UCLA

gBSA Summer Seminar - Dr. Sean Shen
2021-08-20 15:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Sean Shen– AlumniLoo Group(2016)Process Development ScientistAmgen, Camarillo, CA

gBSA Summer Seminar - Dr. Kristen Koch
2021-08-13 15:30
Kristen Koch– AlumniKoehler Group (2007)Senior Business AnalystCGH Technologies, Inc., Manassas, VA

CIC Careers in Green Chemistry Seminar Series
2021-08-12 13:00, 2021-07-22 13:00
The Center for Integrated Catalysis is hosting a new seminar series called the “Careers in Green Chemistry.” With these webinars, we aim to bring speakers from a wide variety of careers, linked through green chemistry, to come talk about their current job as well as the career path that led them to that position. We are pleased to invite all students, postdocs, and faculty.

gBSA Summer Seminar - Dr. Phil McFadden
2021-08-06 15:30
Phil McFadden– AlumniClarke Group (1983)Associate ProfessorOregon State University, Corvallis, OR

gBSA Summer Seminar - Dr. Alexander Patananan
2021-07-30 15:30
Alexander Patananan– AlumniClarke Group (2014)Medical Communication ManagerAmgen, Palmdale, CA

gBSA Summer Seminar - Dr. Alex Bradley
2021-07-23 15:30
Alex Bradley– AlumniQuinlan Group (2019)Sr. Life Science SpecialistL. E. K. Consulting, Los Angeles, CA

SoCal Merck Symposium 2021
2021-07-19 13:00
SoCal Merck Symposium 2021

Caltech, UCLA, UC Irvine, and Merck

July 19, 2021, 1:00 to 6:00 pm PST

Event Program (all times PST)

1:00 pm – Carly Brennan, Prescher Group, UCI – Multicomponent Bioluminescence Imaging with Naphthylamino Luciferins
1:20 pm – Nick Hafeman, Stoltz Group, Caltech – The Total Synthesis of (–)-Scabrolide A
1:40 pm – Dr. Makeda Tekle-Smith, Doyle Group, UCLA – Nucleophilic C(sp3)–H Fluorination
2:00 – 2:10 pm – Break
2:10 – 2:20 pm – Molecule of the Month (MOM) rapid pitch presentations
2:20 – 3:00 pm – MOM poster session on GatherTown
3:00 – 3:10 pm – Break
3:10 pm – Andrew Kelleghan, Garg Group, UCLA – Intercepting Fleeting Cyclic Allenes with Transition Metal Catalysis
3:30 pm – Karli Holman, Reisman Group, Caltech – Synthetic Studies Toward Falcatin A
3:50 pm – Alex Lu, Dong Group, UC Irvine – Dynamic Kinetic Intermolecular Hydroacylation
4:10 – 4:20 pm – Break
4:20 pm – Dr. Andrew Neel, Associate Principal Scientist, Merck Process Chemistry – Sampling the Catalytic Spectrum to Deliver an Ideal Manufacturing Route to STING agonist MK-1454
5:00 pm – MOM winners presentation
5:10 – 6:00 pm – GatherTown poster session
WebEx link: https://merck.webex.com/merck/j.php?MTID=ma70457450bbe7498dfeefc56b608c96a
Meeting number (access code): 131 835 7557
Meeting password: [REDACTED]
GatherTown link: https://gather.town/app/tmhgx8fnOwrrwT14/2021%20SoCalMerckSymposium
Password: [REDACTED]

NSF Center for Integrated Catalysis Webinar Series
2021-07-06 10:00
The NSF Center for Integrated Catalysis is delighted to announce that it will be hosting a monthly webinar series. The next webinar of this series will be held on Tuesday, July 6th, 2021 at 10:00 AM. We are pleased to invite all students, postdocs, faculty, and staff.

The 2021 Organic Graduate Symposium
2021-06-11 13:00
On Friday, June 11, the 2021 Organic Graduate Symposium featured research talks by twelve of this year’s UCLA chemistry graduate students. The Organic Graduate Symposium is an event that provides a forum for organic chemistry graduate students who are within one year of obtaining their Ph.D. to present their dissertation research at UCLA to their peers, researchers, and faculty. The Organic Graduate Symposium is open to the UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry affiliates and their families.

Chem 218 Student Exit Seminar: Michael LeClaire
2021-06-10 12:00
“Biophysical Characterization of Cancer-Derived Cells and Extracellular Vesicles”
ABSTRACT: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a class of lipid bilayer enclosed particles secreted by most mammalian cells, and are found ubiquitously in body fluids such as plasma and cerebrospinal fluid. EVs contain molecular signatures of their secreting host cells, and are involved in long-range intercellular communication and transfer of biomolecular cargo. There is significant potential for EVs to be used as biomarkers for specific cancers, and their involvement in long-range intercellular communication holds promise for their use as targeted drug delivery vehicles. However, EVs’ nanoscale size and heterogeneity (30-1000 nm) and the choice of isolation methods confound the structural, biophysical, and surface biochemical analysis of single vesicles. Here, we focus on the characterization of single small extracellular vesicle (sEV) (40-160 nm) structural-mechanical properties by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and other methods. We examined the impact of isolation methods on the biophysical heterogeneity of single sEVs, including their nanoscale morphology and the presence of co-isolates. We also investigated the structural-mechanical properties of breast cancer cell line-derived sEVs and their secreting cells, finding that breast-cancer derived sEVs reflect the biomechanical signature of the cancer cells that secrete them, and identify similar trends in patient plasma derived EV like particles. Finally, we demonstrated the applicability of AFM-based single sEV analysis as an efficient tool to quantify the abundance, structure, and biomechanical properties of sEVs from limited volume patient cerebrospinal fluid. Overall, this work advances the understanding of single sEV structural-mechanical properties and provides a framework to assess sEV quality and purity.

