Organic Chemistry Seminar

Wednesday, March 21st
Professor Michael Burkart
"Natural Product and Coenzyme A Biosynthesis"

4:15pm - 5:15pm
Braun Lecture Hall
S.G.Mudd Chemistry Building
Stanford University

This seminar is free and open to the public. All Stanford University Chemistry students are encouraged to attend this special event.

About the Seminar:
The Burkart lab has developed new tools to study natural product biosynthetic proteins both in vitro and within cells. These techniques provide novel access labeling, visualization, and manipulation of any protein containing a carrier protein domain, including all polyketide, non-ribosomal peptide, and fatty acid synthases. In an effort to present these reporter-labeled precursors within live cells, we adapted reporter-labeled coenzyme A precursors to be taken up by the primary metabolism and covalently attached to proteins within the cell. This route now provides access to strategically-insert modifications within natural and engineered proteins.

About Burkart:
Mike Burkart received a B.A. in chemistry from Rice University in 1994 while working with Prof. George Schroepfer. During this time he worked at the University of Costa Rica to perform natural product isolation with Prof. Giselle Tamayo. His graduate studies were completed at the Scripps Research Institute in 1999 with Prof. Chi-Huey Wong, focusing on organic and enzymatic carbohydrate synthesis. Mike was an NIH postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Chris Walsh at Harvard Medical School where he studied peptide and glycopeptide natural products. In 2002, he initiated his own research group at the University of California, San Diego. He is the recipient of the Ellison New Scholar Award, the NSF CAREER Award, an American Cancer Society Research Scholarship, and the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship. His research interests include natural product synthesis, biosynthesis, and metabolic engineering.

Questions
Please contact Patricia Dwyer at 650-723-4770.