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Season 2

S02E06. August 12, 2020
11 am – 12 pm
SEMINAR

Chemical tools for studying glucosidase activity in complex biological samples

Dr. Chris Phenix,
Assistant Professor, University of Saskatchewan

Speaker Bio

Dr. Chris Phenix obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Saskatchewan under the supervision of Dr. David Palmer in the Department of Chemistry. There he studied the biochemical role of an enzyme found in Sinorhizobium meliloti, a bacteria used as a nitrogen inoculants for leguminous crops. He then went on to postdoctoral studies at UBC/TRIUMF under the supervision of Drs. Stephen Withers, Tom Ruth and Michael Adam. There he worked on the radiochemical synthesis of agents to 18F label β-glucosidases using a mechanism-based approach. The intent of such agents is to PET image the in vivo biodistribution and pharmacokinetics of an exogenously administered β-glucosidase, Glucocerebrosidase, the therapeutic enzyme used for direct enzyme replacement therapy of Gaucher disease. Currently he is a scientist at the Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute and Assistant Professor at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. He is also an adjunct in Chemistry at Lakehead University. His research is focused on developing probes for PET imaging enzymes important for human health including glucosidases involved in Parkinson’s and other diseases.

An engineered in vitro enzymatic pathway for the anticancer anthracycline deoxysugars: TDP-L-acosamine and TDP-L-daunosamine

F. Ifthiha Mohideen,
Graduate Student, Concordia University

Speaker Bio

Ifthiha is a Ph.D. Candidate in the laboratory of Dr. David Kwan at Concordia University. Her doctoral research focuses on the function and engineering of enzymes involved in the glycosylation of natural products. In particular, she is interested in developing a method for assaying glycosyltransferases in a high-throughput fashion and engineering a novel in vitro enzymatic pathway for the anticancer anthracycline deoxysugars. Before joining Concordia, Ifthiha obtained her B.Sc. (Honors) in Plant Biotechnology from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2014.

S02E07. August 19, 2020
11 am – 12 pm
TECHNICAL WORKSHOP

Register Here

Workshop: Computations approaches for designing small molecule inhibitors

Dr. Rebecca Davis,
Associate Professor, University of Manitoba

Speaker Bio & Workshop Summary

Workshop Summary

This workshop will provide the theoretical background as well as discussion of the current approaches to Molecular Docking and Virtual screening. The workshop will also discuss the different software available and will focus on Cheminformatics methods for lead identification and optimization.

Speaker

Dr. Rebecca Davis is an organic chemist at The University of Manitoba. Her research is focused on exploring of the mechanisms of asymmetric organocatalytic reactions and broadening the range of organic reactions in which asymmetric organocatalysis can be applied. Dr. Davis current research topics include: mechanisms in asymmetric phase transfer catalysis; counter-ion interactions in non-covalent organocatalysis; and development of stereoselective rearrangement reactions. Dr. Rebecca Davis obtained her Ph.D at the University of California, Davis, and conducted Postdoctoral Research at The Centre for Catalysis at Aahus University.

S02E08. August 26, 2020
11 am – 12 pm
SEMINAR

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De novo synthesis of nucleoside analogues for medicinal chemistry purposes

Dr. Robert Britton,
Professor, Simon Fraser University

Speaker Bio

Professor Robert Britton obtained his B. Sc. from the University of Waterloo in 1996 working with Professor Victor Snieckus, and his Ph. D. in natural product isolation, structural elucidation, and total synthesis from the University of British Columbia under the supervision of Professors Edward Piers and Raymond Anderson. He spent two years at the University of Cambridge with Professor Ian Paterson as an NSERC PDF then joined the Process Research Group at Merck as a Senior Scientist before starting an independent career at Simon Fraser University in 2005. He is a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Career Scholar and his research program focuses on the concise synthesis of structurally and stereochemically complex natural products and the discovery of new synthetic methods to support drug discovery and development.

Bioprospecting CAZymes from intestinal microbiomes for the tailored degradation of non-starch dietary polysaccharides

Dr, Kristin Low,
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Speaker Bio

Dr. Kristin Low completed her Ph.D in Biochemistry at Queen’s University. Following this, her first postdoctoral fellowship was with Dr. P. Lynne Howell at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) characterizing protein-protein interactions in the alginate acetylation machinery of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. She is currently in Dr. Wade Abbott’s research program at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada where her research involves investigating the carbohydrate-active enzymatic potential of commensal bacteria of the poultry gastrointestinal tract.