July 2013

Masters student Ben Spyrou has joined the group. He is interested in the binding of copper and iron to alpha-synuclein, the protein associated with Parkinsons disease.

Professor Wedd attended the Fourth International Symposium on Metallomics held in Oviedo, Spain from July 8-11, 2013. He made a presentation entitled “Evaluation of Quantitative Probes for Weaker Cu(I) Binding Sites Completes a Set of Four Capable of Detecting Cu(I) Affinities from Nanomolar to Attomolar”.

Saumya Udagedara and Professor Wedd attended the Sixteenth International Conference on Biological Inorganic Chemistry in Grenoble, France from July 22-26, 2013. Saumya presented a poster entitled “PcoE, a metal sponge expressed to the periplasm of copper resistance E. coli. Implication of its function role in copper resistance”. She also initiated a collaboration with Professor Christoph Fahrni (Georgia Institute of Technology) on chromophoric probes for copper. Professor Wedd presented a keynote lecture entitled “New Probes for Weaker Cu(I) Binding Sites Completes a Set of Four That Can Detect Affinities from Nanomolar to Attomolar”.