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SUMMARY:Special Guest Lecture: Professor Bill DeGrado\, De Novo Design of 
 Protein Catalysts\, Drug-Delivery Vehicles and Nanopores - Professor Bill 
 DeGrado\, School of Pharmacy\, University of California San Francisco
DTSTART:20260305T120000Z
DTEND:20260305T130000Z
UID:TALK244753@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:116482
DESCRIPTION:The Department of Pharmacology will be hosting Professor Bill 
 DeGrado for a short sabbatical.\n\nAs part of this sabbatical\, Prof. Bill
  Degrado will be giving a lecture on Thursday\, 5 March. All are welcome t
 o attend. \n\nTalk title: De Novo Design of Protein Catalysts\, Drug-Deliv
 ery Vehicles and Nanopores\n\nSpeaker: Professor Bill DeGrado\, School of 
 Pharmacy\, University of California San Francisco\n\nDate and time: Thursd
 ay 5 March\, 12:00\n\nVenue: Pharmacology Seminar Room\n\nAbstract: De nov
 o protein design involves the creation of proteins from scratch\, rather t
 han by modification of natural proteins. A variety of functionally rich pr
 oteins have been achieved. Some functions\, such as binding to protein int
 erfaces have been relatively easy\, because the interactions that stabiliz
 e interfaces are also used to stabilize the folded structures of proteins\
 , and available computational methods have been well calibrated to this ta
 sk. It has been more difficult to design functions that involve molecular 
 recognition of small\, polar molecules or dynamic processes. I will descri
 be recent progress in the design of proteins that bind small molecules\, a
 nd the use of these proteins in potential biomedical applications such as 
 drug targeting\, delivery and as drug reversal agents. We also have design
 ed of proteins with highly efficient enzymatic activities\, including ones
  that catalyze reactions at rates that exceed most natural enzymes. Moreov
 er\, we have designed proteins that catalyze reactions for which there wer
 e no known protein catalysts.\n\nA second challenging area of interest in 
 de novo protein design has been the construction of useful membrane protei
 ns. I will describe the design of semisynthetic membrane proteins that fun
 ction as ion channels\, and their application to DNA and RNA sequencing.\n
 \nBiography: Bill DeGrado is the Toby Herfindal Presidential Professor of 
 Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemis
 try at the University of California\, San Francisco. As an early pioneer o
 f protein design in the 1980s\, he coined the term de novo protein design.
  He is also active in discovery of small molecule drugs for a variety of h
 uman diseases. Bill is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences\,
  American Academy of Arts & Sciences\, and National Academy of Inventors a
 nd has held visiting fellowships at institutions that include Johns Hopkin
 s University\, Harvard University\, University of Pennsylvania\, UCSF\, Ci
 ty University of New York\, and European Molecular Biology Laboratory. He 
 also is a scientific cofounder of Pliant therapeutics.
LOCATION:Seminar Room (Level 2)\, Dept of Pharmacology 
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