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Life science seminar series continues Feb. 20
The Interdisciplinary Seminar Series in the Life Sciences continues Wednesday, Feb. 20, with Fran�ois M.M. Morel speaking on “The Biological use of Cadmium: From the Ocean to the Molecule” at noon in room 103 of Hugel Science Center. Lunch will be provided.
Morel is The Blanke Professor of Geosciences and the director of the Center for Environmental Bio-Inorganic Chemistry at Princeton University.
Cadmium, an element which has been thought to be only toxic to organisms, behaves exactly like a nutrient in the sea: It is depleted to very low concentrations as result of biological uptake at the surface and remineralized at depth. Because of its excellent correlation with phosphate, cadmium is used as a paleotracer for nutrients. Over the past several years, Dr. Morel and his research group have demonstrated that cadmium is an important micronutrient for marine phytoplankton. In particular, they have discovered that the diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii possesses a Cd-carbonic anhydrase, CdCA, which is involved in the acquisition of inorganic carbon for photosynthesis.
Morel received a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology and was a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology for 20 years before joining the faculty at Princeton University. His research laboratory focuses on trace metals and biogeochemical cycles in the environment. Morel has published extensively in numerous journals including both Nature and Science.
The talk is sponsored by the Office of the Provost and co-sponsored by the departments of chemical and mechanical engineering, neuroscience, chemistry, biology, and geology and environmental geosciences.