Fink Symposium: Electron flow through metalloproteins

Harry B. Gray, Chemistry, California Institute of Technology
Friday, October 19, 2012, 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Location: Physical Sciences Building, Atrium

The 2nd Biennial Tony Fink Memorial Lecture

His research enhanced our understanding of a multitude of biochemical processes, including antibiotics and Parkinson’s disease, with an impact that extends well beyond his specific field of research. The event will help us remember how Tony touched all of our lives.This biennial event was established in 2010 to honor and celebrate Professor Tony Fink’s exceptionally distinguished career in Biomedical Chemistry.

The biennial Tony Fink Research Biomedical Chemistry Lecture was initiated through the generosity of alumni, members of the Chemistry/Biochemistry faculty and industry. Our goal is to expand the student fellowship and operational funds so that the Fink lecture can be a regular event.
         
This year's lecture will be titled:
"Electron Flow through Metalloproteins"

Abstract

Electron transfers in photosynthesis and respiration commonly occur between metal-containing cofactors that are separated by large molecular distances.  Understanding the underlying physics and chemistry of these biological electron transfer processes is the goal of much of the work in my laboratory.  Employing laser flash-quench triggering methods, we have shown that 2-nm, coupling-limited Fe(II) to Ru(III) and Cu(I) to Ru(III) electron tunneling in Ru-modified cytochromes and blue copper proteins can occur on the microsecond timescale both in solutions and crystals.  Redox equivalents can be transferred even longer distances by multistep tunneling (hopping) through intervening tyrosines and tryptophans.  In recent work, we have found that 2- to 3-nm hole hopping through one or more intervening tryptophans is several orders of magnitude faster than single-step tunneling in Re-modified mutants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa azurin.  The lessons we have learned about the control of electron tunneling and hopping are now guiding the design and construction of sensitizer-modified redox metalloenzymes and other molecular machines for the production of fuels and oxygenated hydrocarbons from sunlight and water.

Professor Harry B. Gray

Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry

California Institute of Technology, Pasadena

Harry Gray is the Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry and the Founding Director of the Beckman Institute at the California Institute of Technology. After graduate work at Northwestern University and postdoctoral research at the University of Copenhagen, he joined the chemistry faculty at Columbia University, where in the early 1960s he developed ligand field theory to interpret the electronic structures and substitution reactions of metal complexes. After moving to Caltech in 1966, he began work that led to an experimental demonstration that electrons can tunnel long molecular distances through proteins. In recent years, he and his coworkers have developed laser photochemical methods to investigate the factors that control electron flow through proteins that are essential components of respiratory, photosynthetic, and other biological oxidation-reduction systems. In addition to pioneering work in this area of biological inorganic chemistry, he is also actively involved in solar photochemistry and development of inorganic systems for energy storage.

Professor Gray has published over 800 research papers and 18 books. He has received the National Medal of Science from President Ronald Reagan (1986); the Pauling Medal (1986); the Linderstrøm-Lang Prize (1992); the Gibbs Medal (1992); the Harvey Prize (2000); the National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences (2003); the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry (2004); the Wolf Prize in Chemistry (2004); the City of Florence Prize in Molecular Sciences (2006); the Pupin Medal (2008); the Welch Award in Chemistry (2009); The Japan Coordination Chemistry award (2010); six national awards from the American Chemical Society, including the Priestley Medal (1991); and 16 honorary doctorates, including ones from Pennsylvania, Chicago, Columbia, Florence, Copenhagen, and Edinburgh. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the American Philosophical Society; a foreign member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters; the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; the Royal Society of Great Britain; and the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation since 1994. Professor Gray is also the Program Director for the National Science Foundation Center for Chemical Innovation in Solar Fuels at Cal Tech.

THE RECEPTION & SEMINAR IS FREE & OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC

4:00 pm
Reception - Physical Sciences Building Atrium (2nd floor PSB)

5:00 pm 
Seminar - Baskin Auditorium 101 (shown as 'Auditorium' on map just north of Physical Sciences Building

LOCATION MAP

6:30 pm (PREREGISTRATION REQUIRED. Tickets are available here beginning July 1, 2012)

Dinner in the Alumni Room at the University Center

DRIVING DIRECTIONS and PARKING INFORMATION 

If you would like to donate towards the Fink Symposium, Click here to make a gift to the 'Tony Fink Memorial Student Award'.  This award is intended to encourage graduate and undergraduate students pursuing degrees in disciplines related to human health and biological chemistry. 

Or click here to make a gift to the 'Tony Fink Lecture Fund'.  This gift will help to fund our engaging lecture series that honors Professor Tony Fink's legacy in biological chemistry.