Please join us on October 16 to recognize Clarissa Forneris and Kevin Speina, the 2018 winners of the Graduate Student Awards presented by Princeton ACS Section. 

Princeton ACS Meeting & Graduate Student Awards Seminar - Tuesday October 16, 2018  http://chemists.princeton.edu/pacs/monthly-meeting/princeton-acs-october-16-meeting-announcement/

Frick Chemistry Laboratory, Princeton University - Mixer 5:30pm; Presentation 6:30pm; Dinner 7:45pm

Our speakers will be Clarissa Forneris and Kevin Speina:

Clarissa Forneris - "In Vitro Reconstitution of Native P450s Activities Enables Total Chemo-Enzymatic Syntheses of Vancomycin Aglycone Variants”

Abstract: Glycopeptide antibiotics (GPAs) are indispensible for the treatment of life-threatening infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria, especially methicillin-resistant S. aureus. The founding member of this antibiotic class, vancomycin, has been in clinical use since 1948 and, to this date, it is known as the drug of last resort. As inevitable resistance to current antibiotics spreads among pathogenic bacteria, it will be necessary to have a constant supply of new treatments to replace them. Synthetic derivatization of known natural products is the most successful way to create more potent antibiotics, but this approach has been restricted within the GPAs, due to their size and chemical complexity. Three post-translational modifications (PTMs) to the GPA core peptide provide functional shape and rigidity to the molecule. In vancomycin, two bisaryl ether crosslinks and a biaryl carbon-carbon bond are installed by the cytochrome P450 enzymes OxyB, OxyA and OxyC, in this order. It has been hypothesized that if the enzymatic activity of these enzymes could be reconstituted in vitro, a route to the facile synthesis of vancomycin and analogs would be opened. Our work toward achieving this goal will be described.

Biography: Clarissa is a 5th year graduate student in the group of Prof. Seyedsayamdost at Princeton University. She is a native of Brazil and moved to Cambridge, MA to carry out her undergraduate studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she received a B.S. in Chemistry in 2013. While at MIT, she worked with Prof. Danheiser on synthetic applications of benzannulation reactions. During her graduate studies, she has developed a chemo-enzymatic strategy to synthesize vancomycin, the antibiotic of last resort, and its analogs.


Kevin Speina - "Towards Commodity Scale Production of Ketones Using a Resilient Fungal Heme Protein"

Abstract: The non-reactive nature of aliphatic C-H bonds makes catalytic oxyfunctionalization, under ambient conditions profoundly difficult. Overcoming this challenge has the potential of transforming low cost, abundant hydrocarbons (i.e. methane, cyclooctane) into low cost precursor molecules capable of derivatization; an industrially advantageous enterprise. Fortunately, nature evolved enzymatic catalysts able to perform oxygenation onto relatively inert C-H bonds. Cytochrome P450s (P450) are a class of monooxygenases that incorporate molecular oxygen onto aliphatic C-H bonds with remarkable regio and stereoselectivity. Within the P450 active site lies an iron protoporphyrin IX with a cysteinate axial ligand. Unfortunately, P450 enzymes require a prohibitively expensive cofactor NAD(P)H and reductases to perform C-H activation chemistry. A class of enzymes known as fungal aromatic peroxygenases (APOs) circumvents this limitation by using H202 as a co-substrate to perform C-H functionalization reactions. APO enzymes are stable, extracellular, glycosylated proteins that have no sequence homology to P450 analogs, yet have enhanced reactivity to P450 enzymes.. Our work with a recently identified APO from Marasmius rotula [MroAPO] will be described.


Biography: Kevin Speina is a graduate student in the at Princeton University, currently pursuing his PhD in bioinorganic chemistry.  He graduated from Manhattan College with a BS in Chemistry and minors in philosophy, religion, and mathematics.  His interest in green chemistry and entrepreneurship have kindled a passion for pursuing research and development; particularly focused on bringing products from lab bench to market.  He speaks Portuguese, Spanish, Polish and English and is now studying Chinese in order to negotiate with fellow entrepreneurs  and begin in  investing in the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative.


