Jon Clardy, Julius Rebek – Semmelhack Symposium

3:00 p.m. – Opening Remarks

3:15 p.m.

Jon Clardy
Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Harvard Medical School
Broad Institute
Clardy Laboratory website: clardy.med.harvard.edu

Bugs on Bugs: Chemical Ecology of Fungus-Growing Insects

Some ants, beetles and termites cultivate fungi as their sole food source.  Their highly evolved insect-fungus systems also feature specialist fungal pathogens that threaten their existence and symbiotic actinobacteria that provide chemical defenses, along with other bacteria and yeasts whose roles are imperfectly understood.  These multilateral symbioses provide important model systems for understanding chemical ecology, enabling small molecule discovery, outlining the evolution of biosynthetic pathways, and developing approaches to uncovering cryptic metabolites.

4:30 pm

Julius Rebek
The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology
The Scripps Research Institute
Rebek Laboratory website: www.scripps.edu/rebek

Molecular Behavior in Small Spaces

This lecture follows the course of molecular recognition by synthetic receptors that completely surround their targets: encapsulation complexes. These operate through the proper filling of space and reveal new forms of stereochemistry, isomerism, asymmetry, contortions and reactivity of molecules held inside. Capsules with spacers offer a set of molecular devices that operate through compression and expansion of alkanes. An encapsulation complex of anandamide is shown below.

5:30 p.m. – Wine and cheese reception – Frick Atrium