Title: Emergent Properties from Dynamicity: Investigating Conformational Control in Bioinorganic Model Systems
Bio:
After earning her B.S. in Chemistry from UC San Diego in 2009, Dr. Lisa Olshansky completed her Ph.D. in Chemistry at MIT in 2015 as an NSF Graduate Research and Presidential fellow under the mentorship of Profs. Daniel Nocera and JoAnne Stubbe. She then went on to work with Prof. Andy Borovik at UC Irvine as an ACS Irving S. Sigal Postdoctoral fellow. In 2018, Lisa began her independent career as an Assistant Prof. of Chemistry at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign where her team is working to mimic and exploit mechanisms by which macroscopic molecular structural changes dictate metal ion electronic structural properties. During her early career, Olshansky has been recognized with Searle, Cottrell, and Vallee Scholars awards, Carver Trust and DOE Young Investigator awards, and an NIH Early Stage Investigator award. Olshansky was recently named an NAS Kavli Fellow, received the Paul Saltman Young Investigator Award for her research on Metals in Biology, and was recently named a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar and a Sloan Research Fellow. Finally, since joining the faculty at Illinois, Olshansky has spearheaded an initiative called C2 that aims to foster inclusivity and diversity in the School of Chemical Sciences at Illinois.
Abstract:
From the reduction of dinitrogen to the oxidation of water, the chemical transformations catalyzed by metalloenzymes underpin global geo- and biochemical cycles and represent some of the most kinetically and thermodynamically challenging processes known. Many metalloenzymes rely on an intricate interplay between protein and metallocofactor structural dynamics to regulate function, suggesting that conformational control may play an important role in mediating challenging chemical transformations under mild conditions. However, the challenge of decoupling conformational from chemical steps in these systems often precludes direct examination of their dynamics. Instead, we have taken the unique approach of preparing model systems in which macroscopic changes in the molecular structure of a ligand or protein host give rise to subatomic changes in the electronic structure of a bound metal ion. These systems include both conformationally dynamic coordination complexes and conformationally switchable artificial metalloproteins. In both cases, exciting new properties have emerged from the structural dynamicity at play. Our work with these systems aims to define and quantify the kinetic and thermodynamic consequences of conformational gating mechanisms. Additionally, these systems are all molecular switches and are also being exploited in the development of novel biosensors, biocatalysts, and molecular rectifiers for solar energy conversion.
Host: Prof. Eszter Boros