First name,Last name,Preferred title,Overview,Position,Department,Individual
Robert,Lucchese,Professor,"We study various processes which involve electrons being scattered by or ejected from molecules. These processes include ectron-molecule collision, electron impact ionization, and photoionization. Recently we have worked closely with experimental groups around the world to study molecular frame photoelectron angular distributions. In these studies we can make detailed comparisons of experimental data and theoretical predictions of the probability of the emission of the photoelectron in specific directions relative to the orientation of the molecule. We have also considered electron scattering from cage molecules such as C60 and C20. In these systems we have found a new class of scattering resonances where the electron is trapped inside the cage. These processes are important in such physical systems as upper atmospheres, plasma processing of semiconductors, and surface analysis.
A second area of interest is the structure and dynamics of hydrogen bonded clusters. This work is done in collaboration with Professor J. W. Bevan's research group where the corresponding systems are studied experimentally. We develop potential energy surfaces using both experimental data and by performing quantum mechanical electronic structure calculations. These potentials are then used in quantum mechanical calculations of the vibrational motion of the complexes with particular attention being focused on the large amplitude motion found in hydrogen bonded systems. Currently we are studying the complexes CO--HI and (HBr)2. The results of this work will give a better understanding of important hydrogen bonded systems including liquid water and many systems of biological interest.",Professor,Chemistry,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n0b4070b0
Francois,Gabbai,Professor,"Our research is concerned with the chemistry of both organic and organometallic polyfunctional Lewis acids. While an important component of our work deals with the synthesis of new examples of such polyfunctional Lewis acids, it is our ultimate intent to harness and utilize the cooperative effects occurring in such systems for the discovery of unusual structures, bonding modes, supramolecules and reactivities. Our research efforts present important ramifications in the domain of molecular recognition, supramolecular materials and catalysis.",Faculty Affiliate||Professor,Energy Institute||Chemistry,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n0d5d68bb
David,Russell,Professor,"My research focuses on proteomics, lipidomics, biophysical chemistry and application and development of mass spectrometry, such as ""label-free"" nano-particle based biosensors and novel peptide/protein isolation and purification strategies. We are also investigating the structure(s) of model peptides in an effort to better describe folding/unfolding and structure of membrane and intrinsically disordered (IDP) proteins. Peptides take on very different 2?, 3? and 4? structure, which determine or influence bio-activity. In the presence of lipid vesicles peptides can exist as solution-phase species, ""absorbed"" on lipid bilayers or ""inserted"" (as a monomer or multimer) in lipid bilayers. By what mechanism do peptides interact with lipid membranes to affect these structural changes, how do peptide-lipid interactions promote self-assembly to form intermediates that eventually yield aggregates, i.e., amyloid fibrils, or how does metal ion coordination affect the structure of metalloproteins? Mass spectrometry-based experiments, hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) exchange, chemical 'foot-printing' and gas-phase (ion-molecule and ion-ion reaction chemistry) and solution-phase chemical modifications, have expanded our abilities to address such questions, and new instrumental approaches, esp. ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) combined with enhanced molecular dynamics simulations (MDS), have become standard tools for structural-mass spectrometry studies. Over the past several years we have either acquired or developed novel, next-generation IM-MS instruments that are redefining cutting-edge structural-mass spectrometry research as well as cutting-edge computational tools essential to carry out these studies. Our new laboratories in the Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building (ILSB) provides exciting opportunities for collaborative, interdisciplinary research with chemical-biologists, biochemists and other chemists.",Professor,Chemistry,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n280e03e6
Lane,Baker,Professor,,Professor,Chemistry,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n3b0176ae
James,Batteas,Professor,"The research in our group is organized around three main projects: nanoscale materials and devices, biological surfaces and interfaces and nanotribology,
