Motion: HallMark of life. froM Marsupials to Molecules.

In Kooperation mit:
Fakultät für Chemie
Motion: Hallmark of Life.
From Marsupials to Molecules.
UNIVERSITÄT WIEN • Fakultät für Chemie
Währinger Straße 42 • 1090 Wien • T +43-1-4277-520 01 • www.univie.ac.at
© CNRS Photothèque/Cyril Frésillon
Ein Vortrag im Rahmen des Fakultätskolloquiums
Prof. Dr. Martin Karplus, 18. Mai 2015, 16:30 Uhr
Auer von Welsbach- Hörsaal, Boltzmanngasse 1, 1090 Wien
Motion: Hallmark of Life.
From Marsupials to
Molecules
The lecture will present an intellectual path from the role of motion
in animals to the molecules that make the motion possible.
Motion is usually a way of distinguishing live animals from those
that are not, but not always. Just as for the whole animal, motion
is an essential part of the function of the cellular components.
What about the molecules themselves? Does motion distinguish
animate from inanimate molecules? For animals to move, they
require energy, which is obtained primarily by using oxygen.
So how are whales and dolphins able to use their muscles to dive
to great depths, where oxygen is not available? The immediate
energy source for muscle function is the molecule ATP. Nature,
by evolution, has developed a marvelous rotary nanomotor for
the generation of this molecule. Experiments and simulations,
parti­cularly those with supercomputers, are now revealing
the ­mechanism of this nanomotor and other cellular machines.
M a r t i n K a r p lu s
P r o g r a mm
Montag, 18. Mai 2015, 16:30 Uhr
Begrüßung
Bernhard Keppler
(Dekan der Fakultät für Chemie)
Einleitende Worte
Stefan Boresch
(Institut für Computergestützte Biologische Chemie)
M ot i o n : H a l l m a r k o f L i f e .
f r o M M a r s u p i a l s to M o l e c u l e s
Martin karplus
The lecture is designed for the general, scientifically literate public.
Diskussion mit Studierenden
Kleiner Empfang im Veranstaltungszentrum der Fakultät für Chemie
Dr. Martin Karplus is professor of Chemistry at Harvard and
Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France. After winning a
scholarship in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search for his high
school research in bird ecology, he enrolled in the Program in
Chemistry and Physics at Harvard, where he graduated with a B.A.
He received his Ph.D. at Caltech under the supervision of Linus
Pauling. Prof. Karplus has produced more than 800 journal articles
and book chapters. His primary interest has been and is to develop
and employ theoretical methods for understanding chemical
problems, thereby transforming theory from a specialized field to a
central part of modern chemistry and structural biology. Among
numerous awards, he received the 2013 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
U. A. w. g. bis 13. Mai 2015
[email protected]