VenueMurray Hall G202Start dateOctober 9, 2025 12:30 pmEnd dateOctober 9, 2025 1:45 pmAdventures in biological electron transfer theory David Beratan Duke University Bio David N. Beratan, PhD is the R.J. Reynolds Professor of Chemistry at Duke University, with joint appointments in Biochemistry and Physics. A Duke alumnus, he earned his BS in Chemistry before completing his PhD at the California Institute of Technology. His early career included research at Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, followed by faculty roles at the University of Pittsburgh and Duke, where he also served as Chair of the Chemistry Department. Dr. Beratan is internationally recognized for his pioneering work in theoretical and computational chemistry. His research explores the physical principles that govern molecular function, particularly in energy transduction and charge transport in biological systems. He has developed influential models for electron tunneling, bifurcation, and chiral spin filtering, and continues to advance molecular design strategies for functional materials and proteins. A Fellow of the American Chemical Society, American Physical Society, AAAS, and Royal Society of Chemistry, Dr. Beratan has received numerous honors, including the Langmuir, Feynman, and Cozzarelli Prizes. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science, and has held distinguished visiting positions at Oxford, Penn, and the University of Chicago.AbstractElectron bifurcation, the splitting of electron pairs into high and low energy pools, underpins energy storage and catalysis in living systems. Redox networks that bifurcate electrons do so at very low thermodynamic cost, accomplishing a Maxwell’s Demon like process. The inner workings of electron bifurcating enzymes are poorly understood, especially with respect to how energy dissipating (short-circuiting) reactions are avoided between the high- and low-energy electron transport pathways. A key feature of electron bifurcation networks is that they link three redox pools at very different potentials. I will show how we are modeling electron bifurcation networks and will describe classes of redox energy landscapes that naturally insulate the bifurcation networks from short-circuiting. The correlated many-particle flow in these networks is, in fact, essential for their function. I will review the physical principles that appear to underpin electron bifurcation, will contrast them with single-electron transfer networks, and will explore open questions and opportunities.
