDC 2020). While many contraceptive options exist for women, fewer are available for men. Testosterone-based contraceptives […]
“Adventures with Atomic Materials: from Flexible/Wearable Electronics to Memory Devices"
Abstract: Respiratory viruses pose a persistent threat to public health and global economy. However, there is a lack of effective antiviral countermeasures against many of these highly transmissible pathogens. In this presentation, I will present a few projects on the development of small molecule antivirals against the influenza virus, enterovirus D68 (EV-D68), and SARS-CoV-2. Throughout […]
“Building dynamic, functional proteins to understand and treat disease”
Synthetic Approaches to Sustainable Polymers Abstract: Plastics have completely transformed our lives, while at the same time having a significant negative impact on our environment. Our research is aimed at developing synthetic approaches to more sustainable polymers. This talk will highlight two projects ongoing within our group. In one, we aim to make a processable, […]
A Tale of Two Doping Mechanisms: Controlling the Formation of Charge Transfer Complexes in Chemically Doped Semiconducting Polymers Doping of organic semiconductors has emerged as a viable route for the inexpensive fabrication of numerous electronic devices such as light emitting diodes, thin film transistors, and thermoelectric generators. The p-type doping of polymer based semiconductors like P3HT is achieved through […]
Abstract: Novel technologies, preparative methods and synthetic strategies often represent a critical part of the investigation of new design ideas for bioactive compounds. Traditionally, natural products were considered to be the most challenging targets, but frequently medicinal chemistry structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies are also limited in practice by synthetic tractability. This presentation will select two […]
“Elucidating cellular pathways controlling protein aggregation, spread and toxicity in neurodegenerative disease”
"Aggregology: Science beyond Molecules"
Abstract: To genetically introduce new chemical reactivity into live systems, we engineered the genetic code to encode a new class of unnatural amino acids (Uaas), the latent bioreactive Uaas. These Uaas, after being incorporated into proteins, specifically react with target natural amino acid residues via proximity-enabled reactivity, enabling the selective formation of new covalent linkages […]
