A polymer chemist’s view of protein synthesis and design

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[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/David_Tirrell.jpg” caption=”David Tirrell”]David A. Tirrell, a world-renowned polymer chemist, will provide the second annual David B. MacLean Lecture at McMaster.

Tirrell will explore some of the opportunities that arise when one tries to bridge the gap between natural and synthetic polymers by using the protein biosynthetic apparatus of bacterial cells to prepare well-defined 'artificial proteins' according to design principles familiar to the polymer chemist.

Hosted by the Department of Chemistry, the MacLean Lecture Series was established last year in honour of the numerous contributions that the late professor MacLean made to teaching and research at McMaster.

The lecture series, entirely organized and run by Chemistry graduate students, provides an opportunity for students to meet and interact with a prominent scientist, in addition to hearing about cutting-edge research.

Tirrell is the Ross McCollum-William H. Corcoran professor and chairman of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of the Califorinia Institute of Technology.

He is a world leader in polymer science, biomimetic membrane chemistry, and the development of molecular biological techniques for the preparation and investigation of new macromolecular architectures. He has received numerous awards for both research and teaching, including a Sloan Fellowship, a Presidential Young Investigator Award, a Fulbright Senior Scholarship, the Carl S. Marvel Creative Polymer Chemistry Award, the ACS Award in Polymer Chemistry, and the Outstanding Teacher Award in the College of Science at Carnegie-Mellon University.

As part of this lectureship, Tirrell will give two seminars, one on Thursday, May 5, entitled “In Praise of Permissiveness: Building Proteins from Non-Natural Amino Acids”, and the second on Friday, May 6, entitled “Proteins that Nature's Never Made”. Both will be held in Room 102 of the Arthur Bourns Building (ABB) at 1:30 p.m.

Everyone is welcome to attend these lectures.