[Spotlight Seminar Series] Molecular Mechanisms Underlying the Energy Currents of Life
November 25, 2025 @ 15:15 – 16:30 CET
Spotlight seminar series proudly welcomes Professor Vile R. I. Kaila to give a seminar at SciLifeLab Campus Solna.
Biography
Ville R. I. Kaila received his PhD in biochemistry in 2009 from University of Helsinki. After a postdoc at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), he was appointed a professorship at the Technical University of Munich in 2013. In 2019, Kaila moved with his research group to Stockholm, where he is currently professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Stockholm University and a Wallenberg Scholar. His research focuses on elucidating mechanistic principles of bioenergetic enzyme complexes by development of integrative computational and experimental approaches. Read more at http://villekaila.com/
Abstract
Biological energy conversion is catalyzed by intricate protein complexes that transduce redox energy into proton currents across a biological membrane, powering the cellular energy metabolism. Yet, despite significant advances in recent years, the molecular principles of these reactions remain poorly understood and pose major scientific challenges. In this talk, I describe our integrative mechanistic exploration of complex bioenergetic machines, where we combine multiscale simulations and data-driven methods with biophysical experiments and structural (cryo-EM) studies to derive a molecular understanding of intricate long-range charge transfer reactions in biology on a broad range of timescales and spatial resolutions. I describe our recent work on understanding enzymes catalyzing long-range charge transfer reaction by intrinsic electric field effects. We find that mutations of key residues mediating these allosteric processes lead to perturbed coupling effects, and development of severe human diseases, with striking similarities in different biological systems.
Host: Marta Carroni marta.carroni@scilifelab.se
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