Julianne Gibbs-Davis
Contact
Associate Professor, Faculty of Science - Chemistry
- gibbsdav@ualberta.ca
- Phone
- (780) 492-7140
- Address
-
E3-52A Chemistry Centre - East
11227 Saskatchewan Drive NWEdmonton ABT6G 2G2
Overview
About
BA Arizona State University
PhD Northwestern University
Research
Molecular Recognition at Buried Solid/Liquid Interfaces
Many systems, from the cellular environment to biosensors and heterogeneous catalysis, involve noncovalent interactions between species in solution and those confined to a membrane or solid. Directly monitoring such binding events is difficult because few techniques are sensitive to interactions at an interface and are instead overwhelmed by the sea of molecules in the bulk. However, using surface specific nonlinear optical techniques such as second harmonic generation (SHG) and sum frequency generation (SFG), we can selectively observe interfacial binding allowing us to characterize the thermodynamic and kinetic parameters governing these processes without the use of bulky labels, in situ and in real time.
Courses
CHEM 351 - Introduction to Chemical Biology
Introduction to chemical strategies used to analyze and manipulate biochemical systems. Topics may include chemical synthesis of biopolymers, protein-small molecule interactions, chemoenzymatic synthesis, enzyme-inhibitor kinetics, assay design, characterization of bioorganic samples, and various chemical biology methods. Prerequisites: CHEM 263 and BIOCH 200.
CHEM 451 - Chemical Biology
Advanced methods used to analyze and manipulate biological systems using engineered biomolecules and synthetic organic molecules. Topics may include biomolecule structure and function, enzymology, molecular biology, protein engineering, genome engineering, bioinformatic methods, inhibitor design, library screening methods, fluorescent probes, bioorthogonal chemistry, and various chemical biology methods. Prerequisites: CHEM 351 or BIOCH 200; CHEM 361 (can be taken as co-requisite).
CHEM 479 - Molecular Kinetics
Rate laws for simple and complex reactions, reaction mechanisms, potential energy surfaces, molecular dynamics, theories of reaction rates, catalysis, with application to gas and liquid phase reactions, photochemical reactions in chemistry and biology, and enzyme catalysis. Prerequisites: CHEM 273 or CHEM 373; MATH 215, PHYS 230, and a 300-level Chemistry course.
CHEM 551 - Chemical Biology I
Six week course that provides an introduction to the structure and function of the major classes of biological macromolecules. Particular emphasis will be placed on approaches for modifying biomolecule structure using chemical biology and molecular biology methods. Not open to students with credit in CHEM 451.
CHEM 579 - Molecular Kinetics
Rate laws: for simple and complex reactions, reaction mechanisms, potential energy surfaces, molecular dynamics, theories of reaction rates, catalysis, with application to gas and liquid phase reactions, photochemical reactions in chemistry and biology, and enzyme catalysis. Not open to students with credit in CHEM 479.