A new computational biology seminar series began on January 22, 2008.  This free seminar series is open to all faculty and students.  The series brings together WSU leaders in the development and use of computational techniques, with emphasis on molecular mechanics and quantum mechanical methods, to study the conformational properties of macromolecules in solutions, and to determine the energetics and mechanisms of enzymatic reactions in living cells.

Future seminars include:

February 20, 2008, 3:00 p.m., 2009 Science Hall:  Bernie Brooks, Senior Investigator, Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Institutes of Health, “Multi-scale Methods for Macromolecular Systems in Computational Biophysics”

March 5, 2008, 3:00 p.m., 2009 Science Hall:  Jiali Gao, Professor of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, “Mechanisms, reaction coordinates and free energies of enzymatic reactions”

March 18, 2008, 12:00 noon, 2268 Scott Hall:  Sharon Hammes-Schiffer, Eberly Professor of Biotechnology and Professor of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, “Hydrogen Tunneling and Protein Motion in Enzyme Reactions”

March 19, 2008, 3:00 p.m., 2009 Science Hall:  Sharon Hammes-Schiffer, Eberly Professor of Biotechnology and Professor of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, “Nuclear-Electronic Orbital Approach: Including Nuclear Quantum Effects in Electronic Structure Calculations”

April 1, 2008, 12:00 noon, 2268 Scott Hall:  Richard Friesner, Professor of Chemistry, Columbia University, “Computational Modeling of Protein Active Site Chemistry Using Density Functional Theory and Mixed QM/MM Methods”

April 2, 2008, 3:00 p.m., 2009 Science Hall:  Richard Friesner, Professor of Chemistry, Columbia University, “Title to be Announced”

April 30, 2008, 3:00 p.m., 2009 Science Hall:  Weitao Yang, Philip Handler Professor of Chemistry, Duke University, “Free Energies of Chemical Reactions in Solution and in Enzymes with Ab-initio Quantum Mechanics/Molecular Mechanics Methods”

For more information about the seminar series, please contact seminar hosts, Domenico Gatti, M.D., Ph.D. associate professor, Biochemistry, School of Medicine, at dgatti@med.wayne.edu, or Bernhard Schlegel, professor, Chemistry, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at aa0023@wayne.edu.