Millennium Café: Comparing Apples to Apples: Learning from Biology to Differentiate Between Rare Earth Elements

Date and Time
Location
3rd Floor Café Commons of the Millennium Science Complex
Presenters
Joseph Cotruvo

Rare earth elements are a group of 17 metals with very similar sizes but unique roles in technologies that are essential for a clean-energy future.  As a result, efficiently separating one from another is a long-standing challenge and a modern imperative.  In this talk, I will describe some of the fundamental insights that natural rare-earth-binding proteins have yielded into how to differentiate between these very similar elements. I will also illustrate how these insights are guiding the development of protein-based separation processes, towards the holy grail of efficient separation of rare earths adjacent to each other on the periodic table. 
 
The Millennium Café runs 10-11am in the 3rd floor Café Commons of the MSC Bldg.  Join researchers from across campus for a stellar cup of coffee and two <10 min interdisciplinary talks