Friday, 9 September 4:00pm – 5:00pm

This seminar will be delivered in Chemistry Lecture Theatre 1 and online Zoom. Please email chemistry.researchsupport@sydney.edu.au for zoom link and password.

Speaker: Prof Steve Bull; University of Bath, UK

Host: Prof. Rich Payne/Phil Gale

Title: Biorefineries for Sustainable Chemical Synthesis and Fluorescent Sensors as Tools for Investigating Biological Processes

Abstract: The first half of the presentation will describe our efforts to use a biorefinery based approach  to catalytically upgrade biorenewable monoterpene feedstocks (e.g., turpentine, waste citrus oils, eucalyptus oils) into a variety of sustainable commodity chemicals, bioplastics and drugs that are currently derived from non-renewable petrochemical feedstocks.^1,2

The second half of the presentation will describe our efforts into developing fluorescent chemical sensors as investigational tools for probing complex biological processes in cellular systems, including for the real-time detection of osteocyte bone resorbing activity in deep bone cavities, imaging of amyloid-beta plaques in mice brains and visualisation of drug induced liver damage.