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SUMMARY:EESS talk on "Biological nitrogen fixation: Cooperativity\, artifi
 cial (re)activation and biotechnological prospects"
DTSTART:20231212T121500
DTEND:20231212T131500
DTSTAMP:20260510T084134Z
UID:f5e45dcd44b9b289f516d3bea3177ea83d630f69bf658a1545bcd6f4
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Ross Milton\, Department of Inorganic and Analytical Ch
 emistry\, Faculty of Sciences\, University of Geneva\nAbstract:\nIndustria
 l ammonia fertilizer production has played a key role in the growth of the
  human population\, where it is thought that ~50% of the nitrogen found in
  our bodies originates from the Haber-Bosch process. Dinitrogen is reacted
  with molecular hydrogen over K-promoted Fe catalyst beds in a process tha
 t is highly efficient (atom efficiency)\, but which also results in the co
 nsumption of 1-2% of global energy and a carbon footprint greater than tha
 t of global aviation.In nature\, a single class of metalloenzymes named ni
 trogenases employs Fe-containing metal centers to catalyze the fixation of
  dinitrogen to ammonia under ambient conditions\, achieving up to 75% sele
 ctivity. However\, many questions remain surrounding nitrogenase’s catal
 ytic mechanism and multiple limitations must be surmounted to exploit this
  enzyme in new biotechnologies for ammonia production. This seminar will p
 resent our recent efforts ultimately aimed at interfacing nitrogenases wit
 h electrodes where renewable electrical energy could drive ammonia product
 ion\, namely (i) understanding why nitrogenase has ~C2 symmetry and (ii) w
 hether we can produce this complex metalloenzyme in biotechnologically mal
 leable organisms.\n\nShort biography:\nRoss was awarded a PhD from the Uni
 versity of Surrey (UK\, thesis director: Robert Slade)\, where his thesis 
 focused on enzymatic electrocatalysis. He was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-
 Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship to further his training under the guidance o
 f Shelley Minteer (University of Utah\, USA) and Dónal Leech (National Un
 iversity of Ireland Galway)\, where he investigated electroenzymatic nitro
 gen fixation. After a second postdoctoral training period with Alfred Spor
 mann (Stanford University\, USA) looking at energy conversion mechanisms b
 y metalloenzymes with >28 metalloclusters\, he moved to the University of 
 Geneva as a tenure-track assistant professor in 2019. He now leads a resea
 rch group interested in metalloenzyme (electro)catalysis.\n 
LOCATION:GC B1 10 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==GC%20B1%2010 https://epfl.zo
 om.us/j/69011077410
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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