Department of Chemistry Seminar Announcement

1. Department of Chemistry Seminar Announcement About the Speaker Professor Qiang Cui graduated from the Chemical Physics program in the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 1993. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1997 from Emory University, Atlanta, USA with Professor Keiji Morokuma, a renowned quantum chemist, he did his postdoctoral research with Professor Martin Karplus at Harvard University. In 2001, he joined University of Wisconsin-Madison and is currently a Professor of Chemistry. He received the CAPA (Chinese-American Chemistry & Chemical Biology Professors Association) Distinguished Faculty Award and H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellowship in 2010. Abstract I’ll discuss a number of topics that represent our efforts in developing reliable molecular models for describing chemical and physical processes in membrane proteins and biomembranes. This is an exciting yet challenging research area because of the multiple length and time scales that are present in the relevant problems. As an example of chemical processes in membrane proteins, I’ll discuss the problem of proton pumping, several key mechanistic questions of interest and how sophisticated QM/MM simulations can help glean new insights. As an example of problems that feature very different scales, I’ll discuss the development of coarse-grained (both particle and continuum) models that hold the promise of better understanding membrane deformations induced by amphiphiles, peptides and proteins, which are implicated in many fascinating membrane-mediate processes, such as mechanosensation, membrane translocation and membrane fusion. All are Welcome