Organic Chemistry Seminar: Professor Jen Heemstra, Emory University

Organic Chemistry Seminar: Professor Jen Heemstra, Emory University
Date
Wed December 5th 2018, 4:30 - 5:30pm
Location
Sapp Lecture Hall

Organic Chemistry Seminar: Professor Jen Heemstra, Emory University (Host: Eric Kool)

About the Seminar

"Harnessing Nucleic Acid Molecular Recognition and Self-Assembly for Biosensing and Bioimaging"

Biomolecules are exquisitely adept at molecular recognition and self-assembly, enabling them to direct all of the processes that make life possible. These capabilities have been fine-tuned by billions of years of evolution, and more recently, have been utilized in the laboratory for applications that are completely unrelated to their canonical biological roles. The overarching goal of our program is to harness the molecular recognition and self-assembly capabilities of nucleic acids, proteins, and small molecules to address unmet needs in biomedicine, the environment, and basic research.

About the Speaker

Jen Heemstra received her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Irvine, in 2000. At Irvine, she performed undergraduate research with Prof. James Nowick investigating the folding of synthetic beta-sheet mimics, which instilled in her a love of supramolecular chemistry. Jen then moved to the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she completed her Ph.D. with Prof. Jeffrey Moore in 2005 studying the reactivity of pyridine-functionalized phenylene ethynylene cavitands. After a brief stint in industry as a medicinal chemist, she moved to Harvard University to pursue postdoctoral research with Prof. David Liu exploring mechanisms for templated nucleic acid synthesis. In 2010, Jen began her independent career in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Utah, and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2016.  In 2017, Jen and her research group moved to the Department of Chemistry at Emory University. Research in the Heemstra lab is focused on harnessing the molecular recognition and self-assembly properties of nucleic acids for applications in biosensing and bioimaging.​

Outside of work, Jen enjoys spending time with her husband and two sons, as well as rock climbing, cycling, and running. You can check out her blog here.