Chemistry Student Thesis Talks - Week 1

Mark Boyer and Sangbo Nam presenting:

Mark Boyer ‘16
“Understanding the Argon Vinyl-Chloride Complex through Discrete Variable Representation.”
Abstract: Argon-haloethylene van der Waals complexes can play an import role in understanding intermolecular forces. The structures of these complexes, formed in a supersonic expansion using argon as the carrier gas are significantly influenced by relatively weak, but nevertheless important, dispersion forces, and several display evidence of quantum mechanical tunneling. Discrete variable representation (DVR) is a useful tool in providing a basis for understanding these complexes, as it accounts for the complicated form of the potential energy in a simple manner. However, DVR introduces its own complications in representing the kinetic energy of the complex that need to be dealt with before it is possible to understand fully a complex such as argon vinyl-chloride.

Sangbo Nam ‘16
“Targeting a Cryptic Allosteric Site for Selective Inhibition of the Oncogenic Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Shp2.”
Abstract: Targeted covalent inhibition is a growing field of drug discovery in which molecules are covalently bound to the target protein for increased potency and residence time. Protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) Shp2 is a desirable target for inhibition due to its role in Leopard and Noonan syndromes as well as sporadic juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia. This study aims to discover a molecule that covalently binds to a recently discovered cryptic allosteric site on Shp2, C333, which is not conserved in most other PTPs. A variety of acrylate derivatives, which can bind covalently to cysteines through a Michael addition, will be synthesized and incubated with WT and C333P Shp2. Their activities will then be tested with a phosphatase activity inhibition assay. A molecule that is able to inhibit WT, but not C333P Shp2 will be a likely candidate for selective inhibition of Shp2's allosteric site.