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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for UW QuantumX
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260518T143000
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SUMMARY:MSE Seminar: Kayla Sprenger
DESCRIPTION:Event interval: Single day eventAccessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz\, myank@uw.eduEvent Types: Lectures/Seminars \nTitle: Engineering Polymer Interfaces via Multiscale Modeling Across Sustainability and Health. \nAbstract: Plastic waste\, materials sustainability\, and biomaterial performance represent interconnected challenges that require molecular-level understanding across a wide range of polymer systems. In the Rationally Designed Immunotherapeutics and Interfaces (RDI) Lab\, we leverage multiscale computational approaches to interrogate and engineer polymer interfaces spanning applications across sustainability and health. Central to our work is the idea that molecular interactions at polymer interfaces govern macroscopic properties including degradation behavior\, catalytic reactivity\, material performance\, and biological response. This seminar will highlight how advanced in silico approaches\, including reactive molecular dynamics simulations and enhanced sampling methods\, can provide molecular-scale insight into complex polymer systems relevant to the plastics circular economy and next-generation biomaterials. First\, I will discuss our work investigating polymer/metal oxide interfaces relevant to catalytic plastics upcycling and hydrogenolysis\, with the goal of understanding how interfacial chemistry influences degradation pathways and catalytic reactivity for mixed plastic waste streams. I will then describe our efforts to investigate polymer/enzyme interfaces governing PET biodegradation\, including computational identification of mutations that may improve PET-degrading enzyme activity and stability. \nBeyond improving strategies for degrading existing plastics\, our lab is also focused on designing sustainable materials from the ground up. Accordingly\, a major focus of the talk will center on our investigations of biomatter-derived bioplastics composed of biologically derived components including proteins\, carbohydrates\, lipids\, and polymers. By integrating molecular simulations with collaborators’ experimental thermomechanical processing and spectroscopy data\, we seek to uncover how molecular composition and intermolecular interactions influence the emergent structure and properties of these sustainable materials. Finally\, I will briefly discuss how many of the same computational frameworks developed for sustainable polymer systems can be extended to biomedical polymer interfaces\, including polymer-protein bioconjugates and polymer-based coatings designed to stabilize proteins and mitigate inflammatory foreign body responses to implanted biomaterials. Collectively\, these studies showcase how multiscale modeling can accelerate rational engineering of polymer interfaces across applications spanning plastics circularity\, sustainable materials\, and health. \nBio: Kayla G. Sprenger\, Ph.D.\, is an Assistant Professor in the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Sprenger received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 2017 from the University of Washington-Seattle with Dr. Jim Pfaendtner. Her Ph.D. was focused on the development and use of molecular simulation tools to study the structure and function of biomolecules at interfaces. She completed her postdoctoral studies in 2020 at MIT in the Institute for Medical Engineering & Science with Dr. Arup Chakraborty\, developing agent-based models of stochastic biological processes. Her lab at CU Boulder is now focused on utilizing multiscale computational approaches to understand and engineer interfaces for broad applications ranging from sustainable energy to health and medicine.
URL:https://www.quantumx.washington.edu/calendar/mse-seminar-robert-hickey/
CATEGORIES:Materials Science & Engineering
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260518T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260518T160000
DTSTAMP:20260518T214053
CREATED:20260319T222503Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260501T214532Z
UID:9460-1779120000-1779120000@www.quantumx.washington.edu
SUMMARY:Physics Seminar: Erez Berg (UC Santa Barbara)
DESCRIPTION:PAA A102Colloquiahttps://phys.washington.edu/events/2026-05-18/tba
URL:https://www.quantumx.washington.edu/calendar/physics-seminar-erez-berg-uc-santa-barbara/
LOCATION:PAA A102
CATEGORIES:Physics
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260520T113000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260520T123000
DTSTAMP:20260518T214053
CREATED:20260319T220905Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260518T194531Z
UID:9247-1779276600-1779280200@www.quantumx.washington.edu
SUMMARY:Chemistry Seminar: Prof. Zhi Heng Loh
