[CANCELLED] Kewaunee Lecture: The Coming of Age of De Novo Protein Design
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
TBD
Presenter
David Baker, Professor Biochemistry, University of Washington

Kewaunee Poster Session
12:00pm – Fitzpatrick Center Pre-Function Are
Kewaunee Lecture
3:30pm – Location: TBD
Achievement and Poster Awards
4:30pm – Location: TBD
Kewaunee Reception
5:00pm – Location: TBD
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Title: The Coming of Age of De Novo Protein Design
Abstract: Most protein design efforts to date have focused on reengineering existing proteins found in nature. By contrast, de novo protein design generates new structures from scratch, with sequences unrelated to naturally occurring proteins. Before 2011, the only successful de novo designed proteins were Top7 (2003), and an array of coiled coil peptides (helical bundles). In the past five years, the field of de novo protein design has exploded. The wealth of new structures, and advancements in methodology, should now allow proteins to be precisely crafted and custom-made to solve specific modern-day problems.
Biography: David Baker is the Henrietta and Aubrey Davis Endowed Professor in Biochemistry, Director of the Institute for Protein Design, Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and adjunct professor of Genome Sciences, Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, and Physics at the University of Washington. He received his Ph.D. degree in biochemistry with Randy Schekman at the University of California, Berkeley and did postdoctoral work in biophysics with David Agard at UCSF. His research group is focused on the prediction and design of macromolecular structures, interactions and functions. Dr. Baker received young investigator awards from the National Science Foundation and the Beckman Foundation, and the Packard Foundation fellowship in Science and Engineering. He has also received the Irving Sigal Young Investigator award from the Protein Society and the Overton Prize from the International Society of Computational Biology. He is a recipient of the Feynman Prize from the Foresight Institute, the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland prize, the Sackler prize in biophysics, and the Centenary award from the Biochemical society. He is a TED speaker and member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His research group is a world leader in computational protein design and protein structure prediction.
Contact
King, Pamela
919-660-5335
pamela.king@duke.edu