May 27, 2008
Rebekka Wachter receives Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship for Experienced Researchers, $ 45,000 (2008 - 2010).

Wachter states that the fellowship will allow her to spend a total of six months at the Technical University in Munich as a visiting scientist. "I will be working with Prof. Maria Michel-Beyerle in the Department of Chemistry on a variety of research projects focused on the investigation of biophysical properties of proteins," adds Wachter.

May 21, 2008
Ariel Anbar receives $1,000,000+ grant to help astronauts and osteoporosis sufferers alike

Ariel Anbar has received a $1,000,000+ grant from NASA's Human Research Program for a project involving the use of calcium (Ca) isotopes to study bone mineral balance. "The near-term application is to monitor bone loss in astronauts, but in the longer term we hope the methods we will develop would be useful for osteoporosis research and diagnosis," says Anbar.

When a person breaks a bone and it is immobilized in a cast, when an astronaut experiences zero gravity, or whenever a person simply lies down, the weight-bearing bones of the body such as those in the spine and leg, are relieved of their burden, a condition known as skeletal unloading.

When skeletal unloading persists for several weeks, bones start to deteriorate: the number of bone cells decreases and movement into the bone of such minerals as calcium and phosphorous slows.

Anbar's group proposes to develop a method to rapidly detect changes in bone mineral balance by measuring the natural (i.e., tracer-less) isotope composition of calcium in blood and/or urine. This method would provide a way to detect incipient bone loss before changes in bone density are detectable by conventional X-Ray methods.

The work is a collaboration between Anbar's group and Dr. Joseph Skulan, at U. Wisconsin; Dr. Scott Smith, at Johnson Space Center; and Dr. Thomas Bullen, at the USGS in Menlo Park.

May 13, 2008
Computational biochemistry: Old enzymes, new tricks - Giovanna Ghirlanda's article in Nature News and Views

"Although enzymes are superb catalysts, their range of reactions is limited to those that support life. Their repertoire could be expanded by a method that allows artificial enzymes to be made from scratch," says Ghirlanda in her May 8 Nature News and Views article.

Two recent papers from the same group, one in the May 8 issue of Nature (Röthlisbergeret al., page 190) and another in Science (Jiang et al.), show how these limitations can be overcome.They describe a method for designing enzymes that catalyse unnatural reactions, and demonstrate its use for two different chemical transformations.

Röthlisberger et al. have computationally designed and prepared the first enzyme capable of catalysing a non-biological reaction. The design process involves modifying the amino-acid sequence of a naturally occurring protein.

These results are a milestone in biochemistry. For the first time, artificial enzymes have been designed for non-biological reactions, providing rate accelerations that are about 1,000 times faster than previous examples of computationally designed enzymes. Biochemists have long wanted to build artificial enzymes to identify and validate the minimal requirements for enzyme-like catalysis. These reports provide an accurate framework for this enterprise to which further features can be added. As Röthlisberger et al. note, the ability to design enzymes will truly test our understanding of enzyme catalysis.

Link to the article

May 9, 2008
74 students graduated in spring 2008 with degrees in chemistry and biochemistry

ASU's Wells Fargo Arena was recently host to both the spring commencement ( 9 a.m. May 8) and The College of Liberal Arts and Science's convocation ( 8 a.m. May 9) ceremonies. The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry proudly graduated 74 students. Four students were awarded Ph.D. degrees in chemistry, three received Masters degrees in chemistry and 67 students were awarded B.A. or B.S. degrees in the disciplines of either chemistry, biochemistry, medicinal or environmental chemistry.

The department held a reception to honor its new graduates immediately following the convocation. Guests, faculty, staff and other members of the department joined together to congratulate them. Dr. William Petuskey, Chair of the department presented a T-shirt to each graduate to commemorate their achievement. In turn, each graduate gave those in attendance a brief synopsis of their future plans. We wish them all well in their future endeavors.

May 7, 2008
Neal Woodbury receives 2008 Gary Krahenbuhl Difference Maker Award

The Gary Krahenbuhl Difference Maker Award is an annual award that recognizes and celebrates faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who personify the spirit of difference-making and excellent campus citizenship demonstrated by the former Dean, Gary Krahenbuhl.

