From respiration to nitrogen fixation, iron containing enzymes drive key biological processes in all forms of life. Bhagi-Damodaran lab seeks to uncover the structural and mechanistic basis of iron enzyme function, and design small-molecule and computational protein design approaches to engineer their biological activity. Such enzyme engineering studies, while fundamentally relevant to the fields of biological and inorganic chemistry, are posed to have significant implications on biological redox signaling and chemical catalysis. In this talk, Prof. Bhagi-Damodaran will discuss her lab’s research towards (A) reprograming non-heme iron enzyme driven oxygen signaling as a mechanism to target chemo-resistance in cancer cells, and (B) developing non-heme iron enzyme based bio-catalysts that enable direct and modular C-H functionalization reactions. The research talk will be of broad interests to Biological, Inorganic, Computational, and Inorganic Chemists.