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SUMMARY:Spectroscopic Studies of Biological Dinitrogen Reduction
LOCATION:Chemistry A101
TZID:America/Denver
DTSTART:20251014T160000
UID:2026-04-27-11-42-28@natsci.colostate.edu
DTSTAMP:20260427T114228
Description:About the seminar:\n\nThe nitrogenase family of enzymes is resp
 onsible for nearly all biological nitrogen fixation and has attracted inte
 nse interest for decades due to its ability to reduce N2 to NH3 under ambi
 ent conditions. The active site of nitrogenase is a MoFe7S9C cluster\, the
  so-called iron molybdenum cofactor (or FeMoco)\, which is the site of sub
 strate activation. In recent years\, our understanding of the mechanism ha
 s advanced substantially\, however\, many open questions remain as to the 
 specific site of reduction and protonation events during the catalytic cyc
 le. Recently\, we have shown that selective Se substitution combined with 
 selenium Kα high-energy resolution fluorescence detected X-ray absorption
  spectroscopy (Se Kα HERFD XAS) can reveal a more detailed picture of the
  electronic structure of the active site. In the present study\, we utiliz
 e a combination of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and Se Kα HERFD 
 XAS\, together with extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS)\, to 
 understand the mechanism of Se insertion and the nature of early intermedi
 ates in the catalytic cycle. In addition\, recent spectroelectrochemical s
 tudies of a nitrogenase biohybrid system will be presented.\n\nAbout the s
 peaker:\n\nSerena DeBeer is a Professor and Director at the Max Planck Ins
 titute for Chemical Energy Conversion in Mülheim an der Ruhr\, Germany. S
 he is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemica
 l Biology at Cornell University\, an honorary faculty member at both Ruhr 
 University in Bochum and University of Duisburg Essen\, and the group lead
 er of the PINK Beamline at the Energy Materials In‐Situ Laboratory at He
 lmholtz Zentrum in Berlin. She received her B.S. in Chemistry at Southwest
 ern University in 1995 and her Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2002. Fro
 m 2002-2009\, she was a staff scientist at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiat
 ion Laboratory\, before moving to her faculty position at Cornell. She is 
 the recipient of a European Research Council Synergy Award (2019)\, the Am
 erican Chemical Society Inorganic Chemistry Lectureship Award (2016)\, the
  Society of Biological Inorganic Chemistry Early Career Award (2015)\, a E
 uropean Research Council Consolidator Award (2013)\, a Kavli Fellowship (2
 012)\, and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2011). Recently\, she r
 eceived the Seaborg Lectureship Award from UC Berkeley (2023)\, the R. J. 
 P. Williams lectureship from Oxford (2022) and the Michael Lappert lecture
 ship from the Royal Society of Chemistry (2024).  She served as an associ
 ate editor for RSC Chemical Science from (2018-2024) and recently moved to
  the ACS as an associate editor for JACS (2024-present). Research in the D
 eBeer group is focused on the development and application of advanced X-ra
 y spectroscopic tools for understanding key mechanisms in biological and c
 hemical catalysis. 4:00 pm
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