Neal Woodbury (A professor in Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry), an insightful scientist, is well-deserving of this award, a fact that is demonstrated by the following quote from him, talking about his teaching philosophy, "We are approaching a point where we will have the power to alter not only our environment, but to control the evolution of our species and that of the other life forms on the planet. This is not your grandfather's science and it can no longer be taught that way. We need to prepare our students for a world 30 years from now that will be radically different from our current world, much more so than the current world is from the one that I grew up in."

Hao Yan's research group

May 1, 2008
Hao Yan is promoted to full professor with tenure

Congratulations to Hao Yan who has been promoted to full professor with tenure, effective Aug. 16, 2008. Hao started his tenure track Assistant Professorship in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Center for Single Molecule Biophysics in the Biodesign Institute at ASU in August 2004. He and his research group have made important contributions in the field of structural DNA nanotechnology, an interdisciplinary field with focus on controlling matters on the nanometer scale using self-assembling DNA scaffolds. Yan's work has appeared in prestigious journals such as Science and Nature, and frequently been published in top chemistry journals such as J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew Chem Int Ed and Nano Letters. He has been a recipient of the National Science Foundation Early Career Award, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Award, the Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship and the Arizona Enterprise Innovator of Tomorrow Award. Yan's research is well - defined, well-developed, internationally recognized and supported by the NSF, AFOSR, ONR and NIH.

April 25 , 2008
Annual Student Awards Ceremony - Celebration of Salient Achievements

Wayne W. Luchsinger and the recipient of the Wayne W. Luchsinger Chemistry Scholarship	Department chair William Petuskey and all awardees at the ceremony

The Chemistry and Biochemistry Department's Annual Awards Ceremony was held during the afternoon of Friday, April 25th in the Carson Ballroom of Old Main. Professor William Petuskey, Department Chair, was master of ceremonies, which included about one dozen faculty members to present awards. Approximately 150 faculty, staff, students, family and friends were in attendance. Special guests included Professor Wayne W. Luchsinger and LaReal Eyring who oversaw for the presentation of the Wayne W. Luchsinger Chemistry Scholarship, the Eyring Undergraduate Award and the Leroy Eyring Memorial Graduate Fellowship. Scholarships and awards ranged from national to local origins. All the students having demonstrated great ability as well as commitment and dedication to their work. Thirty eight senior level chemistry/biochemistry majors made the honors circle with a GPA of 3.8 or greater. For each award, a faculty member stepped up to extol the accomplishments of the recipient. This was an outstanding year. Professor George Wolf went so far as to say that in the twenty years he had been teaching at ASU, this may have been the best group of students he has taught. The department took great pride in recognizing these students and who have a bright future ahead of them - we wish the seniors well as they leave to continue their exploration and look forward to learning of their future accomplishments and contributions to society.

click here for the full list of awards and recipients...

April 22 , 2008
Graduate student Gabrielle Malo receives the 2008-2009 NSF GK-12 "Down to Earth" fellowship award

NSF GRADUATE TEACHING FELLOWSHIPS IN K-12 EDUCATION enable graduate students in NSF- supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines to acquire additional skills that will broadly prepare them for professional and scientific careers in the 21st century. Through interactions with teachers in K-12 schools, graduate students can improve communication and teaching skills while enriching STEM instruction in K-12 schools.

"Down to Earth Science" is a collaborative project that brings together Arizona State University scientists, engineers, graduate and undergraduate students to enrich learning experiences for the K-12 community. The main goals of this project are to improve communication and teaching-related skills for graduate and undergraduate fellows, strengthen partnerships between ASU and the K-12 community, and provide new opportunities for K-12 students and teachers to work with practicing scientists and engineers.

Malo began her PhD in biochemistry in the fall of 2006. Her advisor is Rebekka Wachter. She will receive a stipend of $30,000 per calendar year (June 1, 2008 to May 31st 2009). The fellowship also includes an out-of-state tuition waiver, health insurance coverage, and in-state tuition.

