Abstract:

The design of catalysts with greater control over catalytic activity and stability is a major with substantial impact on fundamental chemistry and industrial applications. Due to their unparalleled diversity, selectivity, and efficiency, enzymes are promising models for next generation catalysts, and considerable efforts have been devoted to incorporating the principles of their mechanisms of action into artificial systems.

In this talk, a heretofore undocumented catalyst design that introduces fullerenes to the field of biocatalysts will be discussed. This new set of nano catalysts  emulates enzymatic active sites through multifunctional self-assembled nanostructures. As a proof-of concept, we mimicked the reactivity and biological activity of various enzymes using fullerene nano catalysts functionalized with the basic components of the parent enzymes with remarkable activity. Owing to the versatile amino acid-based functionalization repertoire of fullerene nano catalysts, these next-generation carbon/biomolecule hybrids have potential to mimic the activity of other families of enzymes and, therefore, offer new perspectives for the design of biocompatible, high-efficiency artificial nano catalysts. In addition to fullerene-based enzymes mimics, our recent nanozyme designs will be briefly covered.

Short Biography of the Speaker:

Dr. Gülcihan Gülseren received B.Sc. in Chemistry Department at Bilkent University. She holds Master of Engineering Degree in Biotechnology from Osaka University. During her master study, Dr. Gülseren worked on synthesis of enzyme sensors, protein isolation and native chemical ligation-based protein labeling. After this experience on protein chemistry, during her doctoral studies  she focused on functional biomaterials studies which is also at the interface in between chemistry and biology. Artificial catalysis, bioregenerative nanomaterials, tissue regeneration and synthetic biomaterials are among the main research subjects of Gülcihan’s interest. Since 2018 Gülcihan Gülseren is affiliated as Assistant Professor in the Molecular Biology and Genetics Department at Konya Food and Agriculture University. Dr. Gülseren receied UNESCO – L’Oréal Women in Science award in 2021.