Reservations: The meeting will be held in Frick Laboratory, Princeton University. The mixer will begin at 5:30 pm in the Taylor Commons. The lecture will be held in the Auditorium at 6:30 pm followed by dinner in CaFe area of Taylor Commons. Parking is available in Lot 21 or other lots along Ivy Lane (see http://m.princeton.edu/map/).. The seminar is free and open to the public. Reservations are required for dinner, which is $20 ($10 for students). Please contact Louise Lawter at louise.lawter@gmail.com or 215-428-1475 by October 11 to make reservations. Reservations must be canceled no later than October 15 to avoid being billed for the dinner.

                                  Food Chemistry Career Event Panel:

Are you getting your degree in chemistry and want to know more about your career options? Are you interested in food chemistry and the possibility of exploring a career in the food industry?

If you answered yes to either of these questions, then an event planned for October 6, 2018 is right up your alley!

 

The Trenton ACS is holding a Food Chemistry Careers Event, in which experts from the food industry will speak about their careers, what they do day-to-day, and how they got to their current positions, sharing tips for success they learned along the way. Event attendees will have the opportunity to network with area food scientists, interact with the food chemistry career panel, and of course enjoy tasty treats throughout the event!

 

The event will be held on October 6th, 2018, 1-5 pm at The College of New Jersey, P101 lecture hall. See the Trenton ACS web page (https://trenton.sites.acs.org/), News & Events, for more details as the event gets closer.

If you plan to attend please RSVP at: https://goo.gl/forms/rMY13BkKIWYH4zCT2

 

We look forward to seeing you at the event, and if you have any questions please contact the current Trenton ACS Chair, Matt Crowe (matthew.crowe@ingredion.com)

From Joe Martino, ACS Philadelphia section

Greetings to all!

Here's the list of meetings for the month of October:

October 8:  Delaware Valley Mass Spectrometry Discussion Group

Time:  6:00 PM -- 8:00 PM

Place:  Mendel Hall, Room 213

             Villanova University

             800 Lancaster Avenue

             Villanova, PA 19085

Speaker:  John McLean (Vanderbilt University)

Topic:  "High dimensional molecular phenomics in systems, synthetic, and chemical biology"

Cost:  Free

Registration:  RSVP to Ron Shomo at rshomo@sisweb.com by October ???

Website:  http://science.widener.edu/svb/msdg/

October 8-11:  Association of Laboratory Managers 39th Annual ALMA Conference

Place:  Courtyard by Marriott Philadelphia Downtown

             21 N. Juniper Street

             Philadelphia, PA 19107

Agenda:  Workshops and seminars concerning chemical lab management and leadership in the chemistry laboratory.

Cost:  $65.00 - $599.00, depending on category

Registration:  On-line

Website:  http://bit.ly/2NhFfkh

October 11:  Baruch S. Blumberg Institute Research Seminar

Time:  11:00 AM -- 12:00 PM

Place:  Baruch S. Blumberg Institute (aka PA Biotechnology Center)

             3805 Old Easton Road

             Doylestown, PA 18905

Speaker:  Homie A. Razavi (Center for Disease Analysis Foundation)

Topic:  "The global prevalence of HBV, can we achieve the hepatitis elimination targets by 2030?"

Cost:  Free

Registration:  None

Website:  http://blumberginstitute.org/conferences-seminars/research-seminar-series/research-seminar-schedule/

October 11:  Joseph Priestly Society Meeting

Time:  11:30 AM -- 2:00 PM

Place:  Science History Institute

             315 Chestnut Street

             Philadelphia, PA 19106

Speaker:  Katrine S. Bosley (Editas Medicine, Inc.)

Topic:  Pharmaceutical Applications of CRISPR Technology

Cost:  $25.00

Registration:  On-line

Website:  http://bit.ly/2oxVrj7

October 16:  AIChE Delaware Valley Section Continuing Education Series

Time:  5:00 PM -- 6:45 PM

Place:  3rd Floor Main Conference Room

             Two Ash St.

             Suite 3000

             Three Tower Bridge

             Jacobs Engineering

             Conshohocken, PA 19428

Speaker:  Richard Skeirik, PE

Topic:  "Kinetics & Reactor Design (Part 2):  Liquid Reactor Design"

Cost:  $15.00 -- $30.00, depending on category

Registration:  On-line

Website:  http://bit.ly/2xjmymM

October 19:  The 3 Big "Effectives" In Negotiation Skills

Time:  9:30 AM -- 11:30 AM

Place:  NJMEP Training Center

             2 Ridgevale Avenue, #305

             Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927

Agenda:  A workshop on the art of negotiations, focusing on industrial sales.

