SCIENCE AT THE EDGE SEMINAR

                 Friday, January 31, 2003
11:30 a.m., Room 1400 Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building
            Refreshements served at 11:15 a.m.

Speaker:
                  Rawle Hollingsworth
             Departments of Chemistry and 
          Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
               Michigan State University

Title:
           A Glycochemicals Revolution and its 
      Implication for the Structure and Properties 
           of Drugs through Advanced Materials

Abstract:

Chemistry is the science of how we interact with and utilize 
the basic raw materials that constitute our planet and the 
areas within or reach. Petrochemistry forms the main chemistry 
infrastructure of the developed world. It define our lives 
from drugs through agrichemicals, textiles, paints, coatings, 
resins, toys, furniture, medical implants..the list goes on 
and on. Petrochemicals also define our social world, our 
political world our overall economic world and our 
environment. What would the world look like if we had a 
different chemistry base? What challenges could we answer
that are now out of reach of traditional chemistry? What 
challenges can we answer better? Carbohydrates are among
the most abundant materials on earth. They are also the most 
complex. If one succeeds in scaling this formidable wall of 
complexity one will find an enormous trove of chemical 
riches on the other side. These can completely reshape our 
thinking and aspirations in the field of chemistry and its 
related fields of physics, biochemistry, materials science 
and biology. I will tell you some stories and send you 
postcards from the other side of the wall. 

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