Chem 278 Prof. Duan Research Group Seminar
2021-06-09 16:00
“Ultrathin Wavy Nanowires as Highly Efficient Anode Electrocatalysts for Fuel Cell Application”
Abstract: Direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs) are of tremendous interests for their higher volumetric energy density, safer storage, transport, and lower cost vs. hydrogen. However, the anode alcohol oxidation reactions are less kinetically favorable and require noble metal based electrocatalysts, which are costly and limits the widespread adoption. Therefore, an important challenge is to develop highly efficient electrocatalysts with high mass activity (MA) to lower the required amount of noble metal and the overall cost. Ultrathin wavy nanowires represent a class of attractive electrocatalysts with high specific surface area, rich catalytic hotspots and excellent charge transport. In this talk, I will discuss my effort in the design, synthesis and characterizations of the ultrathin Rh wavy nanowires and ultrathin alloy Pt3Ag wavy nanowires as highly effective electrocatalysts for the alcohol oxidation reactions, by considering the most fundamental design criteria to simultaneously improve the specific activity (SA) and the electrochemical active surface area (ECSA). In addition, I will briefly discuss my ongoing effort to extend this system to Rh/Ni(OH)2 wavy nanowires and high entropy alloy wavy nanowires for the oxidation reactions of alcohols and hydrazine.

NSF Center for Integrated Catalysis Webinar Series
2021-06-08 13:00
The NSF Center for Integrated Catalysis is delighted to announce that it will be hosting a monthly webinar series. The next webinar of this series will be held on Tuesday, June 8th, 2021 at 1:00 PM. We are pleased to invite all students, postdocs, faculty, and staff.

Chem 268: Samantha Zink Kozlowski
2021-06-04 15:30
Rodriguez Group
“Probing amyloid structure and function through designed fibril cores”

The 2021 Organic Graduate Symposium
2021-06-04 13:00
On Friday, June 4, the 2021 Organic Graduate Symposium featured research talks by eleven of this year’s UCLA chemistry graduate students. The Organic Graduate Symposium is an event that provides a forum for organic chemistry graduate students who are within one year of obtaining their Ph.D. to present their dissertation research at UCLA to their peers, researchers, and faculty. The Organic Graduate Symposium is open to the UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry affiliates and their families.

Chem 218 Student Exit Seminar: Arkaprabha Basu
2021-06-03 12:00
“Quantifying the Actin Cytoskeleton: A non-invasive image quantification tool to identify and track sub-cellular processes in real-time”

Chem 278 Prof. Kaner Research Group Seminar
2021-06-02 16:00
Lisa Pangilinan
“Effects of Solubility and Grain Size Refinement on the Hardness of Transition Metal Borides”

Mit Muni

“Graphene for Capacitive Energy Storage”

POSTPONED - Chem 268: Paul Sieminski
2021-05-28 15:30
Zhou Group
“TBA”

Chemical Synthesis and Study of Noncanonical Membrane Lipids
2021-05-27 16:00
Lipid membranes are universal features of living systems, constituting inner and outer barriers of a biological construct and maintaining non-equilibrium states necessary for life. Evolution has produced a fascinating array of lipid structures that dictate the function of biological membranes, and organisms devote considerable energy to the synthesis and maintenance of such compositions. Our group has been studying some of the most exotic lipids observed to date, representing a radical departure from the canonical hydrocarbons that dominate almost all prokaryotic and eukaryotic membranes. While minute amounts have been obtainable from natural sources for structural characterization, pure quantities of such lipids for function-related studies have not. Our work has established strategies for accessing different classes of noncanonical membrane lipids. Success in this vein has resulted in controllable access to single enantiomers of amphiphilic molecules with routes that are flexible enough to allow for the additional production of non-natural analogues.

