On Tuesday, September 27th at 6:00pm in the basement of Donovan Hall, join undergraduate students Alan Luc and Aryan Patel in a conversation about what it means to navigate cultural identities as Asian American Appalachians. This event is co-sponsored by the UK Asian American Association.
We're excited to host the Malina Brothers! An extraordinary fusion of Bluegrass and Baroque music from the Czech Republic.
In 2010 the three Malina brothers, namely banjo player Luboš (oftheaward-winning „Czechgrass“ group Druhá tráva), guitarist Pavel, and violinist Josef, formed their family band Malina Brothers, which was eventually joined by Pavel Peroutka on double bass. All four “Brothers” are natives of Náchod, a city on the Czech-Polish border. They have toured extensively in the USA, as well as on domestic and European stages, and they have collaborated with Czech and international musicians such as Peter Rowan, Charlie McCoy, Béla Fleck and others. The Malina Brothers honour their musical connections to the Eastern-Bohemian Bluegrass and “Tramping” traditions, which were their main influences during the stark years of the Communist regime. The three Malina brothers eventually developed their own, unique musical style based on their listening to American Country and Bluegrass recordings (which would occasionally make their way into Czechoslovakia through the Iron Curtain), combined with the musical influences of the local “Tramping” movement, Eastern European Folklore, and Classical music.
On their latest album, “Baroquegrass 1721-2021” the Malina Brothers introduced a fusion of Bluegrass and Baroque music with a series of original arrangements, creating a brand new musical style: Baroquegrass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mzW_9QWAtE
This event is part of the Many Mountains Fall Festival, check out our full calendar for other events!
Join us for a Work-In-Progress screening and discussion of The Mountain Fiesta: Bridging the Gap & Building Community in Rural Appalachia, featuring filmmakers Roderico Yool-Díaz and Emily (Gibson) Rhyne of Iximché Media at the Niles Gallery on Monday, September 26th at 5:00pm.
This event is part of the Many Mountains Fall Festival, check out our full calendar for other events!
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 29, 2022) — A study led by the University of Kentucky has been selected for funding by the National Science Foundation’s “Biodiversity on a Changing Planet” program, an international, transdisciplinary effort that addresses major challenges related to climate change. The five-year project has been awarded nearly $2.5 million.
This summer, Jim Krupa, UK biology professor, led a course on the evolutionary ecology of the Galápagos archipelago.
“The life on the islands is almost otherworldly,” Krupa said. “The students are absolutely shocked and amazed when they arrive. It’s incredible to see their reactions.”
UK Chemistry Doctoral Student Receives U.S. Department of Energy Stipend By Richard LeComte
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Henry Pruett, a doctoral stud
ent in the Department of Chemistry in the University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences, has received a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Graduate Student Research fellowship, which provides a stipend of $3,600 a month.
The University of Kentucky Army ROTC Wildcat Battalion invites you to the Annual Alumni Breakfast on 17 SEP 22 at the Buell Armory hosted by LTC Alan R. Overmyer and LTC (R) Phil Tilly. Followed by the Honoring Heroes UK Football game versus Youngstown State.
Abstract: The biosynthesis of both fatty acids and polyketides involves a common reaction, the iterative carbon-carbon bond formation between acyl-thioesters and malonyl-thioesters. While fatty acids and polyketides are essential to society for a plethorea of reasons, how the underlying carbon-carbon bond forming reactions occur remains an open question. Malonyl-thioesters are akin to biochemical hot-potatoes, because they are prone to hydrolysis and decarboxylation. While these two high-energy reactions are exploited by nature for biosynthetic purpose, they plague the structural biologist. We developed molecules that look like malonyl-thioesters but are much more stable, thus we have chilled the hot-potato. These stable malonyl-thioester analogs have provided us with insight into the catalysis of three enzymes. Our preliminary studies with these malonyl-thioester analogs demonstrate that we will be able to generate insight into fatty acid and polyketide biosynthesis, paving the way for new routes to drugs, agrochemicals and biofuels.
The Yoshimoto research laboratory at UTSA harnesses the power of synthetic chemistry to solve challenging problems relevant to human health.
Artemisinin, one of the topics of the 2015 Nobel Prizes in Medicine, is an endoperoxide-containing sesquiterpenoid plant natural product used to treat malaria. The biosynthesis of the endoperoxide functional group, which gives the natural product its antimalarial activities, has been controversial. Using isotope-labeling strategies, we have elucidated the mechanism of the nonenzymatic endoperoxide forming cascade reaction that converts the precursor, dihydroartemisinic acid, to artemisinin in four steps: (i) first oxygen incorporation, (ii) C-C bond cleavage, (iii) second oxygen incorporation, (iv) and polycyclization to form artemisinin (1,2). Analogs of DHAA have been synthesized to probe endoperoxide formation, which led to the elucidation of the mechanism of the formation of the aromatic ring in serrulatene, an antibiotic plant natural product (3).
Secondly, human cytochrome P450 8B1, the oxysterol-12a-hydroxylase enzyme implicated in bile acid biosynthesis, is a therapeutic target to treat obesity. Preliminary studies involving the synthesis of a rationally designed inhibitor of P450 8B1 through the incorporation of a C12-pyridine in the steroid backbone, will be discussed (4).
1. Varela, K., Arman, H. D., and Yoshimoto, F. K. (2020) Synthesis of [3,3-2H2]-Dihydroartemisinic Acid to Measure the Rate of Nonenzymatic Conversion of Dihydroartemisinic Acid to Artemisinin. J. Nat. Prod. 83, 66-78
2. Varela, K., Arman, H. D., and Yoshimoto, F. K. (2021) Synthesis of [15,15,15-2H3]-Dihydroartemisinic Acid and Isotope Studies Support a Mixed Mechanism in the Endoperoxide Formation to Artemisinin J. Nat. Prod. 84, 1967-1984
3. Varela, K., Al Mahmud, H., Arman, H. D., Martinez, L. R., Wakeman, C. A., and Yoshimoto, F. K. (2022) Autoxidation of a C2-Olefinated Dihydroartemisinic Acid Analogue to Form an Aromatic Ring: Application to Serrulatene Biosynthesis. J. Nat. Prod. 85, 951-962
4. Chung, E., Offei, S. D., Jia, U. A., Estevez, J., Perez, Y., Arman, H. D., and Yoshimoto, F. K. (2022) A synthesis of a rationally designed inhibitor of cytochrome P450 8B1, a therapeutic target to treat obesity. Steroids 178, 108952
