About the Seminar: Of the nine first row transition metal ions five are essential elements for human beings, three are known to impact biological processes, and one is relatively innocuous. Considering the prevalence of metals the biological activities of these elements are important. Indeed, some of them can be used with great success for therapeutic uses against illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis, and neurodegenerative diseases. We illustrate that not only the fundamental roles of essential elements but also their speciation chemistry and the interaction of metal complexes with both protein, membrane, and nucleic acid targets can be very impactful. For example, a metal such as platinum can change the regulation of cellular metabolism and combat cancer. In this presentation, we will describe our studies with ions of nonessential elements such as found in vanadium complexes and the diverse modes of action that they have. Specifically, we will describe the proteins that naturally contain vanadium, vanadium haloperoxidases, and vanabins, as well as describe phosphatases for which vanadate is a potent transition state inhibitor. We will also describe the effects that vanadium compounds have on signal transduction as well as our recent work developing vanadium-containing potential drugs for intertumoral administration.

This is part of the BioMetals Seminar Series

This is a virtual seminar. For more details please visit: https://cassyni.com/events/PKMe6yKsQFYkP7hiQXLtGu