Organic Chemistry Seminar
Noyes 153 (J. Holmes Sturdivant Lecture Hall)
Fat foraging: how pathogenic bacteria construct unusual cell envelopes
Laura M.K. Dassama,
Assistant Professor of Chemistry and of Microbiology and Immunology,
Department of Chemistry,
Stanford University,
As critical components of cell membranes, lipids establish the barrier between cells and their environments and can serve as signaling molecules; they are essential in all domains of life. Despite their importance, some pathogenic bacteria lack the biosynthetic pathways to fatty acids and are reliant on hosts for the provision of lipids. This talk will describe our efforts to unravel the lipid uptake and storage strategies these organisms employ, as well as describe their (limited) synthesis of unusual lipids using environmental precursors. These efforts have provided new insights into mediators of host-pathogen interactions and highlighted metabolic vulnerabilities that can be exploited for the design of anti-infective agents.
For more information, please contact Annette Luymes by phone at x6016 or by email at [email protected].
Event Series
Organic Chemistry Seminar Series