More information about the Down to Earth Science project is available at http://gk12.asu.edu/

April 15 , 2008
Ian Gould receives special recognition award from ASUPA

The ASU Parents Association (ASUPA) annual award (for professor of the year) spotlights the contributions of excellent ASU professors. This endowed professorship, presented by the ASUPA, honors those who best exemplify a passion for teaching and who excel in both undergraduate teaching and in their area of research and/or creative activity. The award promotes a culture that values and rewards members of the academic community who also contribute substantially to scholarship and undergraduate education.

Ian Gould is one of six nominees who were awarded special recognition for their exceptional dedication and service to ASU this year. "As a testament to Dr. Gould's passion and dedication to the success of his students, he has undertaken a weekly review of class material on Saturday afternoons. I have never before seen 100+ students voluntarily show up for class on Saturday with no incentive other than knowledge. His personal sacrifices have inspired me and many other students to become devoted weekly attendees," says Damon Sacks, the student who nominated Gould.

The Department has been honored for two consecutive years with Neal Woodbury receiving a special recognition award from ASUPA in 2007.

full story from ASUPA...

April 15 , 2008
Arjan van der Vaart awarded visiting professorship in France

Arjan van der Vaart has been awarded a visiting professorship starting May this year for a six week period at the University of Rheims Champagne-Ardenne in France. Van der Vaart will work with a team of theoretical as well as organic chemists on the rational design of new α-galactosylceramides, glycolipids that elicit a strong antitumor response from natural killer T cells. Van der Vaart and the theoreticians will perform computer simulations to direct the design and the organic chemists will synthesize and test the resulting drug leads. No doubt their research will be enhanced by the wonderful, champagne producing country surrounding the university.

Charlene Bashore	Lara Cardy

April 11 , 2008
Two biochemistry students receive national Goldwater Scholarships

It has just been announced that biochemistry undergraduate students Charlene Bashore and Lara Cardy are the 2008 Goldwater Scholars. The $7,500 awards are the nation's premier undergraduate awards for students in the natural sciences, math and engineering. This is the second time in three years that two of the winners of this prestigious scholarship are biochemistry students.

Charlene Bashore is a junior from eastern Washington State. She's majoring in biochemistry with a minor in spanish and is working on rapid DNA sequencing under Peter Williams. She plans to pursue a PhD and go into medical research. Charlene is the current president of the ASU Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society (SAACS), and enjoys sleeping, baking, playing her violin, and yoga. Her favorite classes include Polish, Latin ballroom dancing, capoeira, and medicinal chemistry.

Lara Cardy grew up in Mesa, Arizona and attended Dobson High School before becoming a student at Arizona State University in the Fall of 2005. Originally intending to be a Speech and Hearing Science major and work with children with developmental and intellectual disabilities, she began research on the language development of autistic children. Following this she was an intern at the Translational Genomics Research Institute, focusing on the genomic and proteomic basis of autism and other developmental disorders. These experiences influenced her to change her academic focus to biochemistry. Currently, she is participating in cochlear implant research and enjoying her rigorous physical chemistry course with Dr. George Wolf. She will be graduating in May 2009 with the intent to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience.

The scholarship program honoring Senator Barry Goldwater was created to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in math, science and engineering.

Full story from ASU Insight 4/11/2008 http://asunews.asu.edu/files/20080411.pdf

April 10, 2008
Biochemistry student Ke Wu wins grant to study around the world

Congratulations to Ke Wu, who was recently awarded an around-the-world study trip from the Circumnavigators Club Foundation. The $9,000 grant is given to just four students in the country each year.

This summer Wu will travel from Columbia to Ecuador, then to Mongolia, Romania, Thailand, India, Tanzania and Liberia to study childhood education. Her study will focus on how to teach disadvantaged children and motivate them to stay in school.

Wu graduated from Tucson’s University High School in 2006, and entered ASU as a Flinn Scholar. She is currently a biochemistry major with a 3.95 GPA.

Full story from ASU State Press (4/9/2008): http://www.asuwebdevil.com/issues/2008/04/09/news//704650 and ASU Insight (March 28. 2008): http://asunews.asu.edu/files/20080328.pdf

April 9, 2008
Department welcomes Wang from TGen

Tong Wang joined the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at ASU as an adjunct faculty in March, 2008. He is currently a principal medicinal chemist at TGen. Prior to joining TGen, Dr. Wang had worked for AMRI, Inc and Schering-Plough (Neogenesis Pharmaceutical). Wang's research focuses on small molecule drug discovery in therapeutic areas including anti-viral, CNS diseases, and more recently, anti-cancer. Wang earned his B.S. degree from Beijing University in 1995 and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Syracuse University in 2000.

