Southern Illinois Local Section

Thank you for your interest in the Southern Illinois Local Section and our activities.  We just moved to this site. Please stay tuned with more updates and events. ... View more

Officers 2018 Chair:          Christina Ragain  cragain@semo.edu Chair-elect:  Gary Kinsel  gkinsel@chem.siu.edu Past Chair: Yuqing Hou  houyq@siu.edu Secretary:    Sarah Shaner  sshaner@semo.edu Treasurer:    Michael Rodgers   mrodgers@semo.edu Local Section Councilor: Lichang Wang lwang@chem.siu.edu Alternate Councilor:  Rachel Morgan Theall rmtheall@semo.edu ... View more

Local Section Officers  Chair Dr. Gary R Kinsel 2019 Chair-Elect Dr. Mohtashim Shamsi 2019 Immediate Past Chair Dr. Christina Ragain 2019 Secretary Dr. Sarah Shaner 2018-2019 Treasurer Dr. Christina Ragain 2019 Councilor Dr. Lichang Wang 2017-2019 Alternate Councilor Dr. Rachel Morgan Theall 2017-2019 Click here to see the list of previous Section officers that served in 2018. ... View more

Seminars: Tuesday, Sept 18, 2018 at 7:30 pm Seminar Speaker: Laurent Webb; Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, UT Austin Website: http://webb.cm.utexas.edu/research/ Location: SIUC Campus, Neckers 240 Title: Controlling Biomolecular Structure and Function at the Bio/Abio Interface Abstract: Integrating biomolecular function into abiological devices for sensing, chemical catalysis, and biofuel generation would profoundly expand and change these traditional fields.  This goal requires that the biomolecule of interest be effectively integrated with inorganic materials in a controlled and oriented manner without altering its three-dimensional fold or compromising function. In the research described here, we chemically functionalize gold surfaces with peptides of known secondary structure.  Through a variety of characterization methods, we demonstrate that correctly functionalized surfaces can induce desired secondary structures in peptides that are disordered in solution. We demonstrate molecular-level control over both helical and fibril-forming peptide strands.  This is an important advance in preparing robust biologically mimetic surfaces and is expected to lead to an entirely new mechanism through which biological and inorganic materials can be coaxed to interact. ... View more