UNM Chemistry and Chemical Biology hosts 13th Annual Riley O. Schaeffer Endowed Lectureship
November 3, 2022
UNM’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology welcomes Dr. Dennis A Dougherty of California Institute of Technology as guest speaker for 13th Annual Riley O. Schaeffer Endowed Lectureship on Friday, Nov. 11 at 4 p.m. in Clark Hall, Lecture Hall 101. A reception takes place in Clark Hall 105, Open Space at 3:15 p.m.
This premier lecture, held by the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, is the first in-person lecture as part of the endowed lectureship series since 2019 due to the pandemic. Established in 2008 in honor of Professor Riley Schaeffer through contributions from UNM faculty, past students of Professor Schaeffer at Indiana University and UNM and friends and external colleagues.
The lecture, “Chemistry on the Brain: Understanding the Nicotine Receptor, will discuss the development of the cation-π interaction, a powerful noncovalent binding interaction that is widely employed in both small molecule and macromolecular recognition in biology and chemistry.
The remarkable complexity of the human brain is evident at all levels, from anatomical to cellular to molecular. The central molecules of synaptic signaling comprise a diverse array of integral membrane proteins that are resistant to most approaches to high-resolution structural characterization. As such, chemistry provides the most powerful tool for unraveling the structures and functions of molecules or memory, thought, and sensory perception of Alzheimer’s Parkinson’s, and schizophrenia.
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