happychemist

...and I'm not talking about the kind that gets you hyper. Ok, so it still may get me hyper. :p

Today, one of the assistant professors, Linda Hsieh-Wilson, gave a gorgeous lecture on her study on oligosaccharides and their role in regulating neurobiological processes. Not only is she a fantastic speaker, but she's done some incredible work. In honor of her, tonight's reading:

• Murrey, Heather E.; Gama, Cristal I.; Kalovidouris, Stacey A.; Luo, Wen.-I.; Driggers, Edward M.; Porton, Barbara; Hsieh-Wilson, Linda C.. Protein fucosylation regulates synapsin Ia/Ib expression and neuronal morphology in primary hippocampal neurons. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2006), 103(1), 21-26.
  
• Gama, Cristal I.; Hsieh-Wilson, Linda C.. Chemical approaches to deciphering the glycosaminoglycan code. Current Opinion in Chemical Biology (2005), 9(6), 609-619.
  
• Hsieh-Wilson, Linda C.. Tailor-made glycoproteins. Trends in Biotechnology (2004), 22(10), 489-491.

The laser is still down.

Credit to the_marchioness for coining the term. :p

Yay for finishing chemistry early tonight! Am going home to settle in for tea, Mozart, and three papers:

• Seyedsayamdost, Mohammad R.; Stubbe, JoAnne. Site-Specific Replacement of Y356 with 3,4-Dihydroxyphenylalanine in the b2 Subunit of E. coli Ribonucleotide Reductase. Journal of the American Chemical Society (2006), 128(8), 2522-2523.
  
• Seyedsayamdost, Mohammad R.; Yee, Cyril S.; Reece, Steven Y.; Nocera, Daniel G.; Stubbe, JoAnne. pH Rate Profiles of FnY356-R2s (n = 2, 3, 4) in Escherichia coli Ribonucleotide Reductase: Evidence that Y356 Is a Redox-Active Amino Acid along the Radical Propagation Pathway. Journal of the American Chemical Society (2006), 128(5), 1562-1568.
  
• Seyedsayamdost, Mohammad R.; Reece, Steven Y.; Nocera, Daniel G.; Stubbe, JoAnne. Mono-, Di-, Tri-, and Tetra-Substituted Fluorotyrosines: New Probes for Enzymes That Use Tyrosyl Radicals in Catalysis. Journal of the American Chemical Society (2006), 128(5), 1569-1579.

Oh Fluoro-substituted tyrosines (and DOPA), you are so hot!