Past Events

Technical talk

Abstract: Dehydration reactions, such as amide-bond formation and esterification from carboxylic acids, are foundational chemical processes for the discovery and production of medicines, agrochemical, materials, and a range of important organic compounds. They are overwhelmingly accomplished, however, with stoichiometric coupling reagents. The waste generated by these reagents creates practical problems on both small and large scales. Accordingly, leading pharmaceutical companies have highlighted the need for improved methods to accomplish these transformations. To address this problem, our group is developing new catalysts and reagents by leveraging electrochemical design platforms. This talk will highlight our progress on a selection of these transformations.

Bio: Eric was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1988 and grew up nearby in Kingston. He ventured to the United States to pursue a BSc at Harvey Mudd College and graduated in 2010. Escaping the southern California heat, Eric moved to Columbia University for his PhD studies with Tristan Lambert, where he developed new reagents and catalysts for organic synthesis based on aromatic ions. After a successful defense in 2015, he stayed on the East Coast to perform postdoctoral research at Princeton University under the guidance of David MacMillan. As an NIH postdoctoral fellow, Eric developed asymmetric transformations using alcohols as alkylating agents. He began his independent career in 2019 at Penn State University, where he is currently an Assistant Professor of Chemistry. The Nacsa group develops new methods using modern electron-transfer techniques to facilitate the synthesis of organic compounds, especially for pharmaceutical research and development.

Technical talk

Gretchen E. Maurer, D.O., M.S. is an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Penn State College of Medicine. Dr. Maurer graduated magna cum laude with Bachelor of Arts in English from Temple University. She completed her Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences with clinical research focus, in addition to a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. A graduate certificate in Cannabis Medicine from Thomas Jefferson University’s Institute of Emerging Health Professions was pursued during residency training at Lehigh Valley Hospital Network Family Medicine Residency. Dr. Maurer has clinical research interests investigating efficacy of cannabinoids as therapeutics, chronic pain management with opioid sparing, harm reduction in addiction medicine, and interventions that improve joy and quality of life in the community. Her educational endeavors involve curriculum development and promotion of research and scholarly work within graduate medical education.

Technical talk

Technical Talk: "Thermodynamics and water Dynamics in Aqueous Binary Mixtures"

Technical talk

Technical Talk: "Merging Organic Synthesis and Macromolecular Chemistry to Design Efficient Catalysts and Diverse Polymers."

Celebrating Women in Science!

Join us to watch "Lessons from Life and the Laboratory" from the Science History Institute on Thursday, March 23rd, 2023 at 4:30pm. The event will be held in Chemistry 102, on the Penn State University Park campus. Enjoy movie theater snacks and learn about eight women in science who have made lasting impacts on the world around us! The event is Co-hosted between the Central PA Local ACS Section and the Chemistry Climate and Diversity Committee. For those interested in a hybrid option, a zoom link will be provided to those who RSVP. RSVP here: https://forms.gle/D3CZ1aEF2bJ3PaG56

Technical talk

Penn State Assistant Professor of Chemistry Mark Hedglin will present a technical talk titled, "Dissecting the interplay of macromolecular interactions during human DNA replication pathways."

The talk will be given at 102 Chemistry building at Penn State University Park campus at 5:30pm on Monday, March 20, 2023.

Dr. Hedglin received his PhD in Chemical Biology from the University of Michigan in 2010, under the tutelage of Dr. Patrick J. O'Brien. Dr. Hedglin's graduate studies focused on human DNA damage and DNA damage repair. During this time, he developed unique kinetic assays to decipher how a human DNA damage repair enzyme (alkyladenine DNA glycosylase, hAAG) locates rare sites of DNA damage within the massive human genome. These studies revealed that a single-subunit enzyme can employ multiple modes of target site location (sliding, hopping, intersegmental transfer) to efficiently search for subtle and rare sites of damage and bypass other DNA-binding proteins. In 2010, Dr. Hedglin began his postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Dr. Stephen J. Benkovic in the Chemistry Department at the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) and was funded by a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award to study human DNA replication. During this time, Dr. Hedglin developed novel biophysical assays to investigate the spatio-temporal regulation and orchestration of human DNA replication pathways. These studies addressed many long-standing and critical questions in the field. In 2017, Dr. Hedglin transitioned to an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Chemistry at PSU and later joined as a tenure-track faculty member in 2018, as an assistant professor of Chemistry and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences (at University Park) and an assistant professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (at the College of Medicine). In 2022, Dr. Hedglin was awarded an R35 (MIRA) Award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Penn State Assistant Professor of Chemistry Alexey Silakov will present a technical talk titled, "Understanding the inner workings of hydrogen-producing enzymes. Towards carbon-neutral hydrogen production."

The talk will be given at 102 Chemistry building at Penn State University Park campus at 5:30pm on Tuesday, February 28, 2023. Pizza and socializing (including a "networking" scavenger hunt) will follow the talk. Those who pre-register and/or complete the scavenger hunt at the event will be entered into a raffle drawing for the end of the event.

Pre-register for the event by Monday, 27 Feb. at noon to reserve your seat, indicate a pizza preference, and get your name entered into the raffle.

Parking for the event is easily found at the Penn State HUB or Eisenhower parking decks. Details can be found here.

The talk will also be broadcast via Zoom webinar: https://psu.zoom.us/j/93265895707?pwd=QndneFYzall1bXcwZHg2ZDh1aXpOdz09

passcode: 702330

Dr. Silakov's biography: Dr. Silakov earned a bachelor's degree in Physics at Kazan State University in Russia in 2001 and a master's degree in 2003 in the same University. He did his graduate research in Max-Planck Institute for Bioinorganic Chemistry, Germany, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Lubitz. With this work, he earned a doctoral degree in Physical Chemistry at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany in 2007. Dr. Silakov continued working at Max-Planck Institute for Bioinorganic Chemistry as a postdoctoral fellow until 2012. In 2011 he received a John Weil Young Investigator Award from the International Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Society for his work on understanding the mechanisms of [FeFe] hydrogenases. In 2012, he moved to Penn State for a postdoctoral study. He joined the Penn State faculty in Chemistry Department in 2017. In 2020, Dr. Silakov received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award.