Support for the 3rd Penn State Bioinorganic Workshop and the 3rd "Frontiers in Metallobiochemistry" Symposium, May 28 - June 4, 2014

在其活性位点中含有过渡金属离子的酶催化生物学中一些最困难的化学反应，包括光合作用中水氧化为双氧，双氮还原为氨，以及未活化的碳-氢键的立体特异性功能化。值得注意的是，这些反应在环境条件下进行。生物无机化学领域的目标是（i）详细了解这些过程，（ii）利用这种理解来设计新的生物启发催化剂。这些努力对社会很重要，因为它们可以使可再生能源的产生为地球提供动力，并为农业提供更便宜的肥料。生物无机化学的领域是多样的，包括各种各样的科学学科，包括遗传学，分子生物学，生物化学，生物信息学，分析化学和物理化学。许多不同的实验技术（如反应动力学，各种光谱学，X射线晶体学和质谱）和理论方法（如电子结构计算和生物信息学方法）相结合，以研究含金属的酶的反应机制。由于这些原因，这一领域的研究通常是高度合作的。该研讨会将培训生物无机化学领域的学生和博士后学者。学生，博士后学者，甚至教师的培训在这一研究领域有着悠久的传统，是一个富有成效的合作环境的重要先决条件。有了这个奖项，化学部生命过程计划的化学正在资助一个两年一度的培训研讨会，该研讨会由宾夕法尼亚州立大学化学系的Carsten Krebs教授和同事领导。2014年研讨会为大约150名参与者提供培训，包括（一）在其专业领域的教师专家的16次讲座，以及（二）在2小时的时间段内为多达6名参与者的小组提供21种不同方法的实践培训（重复多达12次），并由70名学生/博士后/生物无机方法的教师专家授课。该研讨会将独特地培养生物无机化学领域的下一代研究人员。今年的研讨会比2012年的研讨会规模更大，受到了科学界的广泛欢迎。

Enzymes containing transition metal ions in their active sites catalyze some of the most difficult chemical reactions in biology, including as the oxidation of water to dioxygen in photosynthesis, the reduction of dinitrogen to ammonia, and the stereospecific functionalization of unactivated carbon-hydrogen bonds. Remarkably, these reactions proceed under ambient conditions. The area of bioinorganic chemistry aims to (i) understand these processes in detail and (ii) use this understanding to enable design of new bio-inspired catalysts. The efforts are important to society, because they may enable, for example, the generation of renewable energy to power the planet and cheaper fertilizers for agriculture. The field of bioinorganic chemistry is diverse and includes a wide variety of scientific disciplines, including genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, analytical chemistry, and physical chemistry. Many different experimental techniques (e.g. reaction kinetics, a wide variety of spectroscopies, X-ray crystallography, and mass spectrometry) and theoretical methods (e.g. electronic structure calculations and bioinformatics methods) are combined to study the reaction mechanisms of enzymes containing metals. For these reasons, research in this area is generally highly collaborative. This workshop will train students and postdoctoral scholars in the area of bioinorganic chemistry. The training of students, postdoctoral scholars and even faculty has a long tradition in this research field and is an important prerequisite for a productive collaborative environment. With this award, the Chemistry of Life Processes Program in the Chemistry Division is funding a biennial training workshop, which is led by Prof. Carsten Krebs and colleagues at the Department of Chemistry at The Pennsylvania State University. The 2014 workshop provides training for approximately 150 participants and encompasses (i) 16 lectures by faculty experts in the field in their area of specialty and (ii) hands-on training in 21 different methods offered to small groups of up to 6 participants in 2-hour time-blocks (repeated up to 12 times) and taught by 70 student/postdoc/faculty experts in bioinorganic methods. This workshop will uniquely train the next generation of researchers in the field of bioinorganic chemistry. This year's workshop is even larger than the 2012 workshop, which was received with broad enthusiasm by the scientific field.