Description:

Chemistry Department Colloquium

Title: Terahertz-calorimetry - a novel experimental tool to spotlight the role of water in biological processes 

Abstract: Terahertz (THz)-calorimetry is a framework that allows for the deduction and quantification of changes in solvation entropy and enthalpy associated with biological processes in real- time. Fundamental biological processes are inherently non-equilibrium and a small imbalance in free energy can trigger protein condensation or folding. While biophysical techniques typically focus mainly on structural characterization, water is often ignored. Being a generic solvent, the intermolecular protein-water interactions act as a strong competitor for intramolecular protein-protein interactions, leading to a delicate balance between functional structure formation and complete solvation. Characteristics for biological processes are large, but competing enthalpic and entropic solvation contributions to the total Gibbs free energy leads to subtle energy diJerences of only a few kJ mol−1, capable of dictating biological functions. THz-calorimetry spotlights these intermolecular coupled protein–water interactions. With experimental advances in THz technology, a new frequency window has been opened, which is ideally suited to probe these low-frequency intermolecular interactions. The future impact of these studies is based on the belief that the observed changes in solvation entropy and enthalpy are not secondary eJects, but dictate biological function. 

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