with the overarching goal of developing custom engineered surfaces and interfaces. This requires obtaining a fundamental (molecular level) understanding of the underlying chemistry and physics of the systems in question to afford rational approaches to test and develop new technologies. In much of our research we employ a range of scanned probe microscopies such as scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) to probe structure and to manipulate materials at the nanoscale.",Faculty Affiliate||Professor||Faculty Fellow||D. Wayne Goodman Professor of Chemistry,Center for Health Systems and Design||Energy Institute||Chemistry||Chemistry,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n413d1dff
Wenshe,Liu,Bovay Chair and Professor in Chemistry,"Our research interest is to design methods for the genetic incorporation of noncanonical amino acids into proteins in living cells and apply these methods in three major directions: deciphering functions of protein posttranslational modifications, small molecule sensing, and expanding chemical diversities of phage display libraries. To study protein posttranslational modifications, we have constructed methods for the site-specific installation of lysine acetylation and methylation in proteins and will apply them to study functional roles of these two modifications on p53, a tumor suppressor protein. We have also developed a strategy to site-specifically install two noncanonical amino acids into one protein in E. coli and are applying this approach to construct biosensors for small organic molecules and metal ions. Phage display is an efficient method to identify peptides for therapeutic interventions. However, a phage display peptide library has limited structure motifs and functional groups because only 20 natural amino acids can be used to generate a library. We plan to expand the chemical diversity of a phage display library by incorporating multiple noncanonical amino acids and chemically modifying them to extend functional diversities. Screening this unnatural phage display library against therapeutic targets such as c-Abl tyrosine kinase is expected to identify highly potent inhibitors.",Professor,Chemistry,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n5d9506ea
Christian,Hilty,Professor,"We are developing and applying Magnetic resonance techniques for the investigation of rapid processes and molecular dynamics. Hyperpolarization of nuclear spins yields unprecedented levels of signal, which enables us to acquire NMR spectra of reactions as they occur, in real time. Applications of these techniques include the fields of enzyme catalysis, reactions in organic chemistry, polymers, and more.
To enable the use of hyperpolarization in NMR, we develop new hardware and specially adapted NMR experiments, and investigate the dynamics of hyperpolarized spin systems.
Hand-in-hand with hyperpolarization, we use modern multi-dimensional NMR for the investigation of basic determinants of protein structure and function, including of membrane proteins.",Professor,Chemistry,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n83f91df7
Oleg,Ozerov,Professor,"The projects in our group typically involve transition metal or main group organometallic chemistry but are diverse and cover a wide variety of synthetic and mechanistic work. The ideal-case research scheme consists of: 1) discovery of a new reaction or a structural environment; 2) demonstration of unusual reactivity, structural, or electronic novelty; 3) application of these findings to develop a new catalytic process. The training of students in our group is not built around a narrow research theme but instead aims to help students mature into problem-solving practicing synthetic chemists through exposure to diverse research experiences.",Professor,Chemistry,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n8f8f768d
Daniel,Singleton,Professor,"The central focus of the Singleton research group is the study of organic, organometallic, and bioorganic reaction mechanisms, and the key tool that we use in these studies is the determination o kinetic isotope effects (KIEs). In the mid-1990's, we developed a method for the high precision combinatorial determination of small KIEs at natural abundance by NMR. Its direct applicability to complex unlabeled reactants makes this methodology 1-2 orders of magnitude faster than studies requiring labeling. At the same time, it is much more versatile - our technique can look at a great number of reactions that would have been impractical or impossible to study by labeling or mass spectral methods, and the choice of reactants can be readily changed in response to each new experimental result. The simultaneous determination of a complete set of 13C, 2H, and 17O isotope effects possible with our methodology provides a much greater level of information than available from conventional methods. In addition, substantial evidence has accumulated supporting the reliable accuracy of our results.",Professor,Chemistry,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/na0239851
Kevin,Burgess,Professor,"We use novel strategies Exploring Key Orientations (EKO) that feature datamining to compare simulated preferred conformers of chemotypes we design with key features at protein-protein interfaces. Many chemotype candidates can be screened against one PPI, or one chemotype can be screened against all the PPI interfaces in the PDB. Virtual hit chemotypes are prepared in my lab, then tested against protein-protein interactions of biomedicinal interest using an array of biophysical and cellular assays.