Cost:  $25.00

Registration:  On-line

Website:  https://www.njmep.org/events/3-big-effectives-negotiation-skills-2/

October 23:  Sustainable Cosmetic Science

Time:  4:00 PM -- 8:00 PM

Place:  Chart House

             Lincoln Harbor Pier D-T

             Weehawken, NJ 07086

Speakers:  James V. Gruber (Jeen International)

                    Christopher Johnson (Kinetik Technologies)

Agenda:  Sustainability in cosmetics, focusing on biofermentation and formulation with green materials

Cost:  Free to $70.00, depending on category

Registration:  On-line

Website:  http://bit.ly/2NtOYnE

October 25:  40th Annual Princeton ACS Fall Organic Chemistry Symposium

Time:  8:30 AM -- 6:00 PM

Place:  Forsgate Country Club

             375 Forsgate Drive

             Monroe Township, NJ 08831

Speakers:  Anna K. Mapp (University of Michigan)

                    Dan DiRocco (Merck & Co.)

                    Jin-Quan Yu (Scripps Research Institute)

                    Frances Arnold (California Institute of Technology)

Agenda:  A symposium on organic chemistry

Cost:  $50.00 to $135.00, depending on category

Registration:  On-line

Website:  http://www.pacsfocs.org/

October 25:  Philadelphia Organic Chemists' Club Meeting

Time:  Social Hour with Pizza at 6:30 PM in Chemistry Building Atrium (down the staircase)

            Seminar at 7:30 PM in Carolyn Hoff Lynch Lecture Hall

Place:  Chemistry Building

             University of Pennsylvania

             34th and Spruce Streets

             Philadelphia, PA 

Speaker:  Jamie McCabe Dunn (Merck Process Research and Development)

Topic:  "Vignettes in Process Chemistry spanning Enabling Discovery Chemistry to Manufacturing Route Development"

Cost:  $20.00 to join POCC

Registration:  On-line to join POCC

Website:  http://www.pocclub.org/

October 26:  Capturing the R&D Tax Credit

Time:  12:00 PM -- 1:30 PM

Place:  NJMEP Training Center

             2 Ridgevale Avenue, #305

             Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927

Agenda:  A 1½ hour workshop exploring how the R&D tax credit can be used.

Cost:  $25.00

Registration:  On-line

Website:  https://www.njmep.org/events/capturing-the-rd-tax-credit/

October 30:  Philly LRIG Annual Vendor Exhibition

Time:  4:00 PM -- 8:00 PM

Place:  DoubleTree by Hilton

             301 West DeKalb Pike (US 202)

             King of Prussia, PA 19406

Agenda:  Vendor exhibition on laboratory robotics along with presentations on novel technology.

Cost:  Free

Registration:  On-line

Website:  http://www.lrig.org/chapters/philadelphia/Events-PHL/phillysannualvendorshowoctober2018

Cheers! Joe

Chemistry Safety Video Contest

Trenton ACS members and friends, the time is here for an event which will give you a chance to express your creativity, network with your peers, share and enhance your knowledge of Chemical Safety, and win great $$ prizes!

The window for submission for Safety Video proposals will be open from September 15^th to October 15^th, 2018. Once a team or individual submits a proposal, they will have the opportunity to interact with chemical safety experts from the ACS, create a great video, and participate in a fun awards ceremony at which outstanding videos will be recognized in multiple categories including "best picture."

The Trenton ACS invites members and friends of the ACS community to submit educational safety videos for the contest. Details and the submission form can be found on the Trenton ACS website (https://trenton.sites.acs. org/), News & Events. The submission form can also be found via this link to the Trenton ACS Video Safety Contest.

