Meeting of the Princeton ACS Section
via Zoom
Thursday, October 30, 2025
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Professor Ivan V. Korendovych, Baylor University
“Minimalist De Novo Enzyme Design”
and
Stefan Kilyanek, Grand Valley State University
“Electrochemically mediated deoxygenation of biomass model compounds”
Stefan Kilyanek
Abstract: Deoxygenation of biomass derived material is critical to the sustainable synthesis of a variety of fuels, chemical feedstocks, and industrial precursors. Numerous reduction chemistries exist however most require the use of sacrificial redox agents. Our lab has developed several methods of reductive deoxygenation using only electrochemical potential and proton sources as reagents. We will discuss the use of early metal oxo complexes supported by a variety of pincer ligands to afford electrochemical deoxygenation reactions of polyols and other surrogate molecules with functionality similar to lignin. Kinetics and reaction mechanisms will be discussed as well as complimentary DFT calculations.
Biography: Stefan Kilyanek is a professor at the University of Arkansas. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Grand Valley State University in 2003 and his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Chicago in 2009. He was a postdoc at MIT for Richard R. Schrock from 2010-2013 and Yogi Surendranath from 2013-2014. He is an NSF-CAREER award winner and is currently an Associate Professor in the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Arkansas.
Ivan V. Korendovych
Abstract: Design of a novel catalytic function in proteins and peptides, apart from its inherent practical value, is important for fundamental understanding of enzymatic activity. We will present applications of a computationally inexpensive, minimalistic approach to design of artificial enzymes. We combined minimalist approaches to protein design with NMR-guided approaches to directed evolution to create highly efficient lyase using only three mutations starting from non-enzymatic protein myoglobin. The observed levels of catalytic efficiency exceed those of proteins designed using current approaches and are similar with those of natural enzymes for the reactions that they are evolved to catalyze. Given the simplicity of this experimental approach, which requires no a priori structural or bioinformatic knowledge, we expect it to be widely applicable and to enable the full potential of directed enzyme evolution [1].
[1] Bhattacharya, S., Margheritis, E.G., Takahashi, K. et al. NMR-guided directed evolution. Nature 610, 389 (2022).
Biography: Prof. Korendovych received both B.S. (1999) and M.S. (2000) degrees with distinction from National Taras Shevchenko University of Kiev, Ukraine. He received his PhD from Tufts University in 2006 for his studies of mechanistic aspects of dioxygen activation using complexes of iron with macrocyclic ligands in Prof. Rybak-Akimova’s lab. Prof. Korendovych then joined the group of Prof. William F. DeGrado at the University of Pennsylvania as a postdoctoral fellow working on de novo design of proteins. In 2011, he joined the faculty at Syracuse University and was promoted to Professor in 2021. In 2023 Prof. Korendovych moved to Baylor University where he is currently Professor and James R. Schofield Endowed Chair in Biochemistry. Prof. Korendovych has received a number of awards, most notably, American Chemical Society Nobel Signature Award for Graduate Education, American Chemical Society Young Investigator Award, Humboldt Research Fellowship, ORAU Ralph E. Powe Award. The Korendovych Lab is working on design of proteins and peptides with a particular focus on self-assembling catalytic materials.
Reservations: There is no fee to attend the meeting but reservations are requested. To make a reservation go to: https://heptagon-wolverine-ff5x.squarespace.com/config/pages/6042f478513b644d699b727a
To joint the Zoom meeting: https://baylor.zoom.us/j/88094536153?pwd=1kQMWdc5IlUSiA9ad1moUelLNXje5V.1
Meeting ID: 880 9453 6153; Passcode: 933051
One tap mobile:
+13462487799,,88094536153#,,,,*933051# US (Houston)
+16694449171,,88094536153#,,,,*933051# US
Meeting is free but registration is required. To do so, complete the form below: