The Royal Society of Chemistry
15 - 17 September - Non-covalent Interactions in Chemistry and Biology.


Non covalent interactions are essentially the basis of the order necessary for biological function and are vital for maintaining the folded structure of proteins, the double helix and for numerous recognition processes. This conference will consider, from various perspectives, questions pertaining to the nature of non covalent interactions. Specifically how non covalent interactions have been exploited by evolution for example in the sophistication of enzymes and the fine tuning of the interactions necessary for regulating macromolecular machines.

Date: 15 - 17 September, 2004
Location: Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge
For Further Information: Please contact Michele Sahrle.

Please note the deadline for registration is the 1st of September 2004.

Wednesday, September 15
3.00 - 7.30 Registration
6.30 - 7.30 Welcoming Reception
Thursday, September 16
Chair: Professor Chris Dobson, FRS, University of Cambridge.
9.00 - 9.15 Opening Remarks
Professor Jeremy Sanders, FRS, Head of Dept.
9.15 - 10.00 "Are Crystal Structures Predictable?."
Professor Jack Dunitz, FRS, Dept. of Chemistry, ETH, Zurich.
10.00 - 10.45 "Mass Spectrometric Structure Elucidation in Proteomic and Glycoproteomic Research: the Covalent Template Defining Biomolecular Interactions".
Professor Howard Morris, FRS, Emeritus Professor of Biological Chemistry, Imperial College London.
10.45 - 11.15 TEA AND COFFEE
Chair: Dr. Paul Barker, University of Cambridge. (TBC)
11.15 - 12.00 "Darwinian Selection and Evolution in a Test Tube: Dynamic Combinatorial Chemistry".
Professor Jeremy Sanders, FRS, Dept of Chemistry, University of Cambridge.
12.00 - 12.30 "Quantitative Approaches to Molecular Recognition".
Professor Chris Hunter, Dept. of Chemistry, University of Sheffield.
12.30 - 2.00 Lunch
Chair: Dr. Sophie Jackson, University of Cambridge.
2.00 - 2.30 "Peptide Models of Protein -Sheets".
Professor Mark Searle (Dept. of Chemistry, University of Nottingham)
2.30 - 3.00 "Induced fit - a New View".
Professor Mike Williamson, Dept. of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield.
3.00 - 3.45 "Neuroreceptor-Drug Interactions: How Does Nicotine Activate an Acetylcholine Receptor?"
Professor Dennis Dougherty, California Institute of Technology.
3.45 - 4.15 Tea/Coffee
Chair: Professor Chris Abell, University of Cambridge.
4.15 - 5.00 "Protein Folding and Misfolding".
Professor Jon Waltho, Dept. of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield
5.00 - 5.30 "Weighing the Evidence - Non-covalent Interactions in Macromolecular Complexes".
Professor Carol Robinson (Dept of Chemistry, University of Cambridge)
Friday, September 17
Chair: Dr. Jonathan Spencer, University of Cambridge.
9.00 - 9.30 "From Protein Dynamics to Thermodynamics: Recent Advances and Future Challenges."
Professor Martin Stone, Dept. of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington.
9.30 - 10.00 "Designing Nano-scale Self-assembling Peptide Structures from the Bottom Up".
Dr. Derek Woolfson, Centre for Biomolecular Design & Drug Development, Univ. of Sussex.
10.00 - 10.45 "The Evolution of Enzymes, Metabolites and Pathways".
Professor Janet Thornton, FRS, EMBL-EBI, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge.
10.45 - 11.15 Tea and Coffee
Chair: Dr. Shankar Balasubramanian, University of Cambridge.
11.15 - 11.45 "Zinc finger domains in Molecular Recognition: New Structures, New Functions and New Designs".
Dr. Joel Mackay, Dept. of Biochemistry, University of Sydney, Australia.
11.45 - 12.30 "Nucleic Acids. From Inter-stellar Dust to Human Diagnostics".
Professor Steve Benner, Dept. of Chemistry, University of Florida, USA.
12.30 - 2.00 Lunch
Chair: Professor Steven Ley, FRS, University of Cambridge. (TBC)
2.00 - 2.30 "The Mitochondrial Proteome and its Relationship to Neurodegenerative Disease and Aging".
Prof. Bradford W. Gibson, Buck Institute, USA.
2.30 - 3.15 "Rotating Machines in Biology".
Dr. John Walker, FRS, Laboratory for Molecular Biology, Cambridge.
3.15 - 3.45 "Evolutionary Convergence: Does it tell us Anything Important?"
Professor Simon Conway Morris FRS, University of Cambridge.
3.45 - 4.15 Tea & Coffee
Chair: Professor Jeremy Sanders, FRS, University of Cambridge.
4.15 - 5.15 "Did God make Shrinking Enzymes?"
Professor Dudley Williams, FRS, Dept. of Chemistry, University of Cambridge.
5.15 Close of Meeting