Seminar at SISSA, via Bonomea - TUNING THE DYNAMICS OF LIFE: ONE CHEMICAL MOIETY AT A TIME

[Quantitative Life Sciences]

SISSA INFORMAL SEMINAR

*Wednesday 3 May, 14:30, SISSA (via Bonomea) Lecture Room A- 131*

Title: *TUNING THE DYNAMICS OF LIFE: ONE CHEMICAL MOIETY AT A TIME*

Speaker: *J.G. Vilhena *(Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain Spanish 
National Research Council)

Abstract:

Life is inherently a non-equilibrium process whereby “the jiggling and 
wiggling of atoms”, functional building blocks (nucleic-acids and 
proteins) realize complex tasks in a synchronized manner far exceeding 
the ones anticipated from their structure alone. In this talk, I have 
selected two examples among my works that portray how bio-molecular 
vibrations can be harnessed in different biological processes. Firstly I 
will show how a single oxygen atom differentiating dsDNA from dsRNA can 
completely alter their unwinding dynamics (pivotal in DNA/cell 
replication). Then, I unveil how DNA sequence is not only a chemical 
code but also a physical one, thus capable regulating different 
biological processes. In the second part of the talk, I shall focus on 
electron- transport processes occurring in proteins – pivotal in several 
biological processes (photosynthesis, respiration, ...). In particular, 
I will show how single point mutations provide the means to finely 
regulate molecular vibrations of the protein matrix surrounding the 
active redox-active site, thus giving the means to control/regulate 
charge-transport processes at single-protein level. Overall, these 
results showcase how vibrations at the molecular level are inextricably 
connected to different biological functions and conversely how such 
processes may be tuned/regulated through carefully designed molecular 
substitutions.

/All welcome!/


-- 
Erica Sarnataro
Group Secretary
Quantitative Life Sciences
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)
Trieste,  Italy
Tel. +39-040-2240623
www.ictp.it/research/qls.aspx
e-mail:qls at ictp.it