This is a past event.

Dr. Tarun Dam

Department of Chemistry, Michigan Tech University

Date:  November 13, 2015

Place: Chem-Sci Room 101

Time:  3:00 pm

Dr. Dam will briefly discuss our research over the past four years during two seminars, covering three projects in the first seminar and an additional three projects in the second.

 (i) Sugars or carbohydrates (also called ‘glycans’) supply energy to living systems. In

collaboration with their receptors, they also carry out numerous other biological activities. Glycans have a remarkable feature: they always exist as attachments of proteins or lipids, and they need the structural support from the underlying macromolecules in order to do their job. We have found that this unique feature provides glycans with entropic advantage while binding to their receptors. I will discuss how our findings could potentially help fine-tune macromolecular functions.

(ii) We discovered a group of new cytotoxic lysins (proteins or peptides that disintegrate cells by disrupting their membranes) that literally grow in plants. Surprisingly, these newly discovered plant lysins behave like well-known bacterial toxins. The beauty and complexity of these unique lysins will be discussed.

(iii) Our lab has formulated a new technique for protein purification. We have validated this method by purifying several known and new proteins. I will show the formulation and use of this technique.

Biosketch:

 Tarun Dam received his MS and PhD degrees from the University of Calcutta, India. He joined Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York as a postdoctoral research fellow and was subsequently appointed as a faculty member in the Department of  Molecular Pharmacology. He joined the Department of Chemistry at Michigan Technological University in the fall of 2010.  His research is focused on carbohydrate (glycan) binding proteins and their diverse health-related functions. He has published 46 research articles, reviews and book chapters that have been cited 1723 (Web of Knowledge) or 2149 (Google Scholar) times with an h-index of 24 (Web of Knowledge) or 25 (Google Scholar).