Chem 218 Student Exit Seminar: Yuting Miao
2021-05-27 12:00
Super-Resolution imaging of plasmonic Near-fields: Overcoming Emitter Mislocalizations

Chem 278: Prof. Sen Zhang
2021-05-26 16:00
“Atomically Precise Nanocrystal Surfaces and Interfaces for Electrocatalysis”
Catalysis at surfaces and interfaces where there exists bi- or multi-component cooperation has been identified as crucial for many processes related to energy and environmental applications. In this talk, I will highlight such cooperative catalysis can be synthetically controlled at the surface and interface of atomically precise nanocrystals, and can play critical roles in maximizing the benefit of oxygen-mediated energy conversion reactions: oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for fuel cells and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) for water electrolyzer. The first example is M-Pt (M=non-precious metals) core-shell nanocrystals within which desirable/undesirable interfaces between non-precious metal M core and precious metal Pt shell were identified by theoretical calculations and were experimentally balanced by nanocrystal synthesis. The optimized core-shell nanocrystals exhibited favorable interfacial interaction through properly coupled electronic and strain effects, leading to an enhanced electrocatalytic efficiency towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). In the second example, we modulated the interaction of single-site Co, Fe, Ni catalytic centers and inorganic coordination environments in the surface of nanocrystals for electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The seamless integration of controlled synthesis of nanocrystals, operando structural/catalytic characterization, and advanced theoretical calculation for oxygen electrocatalyst development will be discussed, which will also be extended to other electrocatalytic processes (e.g. CO2 reduction and biomass-derived molecule upgrading).

Modulating the conformation and function of disease-relevant RNA with small molecules
2021-05-25 16:00
Abstract: Small molecules offer a unique opportunity to target structural and regulatory elements in therapeutically relevant RNAs, but understanding functional selectivity has been a recurrent challenge in small molecule:RNA recognition. In particular, RNAs tend to be more dynamic and offer less chemical functionality than proteins, and biologically active ligands must compete with the highly abundant and highly structured RNA of the ribosome. Indeed, the first small molecule drug targeting RNA other than the ribosome was just approved by the US FDA in August of 2020. Our recent survey of the literature revealed little more than one hundred reported chemical probes that target non-ribosomal RNA in biological systems.
As part of our efforts to improve small molecule targeting strategies and gain fundamental insights into small molecule:RNA recognition, we have analyzed patterns in both RNA-biased small molecule chemical space and RNA topological space privileged for differentiation. We have applied these principles to functionally modulate conformations of 3’-triple helix of the long noncoding RNA MALAT1 as well as an enterovirus (EV71) IRES structure, the latter in collaboration with the labs of Blanton Tolbert (Case Western Reserve University) and Gary Brewer and Mei-Ling Li (Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School). We have recently translated our success in developing an RNA-targeted antiviral for EV71 to targeting regulatory RNA in SARS-CoV-2.

Chem 228: Prof. Zdenka Kuncic
2021-05-24 16:00
“Harnessing nano-scale functionality for next-generation biomedical and bio-inspired technologies”

Chem 268: Nicole Lynn
2021-05-21 15:30
Torres Group
“Functional characterization of the mammalian family of Katanin microtubule-severing enzymes”

Mechanism-guided discovery of photocontrolled materials and reactions
2021-05-20 12:00
Abstract: The Kalow lab interrogates and exploits the relationship between molecular reactivity and macroscopic properties to discover polymeric materials relevant to human health and sustainability. We approach “reactivity-property” relationships bidirectionally: in reactivity-directed materials discovery, we use synthesis and physical organic chemistry to tune reactions occurring within polymer networks. In polymer networks composed of reversible covalent bonds, we translate changes in reactivity into macroscopic responses, ranging from repair in self-healing elastomers to photocontrolled stiffness in adaptable hydrogels. In properties-directed reaction discovery, we design photochemical reaction mechanisms that target desirable photophysical properties. Based on this principle, we have discovered a catalyst-free photopolymerization to produce n-type π-conjugated polymers, and a selective photoinduced cross-coupling of polyhalogenated dyes. Across these projects, light provides precise, tunable, and noninvasive spatiotemporal control over molecular reactivity.

Chem 218 Student Exit Seminar: Andrew Dawson
2021-05-20 12:00
Enabling High Capacity Anodes and Cathodes for Li-Ion Batteries

Chem 278 Prof. Diaconescu Research Group Seminar
2021-05-19 16:00
Ruxi Dai “Redox switchable catalysts for the preparation of biodegradable copolymers with novel properties”
Amy Lai “Predicting redox-switchable reactivity for the ring opening polymerization of lactones and epoxides”

Synthetic polypeptide-based materials for biological applications
2021-05-18 16:00
Abstract: As more attention is focused on biomaterials for medical applications, synthetic polypeptides offer a useful approach towards designing novel biomimetic materials. Polypeptides are inherently biodegradable and biocompatible, and offer wide-ranging properties seen in living systems. The peptide backbone is enzymatically degradable while their side chain functionality can be modified to create an array of stimuli-responsive materials. Here, I will present work on unnatural amino acids incorporated into synthetic polypeptides to design new biomaterials, including vesicles, hydrogels, and coacervates. Synthesis of these materials are modular and can be processed into an assortment of self-assembled macromolecular structures through secondary structure and self-assembly, relevant for stem cell therapies, gene and protein therapeutics, and imaging guides, among many other biomedical applications.

Chem 228: Prof. Suzanne E. Paulson
2021-05-17 16:00
“Aerosol particles out in the world: Wildfire smoke, traffic hotspots, SARS CoV-19, & Cloud droplet chemistry.”

Chem 268: Samuel Demario
2021-05-14 16:00
Chanfreau Group
“Substrate specificity of the Yeast TRAMP complex”
