教育背景

B.S. 曼哈顿学院1994
M.A. 哥伦比亚大学1995
M.菲尔。. 哥伦比亚大学
Ph.D. 哥伦比亚大学1999

专业经验

教授 of 化学, Florida Institute of Technology, 2017-Present

访问ing Guest 教授 (Sabbatical 研究), California Institute of Technology, 2014-2015

Associate 教授 of 化学, Florida Institute of Technology, 2008-2017

Assistant 教授 of 化学, Florida Institute of Technology, 2002-2008

Postdoctoral Fellow, 哥伦比亚大学1999-2002

额外的关税

生物化学MS项目主任

Director of Mass Spec facility (DART and LC MS)

Undergraduate Advisor for Biochemistry (化学 concentration)

Graduate Advisor for non-thesis MS program

当前的课程

2001有机化学1

CHM 2002有机化学2

chm5201绿色化学

chm5503有机合成

CHM 5507天然产物化学

CHM 5508生物有机化学

识别 & 奖

爱德华·H. 2024年卡拉吉安教授奖

Bronze Medal for Merit and Contribution to the Development of Palacky University Olomouc, 捷克共和国

Gavel Award for Dedicated Service As 教师 Senate President 2020-2021

查尔斯·E. Helmstetter 教师 Excellence Award in 研究 2018-2019

Kerry Bruce Clark 教师 Excellence Award in Teaching 2016-2017

研究

(最后更新于2023年1月)

1) Development of light triggered molecular tools to aid in understanding the brain's network
2) The 化学 of Vision and light absorbing molecules
3)有机反应的催化
4)环糊精在食品和药物传递中的应用
5) Isolation and characterization of biologically active molecules

Nature is the single-best and most-omniscient source of information with which we can all be in touch. An improvement of our understanding of basic phenomena is a mere development of the medium by which we interact with nature.

化学, 一个这样的媒介, offers a wide variety of techniques through which we can essentially observe natural phenomena and thus learn firsthand lessons from nature.

We are interested in applying these lessons in the development of novel structures that have the ability to carry out a function of interest. 酶催化, which remains superior to any single organic reaction, 在发生率和特异性上, is the result of eons of irrational adaptation and evolution directed at achieving such a function. 使用现代工具, 例如x射线分析, scientists have been able to 'view' the intricate details that such an adaptation has evolved into.

Biomimetic chemists take the many years of evolution and introduce them into a novel and rationally designed system that, 实际上, 模仿大自然努力实现的目标. While nature has had billions of trials and errors over billions of years, we compete with several trials over perhaps several years, and still do well enough to achieve moderate rates and often quite decent selectivities. 在我们的一个项目中, we will combine the power of evolution along with human rational design in optimizing a receptor for a biologically active structure, via the irrational combinatorial approach of catalytic antibodies, and the rational design of an intricate catalytic moiety to perform the function of interest. For instance, cocaine addiction remains one of the most elusive dilemmas in drug therapy. This is because antagonists simply bind to the same dopamine transporter that cocaine binds to, 从而产生类似的有害影响. A better and more promising approach will endeavor to chemically destroy cocaine via catalytic hydrolysis of one of its ester bonds. Therefore, cocaine will present an ideal candidate for the design of our catalytic system.

We are also interested in designing new catalytic reactions and applying them to the total synthesis of natural products.

We are currently carrying out the synthesis of the skeleton of an anticancer drug. Further modification of the side chains of these drugs will lead to optimized biological activity which will ultimately enhance their potential as therapeutic drugs.
One of the most fascinating and highly efficient systems in nature is vision. The high efficiency derives from the single photon of light that is sufficient in activating a thousand G-proteins, which in turn result in the hydrolysis of around 100,000 cGMP到GMP, 最终产生神经元信号. A study of these proteins through the design and synthesis of various visual chromophores will slowly unravel this intriguing design, eventually leading us in the direction of the design of similar systems geared to current needs, 包括治疗性治疗.