Chemistry & Biochemistry News

A fount of knowledge. Hilairy Hartnett shows students how to take a water sample from an acidic hot spring in Yellowstone National Park. CREDIT: ARIEL ANBAR

Jan 7, 2010
NSF Boosts Success Rates
Jeffrey Mervis

Hilairy Hartnett got the bad news in January. The National Science Foundation (NSF) had turned down, for the third time, her application for a CAREER grant, a prestigious 5-year award for tenure-track faculty members who want to combine their research interests with their role as educators. Hartnett's idea to study how the Colorado River takes in and transforms carbon as it flows through the region on its way to Mexico had gotten high marks from reviewers. But her scores were never quite good enough to beat out the very stiff competition.

So Hartnett, a geobiochemist up for tenure this year at Arizona State University, Tempe, decided to rework the idea and resubmit it as a regular proposal to NSF's geosciences directorate. She knew the odds weren't much better, but she had no choice: Researchers can apply only three times for a CAREER award. She also regretted losing the educational component, which would give undergraduates a chance to carry out complex environmental field studies and learn about an important natural resource in their state.

full story
Science 27 November 2009: Vol. 326. no. 5957, pp. 1181 - 1182 DOI: 10.1126/science.326.5957.1181

Jan 6, 2010
Justin Spiriti: one of two graduate students selected nationally to give talk at biophysical society meeting

The 54th annual Biophysical Society Meeting will be held in San Francisco during the week of February 20th. Justin Spiriti, a graduate student supervised by Arjan van der Vaart and Andrew Chizmeshya, is one of only two students selected to give a talk at the biophysical subgroup meeting.

Spiriti's talk will be entitled "Simulation of Fluorescent Dye-DNA Interactions using Multidimensional Adaptive Umbrella Sampling." His research involves simulating the motions of fluorescent dyes when they are attached to a DNA strand using some newly developed simulation techniques. These motions are important for interpreting the results of fluorescence experiments, which use energy transfer between two dyes attached to a molecule as a "molecular ruler" to measure distances and observe changes in the molecule's shape. The research is a follow-up to the work of Kaushik Gurunathan and Marcia Levitus, who have studied the motion of Cy3 attached to DNA experimentally by fluorescence techniques. The simulations will assist in understanding their observations and will help scientists tell the difference between molecular shape changes and movements that involve only the dyes.

Hailing Wang (received her doctoral degree in fall 2009 ) and Dr. William Petuskey

Dec 17, 2009
Department celebrates the fall 2009 graduation at the Holiday Party...

On December 17 a record number (over 200) of graduates and their guests, faculty, staff and other members of the department descended on the C-D atrium for a graduation reception/ holiday party. This was the second time this covered atrium of the Physical Sciences Building has been commandeered for this event, and the numbers that showed up speak for its popularity. The space was enriched by the celestial strains of the Kuchen-Trio (Claire Sievers, Brian Sievers and Petra Fromme) with special guest Justin Flory, and the collective palate was spoiled by a fine spread of delectables from the ASU catering services. An extra treat this year included an edible centrepiece contest, which proved to be extremely popular.

Immediately preceding the reception, in the Wells Fargo Arena, 50 students received their bachelor's degrees in either chemistry or biochemistry along with 1 master's and 7 doctoral students. At the reception Dr. William Petuskey, Chair of the department, presented T-shirts to the undergraduates and master's students, and laptop cases to the doctoral students, to commemorate their achievement. We wish everyone success in their future endeavors.

Whether or not the students were fully aware of it, they have all been part of the ASU plan for them. To quote Dean Quentin Wheeler, "We .... are educating students for jobs not yet conceived, using technologies not yet invented, to solve problems not yet known." A final and outreaching touch was added by our glassblower Christine Roeger who contributed elegant raffle prizes (e.g. beaker mugs) made in the facility. The awarding to the raffle winners brought the reception to a quality conclusion. Many thanks to the department and everyone who helped organize this successful event.

Dec 10, 2009
Michael Kenney, Chemistry Major, receives Arizona Power Authority Research Scholarship

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has recently awarded Michael Kenney an Arizona Power Authority Research Scholarship for work "Investigating a New Approach to Organic Photovoltaics Using Porphyrin Polymers" under the supervision of Professor Devens Gust. This scholarship consists of a $3,000 monetary award. The funds will be distributed over the spring 2010 and fall 2010 semesters.

The Arizona Power Authority (APA) funds a scholarship program at Arizona's three state universities that benefits undergraduates studying in the power and energy fields.

Arizona State University, The University of Arizona, and Northern Arizona University each receive $20,000 annually under the scholarship program, for a total of $60,000 statewide.

"The power industry is vital to our country and education is one of the fundamental cornerstones of our democracy and free enterprise system," said Richard S. Walden, chairman of the APA Commission. "Funding these scholarships will benefit our nation, the industry and the authority both directly and indirectly."

Department of chemistry and biochemistry chair Professor William Petuskey congratulated Michael and added," It is a validation of your hard work, ambition and excellent scholarship. The department and I are always proud and delighted in the accomplishments of our students. Please keep up the good work. I look forward to watching you progress in your academic career."

The APA is a non-profit corporation that is owned by the State of Arizona. It is funded by revenues from its customers and receives no state funds. APA was set up in 1944 to administer Arizona's share of electrical power generated by Hoover Dam. It currently markets and schedules this power to 31 customers in Arizona that include irrigation and electrical districts, the Central Arizona Water Conservation District, and cities and towns.

Nov 20, 2009
Thomas Moore creates joint invention with MIT

For Arizona State University (ASU) Professor Thomas Moore, an invitation to guest lecture became a demonstration in a lab which led to a seafood lunch - which led to a joint invention with colleagues from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that contributed to a sustainable energy start-up company.

Moore had been asked to speak at a summer course taught by well-known MIT Professor Daniel Nocera and, after the lecture, Moore was invited to the MIT labs for a demonstration of a new catalyst that could split water into hydrogen and oxygen-a potential pathway to sustainable energy production. As the demonstration came to a close, the group got hungry and headed to a local seafood restaurant for lunch. Over lobster and crab, the ensuing discussion led Moore to suggest that a type of solar cell he was developing could serve as a power source to enhance the ability of the catalyst to create this reaction. And the idea for a co-invention was born.

MIT scientists had developed the catalyst and Moore, along with his co-inventors, came up with a dye-sensitized solar cell that could provide the power needed to make the system more cost-effective.

"This is what happens when scientists get together to dream," said Moore, director of the Center for Bioenergy and Photosynthesis and a professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. "A scientist’s job is to translate dreams into reality and that’s what we set in motion that day."

Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE), which manages intellectual property and technology transfer for ASU, entered into an agreement with MIT's technology transfer office to protect and market Moore's joint invention with MIT. MIT then licensed the joint invention - along with other inventions from MIT - to Sun Catalytix (www.suncatalytix.com), a Cambridge, Mass.-based early-stage renewable energy start up.

This progression of events is the perfect example of the value of scientific collaboration, according to AzTE Deputy Managing Director Ken Polasko.

"Rarely does one department or one institution ever hold all the solutions to the complex scientific and economic puzzles that face society today," Polasko said. "The open nature of the University system facilitates the interaction of highly skilled researchers that, in this case, may lead to a pathway for sustainable energy production." 

full story