Annual Meeting

Enzymes: Still cool after all these years

Learn about the Discover BMB 2024 symposium on enzymes
Shelley Copley Hung-wen (Ben) Liu
By Shelley Copley and Hung-wen (Ben) Liu
Sept. 12, 2023

The first enzyme was discovered in 1833, almost 200 years ago and long before the nature of proteins was appreciated. The field of enzymology came into its own in the 20th century. Technological advances in the hands of creative enzymologists led to an ever-growing understanding of how enzymes achieve enormous rate accelerations as well as the structural basis for substrate specificity and allosteric regulation.

Submit an abstract

Abstract submission begins Sept. 14. If you submit by Oct. 12, you'll get a decision by Nov. 1. The regular submission deadline is Nov. 30. See the categories.

Enzymologists continue to break new ground as we enter the 21st century. Our session at Discover BMB will feature new work on enzyme functions, mechanisms and applications.

Our first group of speakers will focus on enzymes that deal with problems caused by misbehaving metabolites. They will describe how enzymes can protect unstable intermediates and repair damaged metabolites.  Our second group will explore the potential of using enzymes for biodegradation and green biosynthesis of chemicals currently produced from petrochemicals. Our final group will focus on enzymes that catalyze novel reactions, pushing the boundaries of chemistry accessible through biocatalysts.

Keywords: Substrate channeling, metabolite repair, biodegradation, green chemistry, natural product biosynthesis, radical chemistry.

Who should attend: Anyone who appreciates the awesome power of enzyme catalysis.

Theme song: “Still Crazy After All These Years” by Paul Simon, because enzymes are crazy-efficient catalysts

This session is powered by the ribosome, which produces the enzymes that make life possible.

Cool and novel enzymes

Enzymatic control of problematic intermediates

Chair: Hung-Wen (Ben) Liu

Shelley D. CopleyUniversity of Colorado Boulder

Tom NiehausUniversity of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Shelley MinteerUniversity of Utah

Carole LinsterUniversity of Luxembourg

Enzymes for a sustainable future

Chair: Shelley D. Copley

Gregg BeckhamNational Renewable Energy Laboratory

Larry WackettUniversity of Minnesota

Michelle Chang, University of California, Berkeley

Raquel Lieberman, Georgia Institute of Technology

New and unusual enzymatic transformations

Chair: Michelle Chang

Hung-wen (Ben) LiuUniversity of Texas at Austin

Aimin LiuUniversity of Texas at San Antonio

Sara O'ConnorMax Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

Wenjun ZhangUniversity of California, Berkeley

Enjoy reading ASBMB Today?

Become a member to receive the print edition four times a year and the digital edition monthly.

Learn more
Shelley Copley
Shelley Copley

Shelley Copley is a professor in the molecular, cellular and developmental biology department and a fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Hung-wen (Ben) Liu
Hung-wen (Ben) Liu

Hung-wen (Ben) Liu is a professor in the College of Pharmacy and chemistry department of the University of Texas at Austin.

Related articles

Out with the old, in with the nucleus
Glen Liszczak & Aaron Johnson
Biochemists face the climate challenge
Karla Neugebauer & Kayunta Johnson–Winters
Building natural products
Yi Tang & Katherine Ryan
Enzymes show off new moves
Tadhg Begley & Catherine Drennan

Get the latest from ASBMB Today

Enter your email address, and we’ll send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.

Latest in Science

Science highlights or most popular articles

Innovative platform empowers scientists to transform venoms into therapeutics
Journal News

Innovative platform empowers scientists to transform venoms into therapeutics

May 13, 2025

Scientists combine phage display and a “metavenome” library to discover new drugs that bind clinically relevant human cell receptors. Read about this recent Molecular & Cellular Proteomics paper.

Meet Shannon Reilly
Profile

Meet Shannon Reilly

May 12, 2025

The JLR junior associate editor discusses the role of adipocytes in obesity at Weill Cornell Medical School.

Meet Donita Brady
Interview

Meet Donita Brady

May 8, 2025

Donita Brady is an associate professor of cancer biology and an associate editor of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, who studies metalloallostery in cancer.

Glyco get-together exploring health and disease
Interview

Glyco get-together exploring health and disease

May 7, 2025

Meet the co-chairs of the 2025 ASBMB meeting on O-GlcNAcylation to be held July 10–13, 2025, in Durham, North Carolina. Learn about the latest in the field and meet families affected by diseases associated with this pathway.

Targeting toxins to treat whooping cough
Journal News

Targeting toxins to treat whooping cough

May 1, 2025

Scientists find that liver protein inhibits of pertussis toxin, offering a potential new treatment for bacterial respiratory disease. Read more about this recent study from the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Elusive zebrafish enzyme in lipid secretion
Journal News

Elusive zebrafish enzyme in lipid secretion

May 1, 2025

Scientists discover that triacylglycerol synthesis enzyme drives lipoproteins secretion rather than lipid droplet storage. Read more about this recent study from the Journal of Biological Chemistry.