DESCRIPTION:Event interval: Single day eventCampus location: Chemistry Building (CHB)Campus room: CHB 102Accessibility Contact: chem59x@uw.eduEvent Types: Academics\,Lectures/SeminarsLink: https://web.spms.ntu.edu.sg/~zhiheng/"TBD"Associate Professor Zhi Heng Loh – School of Chemistry\, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology\, Nanyang Technological University\, SingaporeHost: Munira Khalil
URL:https://www.quantumx.washington.edu/calendar/chemistry-seminar-prof-zhi-heng-loh/
LOCATION:Chemistry Building (CHB)
CATEGORIES:Chemistry
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260522T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260522T153000
DTSTAMP:20260518T214053
CREATED:20260513T205437Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260514T214534Z
UID:10717-1779463800-1779463800@www.quantumx.washington.edu
SUMMARY:: Direct neutrino mass search with the KATRIN experiment and beyond
DESCRIPTION:: Direct neutrino mass search with the KATRIN experiment and beyond\nCENPA Conference Room (NPL 178)\nSeminars\nhttps://phys.washington.edu/events/2026-05-22/direct-neutrino-mass-search-katrin-experiment-and-beyond
URL:https://www.quantumx.washington.edu/calendar/direct-neutrino-mass-search-with-the-katrin-experiment-and-beyond/
LOCATION:CENPA Conference Room (NPL 178)\, 4311 Mason Place\, Seattle\, Washington\, 98195
CATEGORIES:Physics
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260527T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260527T170000
DTSTAMP:20260518T214053
CREATED:20251212T232653Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260518T194531Z
UID:7898-1779897600-1779901200@www.quantumx.washington.edu
SUMMARY:Weston T. and Sheila Borden Endowed Lecture in Theoretical Chemistry: Prof. Benedetta Mennucci
DESCRIPTION:Event interval: Single day eventCampus location: Electrical and Computer Engineering Building (ECE)Campus room: ECE 125Accessibility Contact: chem59x@uw.eduEvent Types: Lectures/SeminarsEvent sponsors: This lecture is supported by the Weston and Sheila Borden Endowed Fund in Chemistry\, established by the Bordens in 2015.\nWeston T. Borden served on the University of Washington chemistry faculty for 31 years. His research involved the use of molecular orbital (MO) theory and MO-based calculations to understand and predict the structures and reactions of organic and organometallic molecules. Sheila Borden received her B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. After a year at the University of Oslo\, she joined the staff of the Royal Society of Chemistry\, where she eventually became managing editor of the RSC's organic chemistry journals. In 2004\, she moved to the University of North Texas to lead the JACS Editorial Office.Link: https://molecolab.dcci.unipi.it/ \nWeston T. and Sheila Borden Endowed Lecture in Theoretical Chemistry \n"Photoactivated biological functions: Bridging Electronic Excitations to Functional Response through Multiscale Simulations"Professor Benedetta Mennucci  – Department of Chemistry\, University of PisaHost: Xiaosong Li \nLiving organisms across all domains of life rely on specialized light-sensitive proteins to detect and respond to light. Although these systems adopt diverse molecular strategies\, they share a common triggering event: the electronic excitation of a chromophoric unit embedded within the protein. This initial excitation is subsequently converted into different forms of energy and propagated through the system\, ultimately leading to a biological response. The underlying processes span multiple spatial and temporal scales\, ranging from ultrafast electronic dynamics localized on the chromophoric unit to much slower\, large-scale conformational changes of the protein matrix. Here\, a multiscale computational framework is presented to describe this cascade of events in a unified manner . Its application to a representative system demonstrates how the approach enables a consistent\, end-to-end description from photoexcitation to functional response . \nReferences Salvadori\, G.\, Mazzeo\, P.\, Accomasso\, D.\, Cupellini\, L. & Mennucci\, B. Deciphering Photoreceptors Through Atomistic Modeling from Light Absorption to Conformational Response. J. Mol. Biol. 436\, 168358 (2024). Mennucci\, B. A quantum chemical perspective of photoactivated biological functions. Pure Appl. Chem. 97\, 1239–1254 (2025). Arcidiacono\, A.\, Bondanza\, M.\, Cupellini\, L. & Mennucci\, B. Atomistic simulations reveal the photoactivation mechanism of a carotenoid-binding photoreceptor. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 123\, e2515214123 (2026). \nGuest parking on campus is hosted by the Department of Chemistry. Please contact us (preferably by May 26) to request a parking registration link. If it is an option for you\, we encourage you to carpool or take public transit.
URL:https://www.quantumx.washington.edu/calendar/weston-t-and-sheila-borden-endowed-lecture-in-theoretical-chemistry-prof-benedetta-mennucci/
LOCATION:Electrical and Computer Engineering Building (ECE)
CATEGORIES:Chemistry
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