Recent Research highlights:
Novel therapeutic agents
Discovery and development of novel and personalized anti-cancer agents is the goal of the medicinal chemistry unit at TGen/TD2 since its foundation in August, 2007. Tong Wang, the principal chemist of the unit, is interested in identifying, among others, inhibitors of histone deacetylase (HDAC) enzymes. HDACs are an emerging therapeutic target for the treatment of cancer and inhibition of HDACs regulates gene transcription and inhibits cancer cell proliferation. By modifying known inhibitors, Wang and coworkers have identified a series of new and potent small-molecule compounds with potentially better biophysical profiles. The lead compounds in the series exhibit sub-micromole activities against several cancer cell lines and one of the leads has been scaled up for in vivo studies.

Wang and co-inventor Stephen Gately (Chief Scientific Officer of TD2) have filed provisional patent application under the title "Pharmaceutical Compositions and Methods of Use of Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors" in February, 2008.

April 4, 2008
General Chemistry Is Bringing The THUNDER!

The General Chemistry Redesign Plans (see Nov. 7 news story) have received a significant upgrade. Collaborations with Steelcase, Walsh Bros. and multiple ASU offices (including the University Architect’s Office and University Technology Office) have transformed a modest $100,000 project into a $650,000 partnership for a new cutting-edge educational classroom to be housed in PS H-135. The cornerstone of this new room will be the Polyvision Thunder collaboration system, which incorporates 6 multimedia projection systems, tablet PCs, and a central instructor plasma display to make collaborative learning activities more engaging and effective. Janet Bond-Robinson, Ron Briggs, Pam Marks, and Shelly Seerley are leading this effort for the Chemistry & Biochemistry Department at the Tempe campus. The room will be ready for the 2008/2009 academic year and used for all sections of CHM 101, 113, 114, and 116.

March 26, 2008
Daniel Barr received the 2008 GPSA Teaching Excellence Award

Congratulations to chemistry graduate student Daniel Barr who has been recently awarded the 2008 GPSA Teaching Excellence Award. The Teaching Excellence Program recognizes graduate and professional students at ASU-Tempe that exemplify excellence in education and classroom instruction. Teaching Assistants and graduate student instructors are eligible for nomination by faculty, staff, or students at the ASU-Tempe campus.

After nomination, each eligible nominee is solicited to submit a formal application for the program by a pre-determined deadline shortly following the close of nominations. These applications are peer-reviewed by the GPSA Teaching Excellence Award Selection sub-Committee, and each applicant is observed teaching by a member of the TEA committee. Evaluation criteria include, but are not limited to, classroom/session organization and content, instructor/TA presentation style, instructor/TA-student interaction, and effective use of materials and media.

These awards are prestigious, and recipients are recognized and announced on the GPSA website, gradstu listserv and through a Press Release to ASU Insight. No fewer than twenty awards are announced during the Graduate & Professional Student Appreciation Week. This year, out of 90 nominees, 22 awardees were selected.

Daniel taught freshman chemistry (CHM 113) last fall and was nominated for this award by his students. He was the only TA from chemistry or physics selected to receive the award this year.

Feb 22, 2008
Hao Yan named Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow

Congratulations are due to Hao Yan who was recently named an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow. These extremely prestigious awards are intended to enhance the careers of the very best young faculty members in specified fields of science. Currently a total of 118 fellowships are awarded annually in seven fields: chemistry, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, computer science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, and physics. Hao’s was one of 23 awards in chemistry across the USA and Canada. The fellowship comes with a research grant of $50,000 over two years.

According to Hao this fellowship will support his research in using self-assembled DNA nanostructures to deterministically position photonic elements to study their distance dependent interactions, with potential applications in energy and biosensing. Hao also says: "Both the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and The Biodesign Insititue have been truly supportive of my research over the years, the Sloan Research Fellowship not only is a prestigious honor and recognition, it also will provide some financial freedom for me to work on new ideas that have not been tested before."

