About Chemical Mechanisms of Life
At the centre for Chemical Mechanisms of Life, we combine expertise in RNA, metabolites, proteins and bioorganic synthesis to gain a deeper understanding of the chemical mechanisms in living systems. We are an open multi-disciplinary centre of excellence with the goal of advancing collaborations, research, and education around the chemistry of life.
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The steering board. Left to right: Katja Petzold, Sebastian Westenhoff, Ingela Lanekoff, Máté Erdélyi. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt
One of five centres of excellence at Uppsala University
The centre is one of five excellent research environments at Uppsala University that have received grants as part of the Swedish Research Council’s 2022 Excellence Initiative. The funds are used for long-term programme activities that support interdisciplinary research collaborations and build up a centre for research and education activities with a focus on the chemical mechanisms underlying the function of different biological system. Funding was approved for five years with the option of an additional five years to be decided after evaluation.
We will offer seminars, courses and connect researchers
We are building a centre of excellence with different educational and research activities to enable research collaborations and to establish networks between young and distinguished scientists. The centre will hold seminars and workshops, as well as courses for students and doctoral students, with the aim of creating a Master’s programme in life chemistry in the future. The idea is for the centre to function as a hub within a research structure. This will allow researchers to locate collaboration partners across traditional subject borders, identify and solve new research questions, and disseminate their knowledge to students through education.
Combining expertise in nucleotides, proteins and metabolites
At the chemical level, life is controlled by the interactions and dynamics of nucleotides, proteins, and metabolites. Major advances in recent years have opened radically new avenues to detect, predict, and control the dynamics, structures, and interactions of these biomolecules at the atomic level. These advances include increased cryo EM resolution, increased sensitivity of mass spectrometers enabling detection of diverse biomolecules in individual cells, the application of bioorthogonal reactions, femtosecond time-resolved structure determination of proteins, the revelation of invisible and transient RNA structures, DNA editing, and AI-enabled prediction of molecular structure and reactivity. We have substantial expertise in these fields in our associated research groups of the centre. By combining this knowledge across traditional research disciplines, we aim to bring about major advances in deciphering and controlling chemical processes down to atom-scale resolution at the heart of life.