Student Invited Inorganic Seminar: Hannah Shafaat, UCLA

Please join Yale Chemistry for a Silliman Seminar in Inorganic Chemistry, with Hannah Shafaat, Professor of Chemistry, from University of California, Los Angeles.

Title: TBA

Metalloenzymes catalyze the challenging chemical reactions that lie at the core of vital life processes, from carbon and nitrogen fixation to photosynthesis and respiration. Native metalloenzymes use only earth-abundant transition metals and operate under mild conditions, accessing reactivity that remains largely out of reach for synthetic systems. Given the importance of these fundamental processes in the context of energy, environment, sustainability, and human health, gaining molecular-level understanding into how metalloenzymes work is of the utmost importance. The Shafaat Research Group is currently targeting three primary areas within bioinorganic chemistry– 1) protein-based models of hydrogenase enzymes, 2) one-carbon conversion processes catalyzed by nickel metalloproteins, and 3) multielectron oxidative reactivity in heterobimetallic manganese-iron proteins. To address these challenges, the Shafaat Group uses a complementary suite of biological, chemical, and physical techniques, as shown below. These methods allow them to study all aspects of metalloenzyme reactivity, from the active site to global dynamical motion and beyond.

Hosted by Jieun Shin, Postdoctoral Associate in the Brudvig Group.

This seminar is generously sponsored by the Mrs. Hepsa Ely Silliman Memorial Fund.