Chemistry Colloquium: Dr. David Lynn

The Department of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences is pleased to welcome Dr. David Lynn, a professor at Emory University. The seminar will be held on Zoom. Please email kldalzel@syr.edu for Zoom info.

Title: Exploiting Systems Chemistry in the Rhizosphere to Build Alternative Chemistries for Life

Abstract: We begin by arguing that complex metabolic pathways, cellular development, and element biogeochemical cycles are foundational to the chemistry of a sustainable biosphere, and that adaptive resilience of these interconnected networks may then be threatened by climate change. So, we have sought to understand the specific molecular information necessary for successful network coordination and will begin our discussion with the molecular spatiotemporal information that may help order a plant’s microbiome — the most diverse multi-genomic organ on Earth. We will show how simple reaction-diffusion networks can organize complex cellular behavior and how biopolymer condensates can be templated into alternative supramolecular functional assemblies.