Feb 11, 2008
Department welcomes new faculty member Dan Buttry

Dan Buttry accepted the position of Professor of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, and started from spring 2008.

Professor Buttry earned a B. A. with highest distinction in chemistry, magna cum laude, in 1979 at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. He subsequently attended the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, receiving a Ph. D. degree in Electrochemistry in 1983. After graduating, he accepted a position as a Member of the Research Staff at IBM’s San Jose Research Lab (now the Almaden Research Lab). In 1985, he moved to the University of Wyoming as an assistant professor, where his research effort was initially focused on applications of the quartz crystal microbalance in electrochemistry and chemical sensor research and development. He became a professor in 1992 and served as head of the department from 1999-2002. His research interests have broadened to include new materials for battery and fuel cell applications, interfacial chemistry in corrosion, and electrochemical behavior of nanoscale materials and nanocomposites. His group has been supported by many agencies and companies, including the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Department of Energy.

Jan. 29, 2008
Kouvetakis receives grants to develop solar cells

New materials and more efficient components for solar cells as well as cheaper high-brightness LEDs are the focus of several new multidisciplinary research initiatives supported by the US Department of Energy (Solar America Initiative), Science Foundation Arizona (small business catalytic fund) and National Science Foundation (phase I and II small business technology transfer awards-STTR). Novel materials synthesis, device fabrication, advanced spectroscopic characterization and state-of-the-art supercomputer simulations are being synergistically combined to promote innovation in future generation of photovoltaic's and solid state lighting. The DOE project will utilize materials that have been developed at ASU for laser applications and explore their photovoltaic potential. The project will focus on high efficiency, multi-junction based devices produced on Si platforms for a dramatic cost reduction compared to current technologies. New material combinations will feature enhanced absorption of sunlight by perfectly matching the solar energy spectrum. The SFAZ funded technology uses a buffer layer system invented at ASU to structurally match silicon wafers with nitride-based materials to produce renewable energy systems. The NSF funded projects are in collaboration with Voltaix Corporation/Si-Photonics and include scaleable industrial syntheses of new families of molecular compounds and their use to form materials for applications in advanced substrates for strained Si channels, CMOS-integrated MEMS and solar cells. Participants include Professors John Kouvetakis (Chem/Biochem), Jose Menendez (Physics) and Andrew Chizmeshya (Chem/Biochem). Full story from ASU News..

There are many research projects are part of an ongoing effort at ASU to research alternative and renewable energy sources. A lot of chemistry & biochemistry faculty members are involved in these projects. View a list of ongoing projects.

Jan. 17, 2008
Michael O’Keeffe's paper in Science has won the Newcomb Cleveland prize

Congratulations to Professor Michael O’Keeffe whose paper in Science ("Designed synthesis of 3-D covalent organic frameworks", H. M. El-Kaderi, J. R. Hunt. J. L. Mendoza-Cort/s, A. P. C?t/, R. E. Taylor, M. O'Keeffe & O. M. Yaghi. Science 316, 268-272 (2007)), along with collaborators from UCLA, has won the Newcomb Cleveland prize. This is the oldest prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is awarded for the best paper of the year. The paper reported the first synthesis of 3-D organic framework crystals. These are the most open and lightest crystalline materials ever prepared and have many potential applications. Professor O'Keeffe contributed mathematical insights that assisted in the design and unambiguous determination of the atomic structure of these materials that were made by Professor Omar Yaghi's group at UCLA. The awards will be presented to the authors at a ceremony at the annual meeting of the AAAS in Boston this February.

Jan. 14, 2008
Kevin E. Redding has joined the department

Kevin E. Redding started in spring 2008 as an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Dr. Redding received his Ph.D from the Department of Biochemistry at Stanford University, where he studied intracellular protein transport and sorting in the secretory pathway of yeast cells. He decided to move into electron transfer processes, specifically in photosynthetic proteins, when he started his postdoctoral research in the group of Jean-David Rochaix at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. He continued working on several problems in photosynthesis upon returning to the US as an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Alabama. He was promoted to associate professor in 2004. He has been working at the IBPC in Paris on a variety of topics, including an in vivo analysis of electron transfer reactions within heliobacterial cells.