Professor Jeff Martell (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Title: Merging Abiotic and Biological Catalysis for Sustainable Synthesis and Chemical Biology

Abstract: 

My group develops catalysts that merge the benefits of enzymes and abiotic chemistry. In oneresearch area, we are using DNA as a nanoscaffold to accelerate the discovery and enhance the activity of abiotic catalyst systems. I will describe a platform to rapidly evaluate up to a million DNA nano-catalysts using DNA barcoding and combinatorial synthesis, thus mimicking the process of directed evolution in identifying highly active abiotic catalyst systems. In our second research area, we are developing ultrahigh-throughput chemogenetic directed evolution platforms to enhance the activity of natural enzymes in abiotic contexts. I will describe yeast display platforms to discover enzyme mutants with improved activity for diverse applications, including recycling of synthetic plastics and proteomic mapping in living cells.

Biography: 

Jeff Martell is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at UW-Madison. He did undergraduate research in organic chemistry and enzymology, working with Rick Silverman at Northwestern. Jeff did his PhD in Chemistry at MIT in the group of Alice Ting, where he used protein engineering and directed evolution to create new tools for studying cell biology. Inspired by the idea of creating protein-mimicking cavities in synthetic materials, he did postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley in the group of Jeff Long, where he studied diamine-appended metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) for cooperative CO2 capture and developed a chiral MOF for enantioselective recognition. Jeff's independent group at UW-Madison is merging synthetic and biological chemistry to create new catalysts with diverse applications.