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Eye on Faculty... |
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 Angell receives recognition as APS "outstanding referee"...
The American Physical Society has recently initiated a program to recognize a small percentage of their 42,000 referees each year as "Outstanding Referees". Austen Angell has been chosen by the editors for his reviewing work for Physical Review and Physical Review Letters Journals. To quote the editors, "Your reports and advice have helped us to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics, while creating a resource that is invaluable to authors, researchers, librarians, students and readers. We could never have done this without the generous and wise contributions of superb referees like you. Thank you and congratulations!" Angell will receive his award during the prize and award sessions at the 2009 APS March Meeting in Pittsburgh. |
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 Prof. Thorpe Awarded Prestigious Leverhulme Visiting Professorship
Michael F. Thorpe, Foundation Professor of Physics, Chemistry and Biochemistry at Arizona State University, has been awarded Great Britain's prestigious Leverhulme Visiting Professorship. Thorpe will spend time in residence at the three leading universities in the United Kingdom Imperial College, London, Oxford and Cambridge during 2009 and 2010. He will deliver a series of Leverhulme Lectures focusing on the theme, "Flexibility and Mobility of Frameworks" which will address questions as to why some structures are stable while others are flexible, using examples from chemistry, materials science and biology. He also will engage in close collaboration with members of the three universities on research topics including proteins, viruses, deformations in framework structures and flexibility windows.
Thorpe is one of the world's leading experts on rigidity theory and geometrical simulation techniques which have found applications in many areas of science. His approach to theories on flexibility and floppy modes are considered groundbreaking. Before coming to Arizona in 2003 as the Founding Director of the Center for Biological Physics, he was previously University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University.
The Leverhulme Trust was founded by William Hesketh Lever, a successful Victorian entrepreneur. He formed the Lever Brothers Company, now known as Unilever, PLC. The Leverhulme Visiting Professorship is one of the most prestigious awards in the United Kingdom. |
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 Arjan van der Vaart receives career award from the National Science Foundation...
Arjan van der Vaart has received a Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation. The 5 year, $600,000 award will be used to study the binding mechanism of sequence specific DNA-binding proteins. These proteins are crucial for gene regulation, transcription initiation and DNA replication. Their binding is characterized by large conformational changes, involving the (partial) folding or unfolding of the protein and the bending or kinking of the DNA. Dr. van der Vaart will develop and apply new computational techniques to elucidate the causes of these massive structural rearrangements, to uncover the coupling between the motion of the protein and the DNA, and to establish the sequence of events in the coupled binding-bending-folding process. The studies will focus on two representative proteins: the lac repressor and the Ets-1 transcription factor. The program also involves the mentoring of minority undergraduate summer students, the development of new high school teaching modules, and the introduction of visualization labs in the class room.
Van der Vaart's award makes a total of 6 active awards in the department. Currently Giovanna Ghirlanda, Hao Yan, Ulrich Hausserman, Marcia Levitus and Julian (Jiunn-Liang) Chen all have NSF career awards. |
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 Everett Shock has been named a Fellow of the Geochemical Society and the European Association for Geochemistry. A first for ASU...
In 1996, The Geochemical Society and The European Association for Geochemistry and the Geochemical Society established the honorary title of Geochemistry Fellow, to be bestowed upon outstanding scientists who have, over some years, made a major contribution to the field of geochemistry. This is a significant honor; the number of Fellows elected each year is limited to less than 1% of the membership of the combined societies and is typically significantly fewer. Shock's work has been recognized by his colleagues as rising to this stature. |
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 The department welcomes new faculty member from Harvard Medical School...
Joshua LaBaer, a Phoenix native, is in the process of relocating his lab to the Biodesign Institute as director of the new Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics. Dr. LaBaer most recently served as director of the Harvard Institute of Proteomics.
"In the future, we will look back at our current list of illnesses as a gross oversimplification," said LaBaer. "Already, in our modern era of molecular medicine, we are learning that what we have thought about as single diseases like inflammatory bowel disease or breast cancer actually include many different molecular variations, each with a different root cause, a different prognosis and a response to specific therapies. Our lab hopes to help develop new diagnostic tools that pinpoint the specific molecular disease for each patient and direct physicians to the right therapeutic strategy for that individual." |
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 Anne Jones awarded a Camille and Henry Dreyfus 2009 Special Grant in the Chemical Sciences...
The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation has recently informed Anne Jones, that she has been selected to receive a 2009 Special Grant in the Chemical Sciences. The $25,000 award will support Dr. Jone's project entitled Development of a Student Driven Interest Course, Topics in Sustainable Chemistry.
"Sustainability and the implications of global warming are perhaps the most urgent scientific challenges we face. Young people are motivated to tackle these challenging issues, but are they being effectively educated. Chemistry is and must play a central role in addressing sustainability," says Jones.
The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Special Grant Program in the Chemical Sciences supports proposed projects that aim to advance the chemical sciences in a variety of ways. They typically originate from scientific societies, educational institutions, and organizations that promote science to the public.
"The Special Grant is essentially a seed program that is unique in that it annually solicits from the chemistry community, and from those who advocate for science, innovative ways to advance the chemical sciences," states Dr. Mark Cardillo, Executive Director of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. "Through this program the Dreyfus Foundation is often able to help start programs that deal with the most contemporary issues in the chemical sciences." Since its inception in 1946, the program has provided over $45,000,000 in funding.
The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation is a leading non-profit organization devoted to the advancement of the chemical sciences. It was established in 1946 by chemist, inventor, and businessman Camille Dreyfus. He directed that the Foundation's purpose be "to advance the science of chemistry, chemical engineering and related sciences as a means of improving human relations and circumstances."
For more information about the program and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, see www.dreyfus.org . |
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| From Left: Thomas Moore, Ana Moore and Devens Gust |
Professors develop light activated molecular keypad
In a recent article in New Scientist, entitled "Light pulses could release "locked" drugs", Colin Barras describes research by professors Devens Gust, Thomas Moore and Ana Moore of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Along with their colleague, professor Joakim Andreasson at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden they have developed a molecular lock that is triggered by ultraviolet and visible laser light.
The lock is a complex molecule with three components and is activated when the two light-sensitive portions are switched on in the correct order. In essence, the lock opens when exposed to one out of eight possible two-digit codes. The third component of the molecule can then be used to turn on or release a drug orother molecule designed to be sensitive to it. The lock has advantages overchemical molecular locks in that it can be reset many times, operated quickly, and activated remotely.
Gust says the most obvious application of the molecule is as a lock to ensure secure drug delivery at the right location in the body. He also thinks that light could beused to activate any number of chemical processes from a distance if coloredlaser beams are used to open the lock. For example, chemicals like explosives could be activated from a distance, says Andreasson.
Information: Devens Gust, gust@asu.edu (480) 965-4547, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Media contact: Jenny Green, jenny.green@asu.edu, (480) 965-1430, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Article source: New Scientist
Article: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16855-light-pulses-could-release-locked-drugs.html |
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