Science on Tap: Humanity’s best chemist: studying how Nature makes molecules

How can we synthesize complex molecules more efficiently? Biosynthesis is the study of how microbes and organisms make molecules, which can inspire new methods to access therapeutic compounds. In this seminar, we will discuss some of the strategies used to find the enzymatic machinery that perform interesting chemical transformations in the biosynthesis of bioactive compounds. Additionally, we will discuss how these reactions can be harnessed as biocatalysts to complement current synthetic organic chemistry settings for greener chemistry. Join us as we dive to the microbial scale to study how Nature does chemistry!

Speaker: Jennifer Cordoza, UC Santa Cruz