We look forward to your submissions, and if you have any questions please contact the current Trenton ACS Chair, Matt Crowe (matthew.crowe@ingredion.com)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Danielle A. Guarracino, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Chemistry
The College of New Jersey
2000 Pennington Rd.
Ewing, NJ 08628
(609) 771-2416
guarracd@tcnj.edu

Coming Soon
Trenton ACS Presents:
A Chemistry Safety Video Contest

Timeline of Events

Call for safety video proposals – September

Proposal review – October

Video submission – October to December

Award ceremony and viewing party – Jan/Feb 2019

Explore your creative side

Be mentored by safety professionals

For more information contact:

matthew.crowe@ingredion.com

From Joe Martino of ACS Philly section

Here's the list of meetings for May:

May 2:  2nd Annual George Arbocus Education Course
Time:  9:00 AM -- 3:00 PM
Place:  Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum
             6825-31 Norwitch Drive
             Philadelphia, PA 19153
Speakers:  Peter Lee (Southwest Research Institute)
                   Paul Harvath (General Motors Corporation)
                   Monica Beyer (The Lubrizol Corporation)
                   David Gray (Evonik Oil Additives USA, Inc.)
                   Lake Speed Jr. (Driven Racing Oil)
                   Antron Brown (Don Schumacher Racing)
Agenda:  Talks focusing on the ways lubricants are being used to improve efficiency in the automotive industry.  Sponsored by the Philadelphia Section of the Society for Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers.
Cost:  $85.00 to $125.00, depending on category and timing.  
Registration:  On-line or at the door (cheaper on-line)
Website:  http://philadelphia-stle.org/event/2nd-annual-george-arbocus-education-course/

May 14:  Delaware Valley Mass Spectrometry Discussion Group Vendors Night
Time:  5:00 PM -- 8:45 PM
Place:  Radnor Hotel
             591 E. Lancaster Avenue
             Wayne, PA 19087
Speaker:  Alan Marshall (Florida State University)
Topic:  "Reading Chemical 'Fine Print':  The Key to Exploiting Nature's Compositional Complexity"
Cost:  None
Registration:  RSVP to Xi Qiu at XQiu2@ITS.JNJ.com by May 8, 2019 at 5:00 PM.
Website:  http://science.widener.edu/svb/msdg/

May 24:  Philadelphia Organic Chemists' Club Meeting
Time:  Social Hour with pizza at 6:30 PM
            Seminar at 7:30 PM
Place:  Chemistry Building
             University of Pennsylvania
             34th and Spruce Streets
             Philadelphia, PA
Speaker:  Dean G. Brown (AstraZeneca)
Topic:  "Current and future perspectives on molecular screening libraries and synthetic methods in drug discovery"
Cost:  $20.00 to join POCC
Registration:  On-line to join POCC
Website:  http://www.pocclub.org/

May 2018:  Catalysis Club of Philadelphia Spring Symposium
Time:  9:00 AM -- 5:00 PM (approximate)
Place:  DoubleTree Hotel
             4727 Concord Pike
             Wilmington, DE 19803
Speakers:  Omar Abdelrahman (University of Minnesota)
                   Robert J. Davis (University of Virginia)
                   David Flaherty (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
                   Raymond J. Gorte (University of Pennsylvania)
                   Rajamani Gounder (Purdue University)
                   Lars C. Grabow (University of Houston)
                   Jennifer D. Lee (University of Pennsylvania)
                   Loredana Mantaroşie (Johnson Matthey Technology Centre)
                   Jinsuo Xu (Dow Chemical Company)
Agenda:  Symposia on catalysis.
Cost:  $50.00 to $100.00, depending on category and timing
Registration:  On-line
Website:  http://catalysisclubphilly.org/symposium/

Princeton ACS Meeting and Chemists Celebrahttp://chemists.princeton.edu/pacs/monthly-meeting/princeton-acs-meeting-thursday-april-19-2018/te Earth Week Celebration – Thursday, April 19, 2018

Professor Maurie Cohen, Professor of Sustainability Studies, and Director of the Program in Science, Technology, and Society, New Jersey Institute of Technology will speak on:

“The Story of Stuff – A Discussion”

Dr. Xinqiao Jia (Department of Materials Science and EngineeringUniversity of Delaware)

Date: March 21, 2018

Time: 6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Location: DuPont Country Club

 CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

DELAWARE SECTION OF THE ACS 100th ANNIVERSARY

As the name of our group suggests, networking is a key to consulting success.  This link provides a few suggestions on ways to improve your networking skills and results:

https://www.thebalance.com/networking-tips-for-introverts-2061377

At the Chemical Heritage Foundation, now re-named the Science History Institute.  Panelists will represent chem industry, environmentalists, the press and the regulatory perspective.  Please share with anyone willing to participate in a civil discussion.  https://www.chemheritage.org/event/joseph-priestley-society-symposium-march2018