Chemistry and Materials Science Seminar: Charting New Territory in Structural Biology with Crystal Based Methods

Chemistry and Materials Science Seminar
Charting New Territory in Structural Biology with Crystal Based Methods

Dr. Sarah Bowman
Associate Professor
SUNY Buffalo

Abstract:
Structural biology is the study of the three-dimensional architecture of biological macromolecules. This talk will address the benefits of structural biology, and will describe how modern instrumentation, cutting-edge techniques, and computational advances empower structural solutions. One of the primary methods used to study structure is X-ray crystallography, which has a long history of success in determining 3D structures and is now experiencing a surge in importance resulting from new synchrotron technologies, microfocused X-ray beams, and XFEL sources that permit us to study structural dynamics. This talk will highlight several successful case studies from the Bowman Lab, with focus on our work on studying bacterial pathogens, development of antimicrobials, and doing cutting edge structural biochemistry.

Speaker Bio:
Dr. Sarah EJ Bowman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She is the Director of the National Crystallization Center, a major resource for the structural biology community worldwide. Dr. Bowman received her PhD in 2010 working with Kara Bren at the University of Rochester, where she studied metalloproteins using NMR. She did postdoctoral research at MIT with Catherine Drennan and Collin Stultz, where she was supported by a Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA grant from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Bowman was recruited to Buffalo to direct the Crystallization Center and was recently awarded both a NIGMS R24 National Resource grant from the NIH to establish the Center as National Resource for the community and an R01 grant to support her group’s research. Dr. Bowman was elected as a Fellow of the American Crystallographic Association in 2024, and is an elected member of the Users Executive Committee for Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource and the US National Committee for Crystallography. Her research uses biochemistry and biophysical methods to probe biomolecular structure, function, and dynamics, with specific focus on metalloproteins. Her research laboratory develops new techniques for crystallization of biological macromolecules, for detection of small crystals, and for building new pipelines for cutting edge structural approaches.

Intended Audience:
All are Welcome!

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