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Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards
Congratulations to the following women who all earned the prestigious 2010 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award for their excellent contributions to chemistry: M. Christina White, Alice Ting, and Helen Blackwell. The award, given annually by the American Chemical Society, consists of $5,000 and an unrestricted research grant of $40,000. A brief summary of these chemists’ work is offered below:
Alice Ting is a professor of chemistry at MIT where her research lab focuses on labeling proteins in order to understand cell signaling. Ting was given the Arthur C. Cope Scholar award in recognition of her use of lipoic acid ligase to attach biophysical probes to proteins with excellent site specificity, for use in live cell imaging.
In her own words, Dr. Ting explains her research as follows:
Our lab develops new methodology for studying protein, RNA, and small-molecule function in the live cell context. Whereas traditional biochemistry studies biomolecules in purified form in vitro, we seek to understand them in their native context, namely the complex environment of the cell surface and cell interior. To achieve this, our lab develops non-invasive methodologies and “reporters” for reading out information about specific biomolecules and biochemical events from single living cells.
Helen Blackwell, who incidentally has one of the best academic research websites we have seen, is a professor at the University of Wisconsin. In her own words, Dr. Blackwell’s research group focuses on the following:
We are strategically combining elements of microwave-assisted organic chemistry, solid-phase synthesis, and combinatorial chemistry to provide access to new classes of chemical probes. In turn, we are applying these small molecule tools to bacterial communication and host/microbe interactions, previously unexamined areas of chemical biology. We seek to understand how both plants and animals sense and respond to invasion by pathogenic microbes. The ability of bacteria to communicate with each other and function as a group is a critical step in the development of infectious disease. The reliance of bacteria on a language of small molecules places organic chemists in a unique position to discover the fundamental principles underlying this communication network and design tools to modulate it at the molecular level.
Blackwell was given the Arthur C. Cope Scholar award in recognition of her work on understanding bacterial communication via the development of small molecules that modulate the key protein-protein interactions that make up bacterial communication pathways. By altering these communication pathways, she could potentially develop therapeutics to treat agricultural and human infectious diseases. Fascinating stuff!!
M. Christina White is a professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and no stranger to awards. In fact, she has really become a superstar in the field of organic synthesis within the past few years. In her own words, Dr. White’s research group focuses on the following:
My laboratory has initiated a program to develop highly selective oxidation methods, similar to those found in Nature, for the direct installation of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon functionalities into allylic and aliphatic C-H bonds of complex molecules and their intermediates. Unlike Nature which uses elaborate enzyme active sites, we rely on the subtle electronic and steric interactions between C-H bonds and small molecule transition metal complexes to achieve high selectivities. Using these methods, my group aims to develop novel strategies for streamlining the process of complex molecule synthesis. Collectively, we aim to change the way that complex molecules are constructed by redefining the reactivity principles of C-H bonds in complex molecule settings.
White was given the Archur C. Cope Scholar award in recognition of her large and impressive body of work in the area of C-H oxidation. Her work will undoubtedly have a dramatic impact upon the drug industry, with applications to the synthesis of drugs. By the way, she is also a fantastic speaker, so if you ever get a chance to hear her lecture about her research, don’t pass up the opportunity!