For a while now it's been known that our favorite heme from P450 enzymes is also a key component making artificial meat more similar to beef-based meat. In Impossible Food products this "heme" is in the form of heme-containing leghemoglobin, a protein naturally found in the root nodules of legume plants and which is produced recombinantly in yeast. Pat's fantastic seminar focused largely on the environmental impact and feasibility of switching to artificial meat sources which you can hear about for yourself in this interview. His journey is also an interesting example of an academic career transition to an entrepreneur, as he switched from Stanford University biochemistry professor to start Impossible Foods.

The Scott lab enjoys celebrating all holidays and this year we celebrated with some fantastic pumpkin carving and some fabulous seasonal decoration of our lab and conference spaces, a lot of it by postdoctoral fellow Nicole Motl.

Graduate students Cara Loomis and Sarah Burris-Hiday won poster awards at the 41st Midwest Enzyme Chemistry Conference for their work on cytochrome P450 11B1 and cytochrome P450/reductase interactions, respectively. Way to go Cara and Sarah!

Program in Biomedical Sciences/Biological Chemistry graduate student Stephen Gonzalez joined the Scott lab for a fall research rotation. Stephen is primarily working with Pharmacology graduate student Ellie Frydendall to learn crystallization and enzyme assays. Stephen earned his B.S. degree from California State University at Fullerton and participated in the UM Pharmacy REU program in Protein Structure and Function the summer of 2019. Stephen presented his work from the REU at the 10th annual Emerging Researchers national Conference in STEM and was featured in ASBMB Today . Welcome Stephen!

Very cool to hear about the lives, inspirations, and personal and professional challenges from three Nobel Prize-winning women scientists. Hosted by Susan Hockfield from MIT, we heard from Georgina Ferry, biographer of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkins of X-ray crystallography fame; from Jennifer Doudna of CRISPR gene editing fame; and from Elizabeth Blackburn of telomerase fame. Thanks for sharing your journeys!

We're thrilled to have Professor Tom Pochapsky from Brandeis University join us for a 2-month sabbatical in the Scott Lab. In addition to having Tom share his expertise in soluble cytochrome P450 NMR, it's great to have a collaborator and colleague here full time. Here's a photo of Tom (far left) with part of the Scott lab after lab meeting one beautiful fall day on the UM campus.

We are so excited to have two new individuals in the Scott Lab! Kurt Harris joins us as a postdoctoral fellow, following his Ph.D. from the University of Queensland in Professor Elizabeth Gillam's P450 lab and a stint in patent law. Arkajit Gupa joined us as a PIBS rotation student, following a Master's in Chemistry at the Indian Institute Science Education and Research. Welcome Kurt and Arkajit!

Chemical Biology graduate student Alaina Richard's flash talk at the Great Lakes Regional ACS Meeting won a presentation award and an e-gift card.  Congratulations Alaina!

Scott lab trainees took over a Chemical Biology flash talk session at the June ACS regional meeting hosted by the Minnesota section.  Graduate students Alaina Richard (UM Chemical Biology), Sarah Burris (UM Medicinal Chemistry), Jinghan Liu (UM Medicinal Chemistry) and Postdoctoral Fellow Nicole Motl presented on the different P450 projects titled below.

Graduate student Sarah Burris-Hiday was selected and attended the intensive X-ray crystallography course at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource. Normally held in Menlo Park, CA over a week, this year's virtual version of Data Collection and Structure Solving: A Practical Course in Macromolecular X-Ray Diffraction Measurement was spread out from May 5-15. That's still a lot of time in front of a screen but a highly valuable training resource for crystallography students.

Medicinal Chemistry graduate student Jinghan Liu was selected to present her work on human cytochrome P450 8B1 in the College of Pharmacy Research Symposium. Nice job Jinghan!

Postdoctoral fellow Simoné Brixius-Anderko won second place in the poster competition for the Drug Metabolism and Disposition Division of ASPET during the annual Experimental Biology meeting. Nice job, Simoné and congratulations to all the winners!

Experimental Biology was virtual this year but provided an excellent opportunity for poster presentations.  Jinghan Liu presented her work on CYP8B1 for the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, while Simoné Brixius-Anderko and Sarah Burris presented their work on P450/redox partner interactions under for the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

First year Medicinal Chemistry student Dalia Soueid joins the Scott lab to do a winter 2021 lab rotation. Welcome Dalia!