Professor Jared Lewis, University of Chicago

“Engineering Proteins for Selective Catalysis”

About the Seminar:

Proteins have great potential as scaffolds to control the selectivity of catalysts and reactive intermediates contained within their structures. Techniques to improve the substrate scope and alter the selectivity of natural enzymes are now well established, and examples in which enzymes are used to catalyze synthetically useful, non-native reactions are appearing with increasing frequency. This trend of using proteins to control chemical reactivity has been further extended through the development of artificial metalloenzymes, hybrid catalysts comprised of synthetic cofactors linked to protein scaffolds. I will discuss efforts by my group aimed at engineering natural enzymes and artificial metalloenzymes for selective C-H bond functionalization and other challenging transformations. The examples presented will highlight the potential for molecular recognition and evolution to enable new methods and strategies for organic synthesis.

About the Speaker:

Jared C. Lewis is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Chicago where his research focuses on evolving natural enzymes, engineering artificial metalloenzymes, and designing organometallic catalysts. He received his BS in chemistry from the University of Illinois, working with Eric Oldfield, and his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, under the direction of Jonathan Ellman and Robert Bergman. He carried out postdoctoral research in Frances Arnold’s laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.