Helen Murray Free Lecture – Public

Dr. Catherine Drennan, Professor, Department of Biology and Chemistry, Howard Hughs Medical Institute Investigator, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Exploring the Molecular World

Location: Ruth W. Williams Hall of Life Sciences, Room 060

This talk is designed for and open to the general public.

Abstract:

Professor Cathy Drennan of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is fascinated by the molecular world. She wants to understand how protein molecules carry out the requisite work for cell survival. How do proteins transport cargo within a living cell? How do proteins break bonds into order to turn the building blocks of RNA into the building blocks of DNA? And importantly, how can one watch a process that is too small to see? Research groups, like the one that Drennan runs, use biophysical methods to determine the three-dimensional structures of proteins at the atomic level. In this presentation, Drennan will provide an overview of the methods that allow her to “see” the atoms that make-up protein molecules. She will tell you how she became an explorer of the molecular world. Her journey was not straightforward. In first grade, she was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was not able to learn to read. By her second time through sixth grade, she learned how to read by memorizing the shapes of words. Now she uses her shape-recognition abilities in her research to investigate the shapes of molecules. Drennan will share her journey and her research in a presentation designed for a general audience.