SALZBERG CHEMISTRY SEMINAR
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The City College of New York

Jointly organized by Biochemistry, Biophysics & Biodesign Seminar Series
and the ASRC Nano initiative

Speaker

Professor Neal Devaraj
Departments of Chemistry & Biochemistry and Bioengineering,
The University of California, San Diego, CA 92093

Topic
"Peering into the Lipid World"

ABSTRACT

Lipids remain one of the most enigmatic classes of
biological molecules. Lipids were likely one of the first
components necessary for life, yet our understanding of how lipid
membranes could have arisen spontaneously is a mystery. Human
cells produce thousands of unique lipid species, but the purpose
for such diversity remains unknown. Dysregulation of lipid
metabolism is a key factor in some of the most common diseases
that afflict human beings. I will discuss our lab’s efforts in using
imaging and chemistry to understand the assembly and function
lipids. We are watching the formation of artificial cells that consist
of synthetic membranes that can continually reproduce. We are
designing specific chemical reactions to manipulate and image
lipids within living cells during cell death and disease. Our
ultimate goal is to answer fundamental questions about the
origins of lipid membranes and build a functional understanding
of the diverse array of lipids present in life today.