Human farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase (hFPPS) plays a key role in the prenylation of small GTPases, such as RAS and RAP 1A, which are intimately involved in oncogenesis. An allosteric pocket of the enzyme has been of particular interest as a therapeutic target, however, its natural biological function has been (until now) unknown. The teams of Berghuis (Biochemistry) and Tsantrizos (Chemistry) have just reported that the catalytic product of hFPPS, farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP), bind to this pocket and locks the enzyme in a conformationally inactive state.
Prof. Tony Mittermaier was awarded a CFI-John R. Evans Leaders Fund to acquire a 800 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) magnet. Most human diseases are caused by malfunctions in the fundamental molecules of life: proteins, DNA, and RNA. Studying the structure and flexibility of the molecules at the atomic level therefore helps us to understand diseases and find cures, much in the same way that the blueprint of an engine can help us to fix it when it is broken.
ECS recently announced the appointment of Janine Mauzeroll to the position of Technical Editor for the Organic & Bioelectrochemistry area for the Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES). more about Dr. Mauzeroll’s research areas and her plans for growing this area of JES.
On December 2016, Prof. Ashok Kakkar was promoted full professor.
Professor Chao-Jun Li, Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) at ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ University has been elected during the Academy’s 27th Annual General Meeting in Kigali Rwanda, as . Established in 1983, the TWAS is an academy of the world's most accomplished scientists and engineers, constituted of 2004 elected Fellows in more than 90 countries. Prof. C-J Li was elected in recognition of his pioneering work on a wide range of new synthetic reactions for Green Chemistry.
ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ University researchers led by Professor Parisa A. Ariya in Montreal-Canada developed an innovative two-step green technique to remove and recycle mercury from spent compact fluorescent lamps, using a near zero-energy system. The new findings by Hu et al. (2016) appear in the journal of ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.
This research was highlighted by .
Anomera can now count itself as an award winning ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Chemistry spinoff!  Anomera joins a prestigious history of innovation from the Department.
Co-founders of the , a spin-off venture from the ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ University Department of Chemistry, have been selected as one of the ten incredible semi-finalists to compete for a €100,000 prize in the 2016 Skolar Award competition. Dr. Cristina Mottillo, post-doctoral researcher and CSO of ACSYNAM, Inc., will be representing the team by presenting a three-minute science pitch to a panel of judges and an audience from non-scientific backgrounds.
Professor Auclair was recently awarded funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia. The two co-applicants involved in this application, Prof. Auclair and Prof. K. J. Saliba from The Australian National University, will  share approximately $185,000 per year for 3 years to work on "Understanding and targeting coenzyme A biosynthesis and utilization in Plasmodium falciparum".
Most chemistry students are well aware of the anticancer properties of cisplatin, cis-Pt(NH3)2Cl2, as a result of the pioneering work of Professor Barnett Rosenberg and his colleagues at the Michigan State University in the late 1960s. Over the years, this simple Pt(II) coordination complex and some structurally closely related ones have become the FDA-approved drugs of choice for cancer treatment, especially ovarian and testicular cancers.
Congratulations to Justin Chang (Auclair group), Pierre-Olivier Ferko (Moores group - Photo), Samantha Gateman (Mauzeroll group), Igor Huskic (Friscic group), Victoria Jackiewicz (Arndsten group) and Siting Ni (Lennox group) for winning the first ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ University Chemistry Outreach Awards. From helping to found the Outreach group to getting students of all ages excited about Chemistry, these trainees have worked hard to communicate science to the general public in a fun, safe and engaging way.
A new study published in Nature Communications could help biologists understand how various types of migratory cells, such as immune cells, find their way through tissues in the human body.
On May 24-25, 2016, experts from the field of green (sustainable) chemistry gathered in Washington, DC, for a workshop on Sustainable Chemistry Technologies. The event was organized by the National Academy of Science’s Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology at the request of the United States General Accountability Office.
The Udho Parsini Diwan Award rewards the graduate student in the ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Chemistry program who has written the best research article published the year before. Here is how Anna Alberston presents her winning article.
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Rare minerals from Siberia found to have same structure as some man-made metal-organic frameworks
One of the hottest new materials is a class of porous solids known as metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs. These man-made materials were introduced in the 1990s, and researchers around the world are working on ways to use them as molecular sponges for applications such as hydrogen storage, carbon sequestration, or photovoltaics.