Chemistry Special Topics (Chemistry Capstone), Spring 2000

Biochemistry of Nitric Oxide and Carbon Monoxide

Participants
Instructors: Brian O'Brien & Tom Gover
Students: Cara Brown, Jeremiah Depta, Kelda Furbush, Tom Grys, Aaron Johnson, Jeff Johnson, Gina Kime, Ryan Nelson, Sarah Spessard, Christine Torborg, Jeremy Weaver, Tim Wilson
Other Faculty Participants: John Lammert, Mike Ferragamo, Jonathan Smith

Schedule of Presentations

Inorganic Background - March 1 & March 8
Non-metal chemistry of NO                                                                                  Brian
Inorganic coordination chemistry of NO, CO, and O2

Hemoglobin & Myoglobin - March 15
Coordination chemistry of hemoglobin and myoglobin                                          Jeff & Tim
S-nitrosylation of hemoglobin, hemoglobin as an NO-transport molecule,
   synthetically modified hemoglobin and its use in artificial blood

NO Biosynthesis & Action - March 22, April 5
Biosynthesis of NO                                                                                              Gina, Christine,
Transport and mechanisms of action of endogenous NO                                       & Aaron
    1. neural
    2. vascular

NO an an Endogenous Weapon - April 12
Use of NO as a molecular weapon by macrophages                                              Ryan & Jeremiah

Seminar - Dr. John Tainer, The Scripps Research Institute, Friday, April 14, 8:00 a.m.
After linking, scroll down to the section dealing with a paper titled
"Structure of Nitric Oxide Synthase Oxygenase Dimer with Pterin and Substrate".

Drugs: Synthesis and Action - April 19
Drugs designed to influence NO-mediated processes                                            Sarah & Jeremy

Virtual NO - April 26
Virtual NO as a component of neural network computing                                      Kelda

CO Biochemistry - May 3, May 10
Biosynthesis of CO                                                                                             Cara & Tom
Transport and mechanisms of action of endogenous CO

some possible alternative topics are italicized
Plant biochemistry of ethylene [biosynthesis, binding via a Cu(I) protein]
Biochemistry of nitrous oxide (N2O)
Other O2 Carriers (copper or non-heme iron-based)

How to Do a Real Literature Search
 

Generally Useful Links
Chemistry Journals Online
Folke Bernadotte Memorial Library (Gustavus)
Databases Available Online to Gustavus Students and Faculty
LUMINA (University of Minnesota Libraries)
MINITEX (interlibrary loan and copies of articles from journals not available on campus)
STNEasy (web-based Chemical Abstracts)
Chemical & Engineering News (ACS newsmagazine; searches and full title citations are free;
those among you who are ACS members can download the full articles)
New Scientist (an excellent British general science magazine)
Science (an interesting site to browse; subscribers can download complete articles)
Nature

Search Engines
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