We also design small molecules to target cell surface receptors that are selectively overexpressed in cancer cells. Much or our work has been focused on the TrkC receptor that is particularly important to metastatic breast cancer and melanoma. Going forwards we are interested in expanding the targets to include cell surface receptors that are overexpressed when cancer cells undergo aberrant epithelial to mesenchymal transitions (EMT) to produce circulating tumor cells and cancer stem cells. Much of this work involves design and synthesis of the small molecules for this targeting.",Professor,Chemistry,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/nc4a5cad4
Paul,Lindahl,Professor,"One of our two current research areas involves iron metabolism in mitochondria. The iron imported into these organelles is assembled into iron-sulfur clusters and heme prosthetic groups. Some of these centers are exported into the cytosol, while others are installed into mitochondrial apo-proteins. All of these processes are regulated in healthy cells, but various genetic mutations giving rise to diseases can cause iron to accumulate (e.g. Friedreich's ataxia) or become depleted (e.g. Sideroblastic anemia). We have developed a biophysical approach involving Mossbauer, electron paramagnetic resonance, and electronic absorption spectroscopy, to study the entire iron content of intact mitochondria in healthy and genetically altered cells. This Systems Biology approach allows us to characterize the ""iron-ome"" of mitochondria at an unprecedented level of detail. We are also using analytical tools (e.g. liquid chromatography) to identify complexes that are involved in ""trafficking"" iron into and out of the organelle.
Our other research area involves mathematical modeling of cellular self-replication on the mechanistic biochemical level. We collaborate on this multidisciplinary NSF-sponsored project with a mathematician at the University of Houston (Professor Jeffrey Morgan). We have developed a modeling framework that facilitates such modeling efforts, and have designed a number of very simple and symbolic in silico cells that exhibit self-replicative behavior. Our minimal in silico cell model includes just 5 components and 5 reactions. A second generation model includes a more realistic mechanism of mitotic regulation. One novel aspect of our approach is that cellular concentration dynamics impact (and are impacted by) cellular geometry. By minimizing membrane bending energies, we are now calculating cell geometry during growth and division. Our results suggest that the ""pinching"" observed in real cells is enforced by cytoskeletal structures.",Professor,Chemistry,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/nc9ce621b
Vytas,Bankaitis,Professor,"My laboratory is interested in the regulatory interfaces between novel lipid-mediated signal transduction pathways and important cellular functions. The focus of our work is the phosphatidylinositol/ phosphatidylcholine transfer proteins (PITPs), a ubiquitous but enigmatic class of proteins. Ongoing projects in the laboratory derive from a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses biochemical characterization of novel members of the metazoan PITP family, and the application of genetic, molecular and biophysical approaches to detailed structural and functional analyses of PITPs.",E.L. Wehner-Welch Foundation Chair||Professor||Professor,Cell Biology and Genetics||Biochemistry and Biophysics||Chemistry,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/ncff8dc21
Jaan,Laane,Professor,Research efforts on a variety of projects concentrate on the use of fluorescence spectroscopy of jet-cooled molecules and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and laser Raman spectroscopies. Computer methods for quantum mechanical calculations and on-line instrument control are also utilized and developed.,Professor,Chemistry,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/nd19e1c2f
Michael,Hall,Professor,"Our group applies ""state-of-the-art"" theoretical techniques to chemical problems of current interest to practicing inorganic, organometallic, and biological chemists. We also develop new algorithms that are especially suited to electronic structure problems in large transition metal molecules.",Professor,Chemistry,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/ne91c0625
David,Powers,Professor,"Catalysis lies at the heart of many unmet chemical challenges. Research efforts in our group focus on development of new catalytic chemistry to impact both chemical synthesis as well as chemical storage of solar energy. Projects span organic, organometallic, and inorganic chemistries and rely on the tools of modern synthetic chemistry and spectroscopy, as well as advanced characterization techniques supported at synchrotron X-ray sources. Representative research interests include: shape-selective catalysis, solar energy storage in organic solar-thermal flow batteries, and aerobic oxidation chemistry for C-H functionalization reactions. We are seeking students who wish to gain expertise in synthetic chemistry and reaction mechanism elucidation.",Professor||Faculty Affiliate,Energy Institute||Chemistry,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/nfa6c8878