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PRODID:-//Memento EPFL//
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SUMMARY:From DNA Repair to a Quantum Magnetic Compass:  Watching Proteins 
 Process Energy and Information
DTSTART:20260618T170000
DTEND:20260618T183000
DTSTAMP:20261001T234510Z
UID:fc5404a6c6c489d2bf7f6134e0e0601c14386e3ad4b9f62a123de7e3
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:T.J. Lane\, CFEL\, Hamburg (Germany)\nLiving systems consume e
 nergy and information to survive\, grow\, and reproduce. These vital dynam
 ics occur across many scales of space and time\, but the most fundamental 
 is molecular: atoms and the bonds between them. The genetic code is writte
 n in atoms. It in turn specifies the atomic structures of proteins\, biolo
 gy’s energy and information processing units\, which execute their funct
 ions in molecular space. Therefore\, in a deep sense\, atomic motion is th
 e foundation from which life emerges. I seek to understand that motion.\n\
 nOne direct and powerful route is to film macromolecules with chemical res
 olution in both space (Å) and time (fs). I will describe a technology tha
 t uniquely enables us to achieve both simultaneously – the X-ray free-el
 ectron laser – and show how my team has used XFELs to watch two proteins
  at work.\n\nFirst\, I will present our experiments on photolyase\, an enz
 yme that harnesses light to repair life-threatening DNA damage. We found p
 hotolyase achieves very high repair quantum efficiency through an unexpect
 ed mechanism: by locking its photoexcited chromophore into a bent configur
 ation. Further\, photolyase achieves product/substrate specificity geometr
 ically\, using a rigid active site that matches substrate but not product.
  Second\, I will share preliminary results on cryptochrome 4\, a descendan
 t of photolyase that has been proposed to act as an avian magnetosensor. D
 o birds navigate using a quantum magnetic compass? Our experimental progra
 m is investigating this provocative hypothesis.\n 
LOCATION:CH G1 495 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==CH%20G1%20495 https://epfl.
 zoom.us/j/69070083096?pwd=vnb5szZbCwrgwapyo5Rz7k66ymnBA9.1
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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