Faculty news
Nick Abbott and his research group have published two articles in Science recently. The first, published in the August 1, 2003 edition and co-authored with postdoctoral research associate Yan-Yeung Luk, demonstrated new ways to couple the orientations of liquid crystals to chemical and electrical stimuli in electro-optical devices and chemical sensors through electrochemical control of the oxidation state of ferrocene-decorated electrodes. The second article, with Jeffrey Brake (PhD '03), now with Atofina Chemicals, and Maren Daschner (MS '03) as coauthors in addition to Nick and Luk, appeared in the December 19, 2003 issue. This paper demonstrated novel principles for label-free monitoring of aqueous streams for molecular and biomolecular species without the need for complex instrumentation. Strong and weak specific binding events involving proteins and phospholipids at planar interfaces between thermotropic liquid crystals and aqueous phases drive the reorganization of the phospholipids, which in turn triggers orientational transitions in the liquid crystals.
Emeritus professor Tom Chapman has been elected a Fellow of AIChE. Tom also reports that he has made three trips to Portugal this year as a State Department Embassy Science Fellow. His assignment there involves promoting research collaboration between leading Portuguese research centers and related centers in the U.S., and supporting innovation and technology transfer. Tom helped to organize a workshop in June to discuss partnerships for innovation.
Jim Dumesic has been chosen one of the 2003 Scientific American 50. The winners are recognized for their contributions to advancement of technology in science, engineering, commerce and public policy. Jim was chosen as the winner in the area of energy research for his work pioneering economical catalysts for turning biomass into hydrogen fuel. His recent work on this subject appeared in the September 5, 2003 issue of Angewandte Chemie, coauthored by PhD student Rupali Davda, and in the June 27, 2003 Science, coauthored by PhD students George Huber and John Shabaker. This work was also noted in Scientific American's September "On the Web"
(www.sciam.com/ontheweb/)
Mike Graham has been appointed to the editorial board of the Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, the primary journal for publication of fundamental developments in the rheological sciences and applications on both the macroscopic and microscopic scale.
Tom Kuech won the 2003 Charles M.A. Stine Award in materials science and engineering from AIChE for outstanding fundamental contributions to the understanding of the growth of compound semiconductors by organometallic chemical vapor deposition. Tom is also serving as the new principal editor of the Journal of Crystal Growth, a leading journal that publishes research results on experimental and theoretical aspects of crystal growth and its applications.
Dave Lynn has been selected by MIT's Technology Review magazine as one of this year's 100 top young innovators "whose research will shape how we live and work in the future." Dave was recognized for his efforts to develop polymers that can deliver therapeutic DNA to cells to treat conditions such as cancer or cystic fibrosis. As a postdoctoral researcher at MIT, Dave developed a process to synthesize hundreds — or even thousands — of new polymers at once and screen their DNA-transferring capabilities. His approach has already identified several new polymers that excel at gene delivery. Dave also received a two-year $465,000 grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering to pursue
the development and testing of materials that provide nanometer-scale control over the incorporation and subsequent release of DNA, for use in localized gene therapies.
Manos Mavrikakis and Jim Dumesic have received two, three-year grants totaling over $1 million from the Department of Energy.
The first grant funds a project aimed at developing a fundamental understanding of the effect
of electronic structure of the catalytic surface on the reaction thermo-chemistry and kinetics for a class of reactions involving oxygen containing organic molecules. Another focus of the project is the design of bimetallic catalysts with tunable selectivity to the desired products. The second project, to be conducted in collaboration with researchers at Brigham Young University, will focus on developing improved Fischer-Tropsch catalysts, which transform a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen to an array of saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons that could be used as fuels.
Regina Murphy has received a three-year, $450,000 grant from NSF to study the kinetics of fibril assembly of peptides and proteins, and the underlying intrinsic and extrinsic factors that regulate fibril assembly. This work could lead to the development of novel strategies for controlling fibrillogenesis of proteins and peptides. Such strategies, in turn, are expected to be of interest in the biotechnology industry, where methods are needed to prevent the unwanted formation of potentially toxic aggregates during manufacture of protein- and peptide-based pharmaceuticals such as insulin. In medicine, this work could help to unravel molecular mechanisms behind fibril-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases, and to develop novel compounds to treat disease.
Paul Nealey is senior author on a paper in the July 24, 2003 issue of the journal Nature, that describes a novel technique for writing nanoscale chemical patterns on a substrate by directing with remarkable precision the self-assembly of polymer overlayers. These polymer films, in turn, can be used as templates for nanofabrication. Co-authors include Sang Ouk Kim, a former postdoctoral researcher in Paul's group now with Samsung SDS Co., Mark Stoykovich, a PhD student in Paul's group, and Juan de Pablo. The article, "Epitaxial self-assembly of block copolymers on lithographically defined nanopatterned substrates," was highlighted for its significance by the journal's editors with an editorial by Rick Register (PhD '89) in the "News and Views" section.
John Yin has received two, three-year grants from NSF totaling $920,000. The first will allow him to employ computer simulations to characterize the intra- and extracellular dynamics of virus growth and cell-cell signaling. Using an in vitro experimental system they have devised, John's group, in collaboration Jim Rawlings, will track the progressive development of an anti-viral state in cells as they respond to signals produced by virus-infected cells. John will use the second NSF grant to identify and characterize universal features of virus growth by seeking common patterns in the dynamic networks that direct intracellular resources toward virus growth.
