David N. Beratan
R.J. Reynolds Professor of Chemistry
Overview
Dr. Beratan is developing theoretical approaches to understand the function of complex molecular and macromolecular systems, including: the molecular underpinnings of energy harvesting and charge transport in biology; the mechanism of solar energy capture and conversion in man-made structures; the nature of charge conductivity in naturally occurring nucleic acids and in synthetic constructs, including the photochemical repair of damaged DNA in extremophiles; CH bond activation by copper oxygenase enzymes; the flow of charge in bacterial appendages on the micrometer length scale; the theoretical foundations for inverse molecular design - the property driven discovery of chemical structures with optimal properties; the exploitation of molecular diversity in the mapping of molecular and materials "space"; the use of infra-red excitation to manipulate electron transport through molecules; the optical signatures of molecular chirality and the influence of chirality on charge transport. Prof. Beratan is affiliated with the Departments of Chemistry, Biochemistry, Physics, as well as Duke's programs in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Structural Biology and Biophysics, Nanosciences, and Phononics.
Selected Grants
Collaborative Research: Infra-Red Control of Electron Transfer Mechanisms awarded by National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator). 2007 to 2019
Mapping of Electron Tunneling Pathways in Proteins awarded by National Institutes of Health (Principal Investigator). 1993 to 2019
Biological Electron Transfer and Catalysis (BETCy) awarded by Montana State University (Principal Investigator). 2016 to 2018
Developing small-molecule probes for protein arginine methyltransferases awarded by National Institutes of Health (Collaborator). 2015 to 2018
DNA Repair Under Extreme Conditions awarded by Temple University (Principal Investigator). 2013 to 2017
Collaborative Research: Directed Charge Transfer in Metal Containing Peptide Nucleic-Acid Assemblies awarded by National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator). 2011 to 2017
Conductive DNA Systems and Molecular Devices awarded by Northwestern University (Principal Investigator). 2011 to 2016
Charge-Transfer Dynamics Relevant to Protein-Mediated Energy Transduction awarded by National Institutes of Health (Co-Principal Investigator). 2006 to 2016
Theory Assisted Library and Inverse Design for Materials Optimization awarded by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Principal Investigator). 2013 to 2016
Structural Biology and Biophysics Training Program awarded by National Institutes of Health (Mentor). 1994 to 2015
Pages
Sha, R, Xiang, L, Liu, C, Balaeff, A, Zhang, Y, Zhang, P, Li, Y, Beratan, DN, Tao, N, and Seeman, NC. "Charge splitters and charge transport junctions based on guanine quadruplexes." Nature Nanotechnology 13.4 (April 2018): 316-321. Full Text
Peters, JW, Beratan, DN, Schut, GJ, and Adams, MWW. "On the nature of organic and inorganic centers that bifurcate electrons, coupling exergonic and endergonic oxidation-reduction reactions." Chemical Communications (Cambridge, England) 54.33 (April 2018): 4091-4099. Full Text
Liu, R, Bloom, BP, Waldeck, DH, Zhang, P, and Beratan, DN. "Improving Solar Cell Performance Using Quantum Dot Triad Charge-Separation Engines." The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 122.11 (March 22, 2018): 5924-5934. Full Text
Rousseau, BJG, Shafei, S, Migliore, A, Stanley, RJ, and Beratan, DN. "Determinants of Photolyase's DNA Repair Mechanism in Mesophiles and Extremophiles." Journal of the American Chemical Society 140.8 (February 13, 2018): 2853-2861. Full Text
Polizzi, NF, Wu, Y, Lemmin, T, Maxwell, AM, Zhang, S-Q, Rawson, J, Beratan, DN, Therien, MJ, and DeGrado, WF. "De novo design of a hyperstable non-natural protein-ligand complex with sub-Å accuracy." Nature Chemistry 9.12 (December 2017): 1157-1164. Full Text
Zhang, P, Yuly, JL, Lubner, CE, Mulder, DW, King, PW, Peters, JW, and Beratan, DN. "Electron Bifurcation: Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Two-Electron Brokering in Biological Redox Chemistry." Accounts of Chemical Research 50.9 (September 6, 2017): 2410-2417. Full Text
Bai, Y, Rawson, J, Roget, SA, Olivier, J-H, Lin, J, Zhang, P, Beratan, DN, and Therien, MJ. "Controlling the excited-state dynamics of low band gap, near-infrared absorbers via proquinoidal unit electronic structural modulation." Chemical Science 8.9 (September 2017): 5889-5901. Full Text
Beratan, DN, Naaman, R, and Waldeck, DH. "Charge and spin transport through nucleic acids." Current Opinion in Electrochemistry 4.1 (August 1, 2017): 175-181. (Review) Full Text
Liu, R, Bloom, BP, Waldeck, DH, Zhang, P, and Beratan, DN. "Controlling the Electron-Transfer Kinetics of Quantum-Dot Assemblies." Journal of Physical Chemistry C 121.27 (July 13, 2017): 14401-14412. Full Text
Bloom, BP, Graff, BM, Ghosh, S, Beratan, DN, and Waldeck, DH. "Chirality Control of Electron Transfer in Quantum Dot Assemblies." Journal of the American Chemical Society 139.26 (July 2017): 9038-9043. Full Text