Chemistry Department News

Dr. Patra Volarath successfully defended her dissertation: April 30, 2008. Dr. Patra Volarath has successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation entitled "Application of Term-Rewriting Grammar in Chemical Reaction Prediction" under the direction of Professor Robert Harrison (Computer Science). Congratulations to Dr. Volarath, we wish her well. .
Dr. Prashanth Athri successfully defended his dissertation: April 30, 2008. Dr. Prashanth Athri has successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation entitled "Application of Computer-Aided Drug Discovery Methodologies Towards the Rational Design of Drugs Against Infectious Diseases" under the direction of Professor Dave Wilson. Congratulations to Dr. Athri, we wish him well. .
Vasim Momin successfully defended his thesis: April 24, 2008. Vasim Momin successfully defended his thesis entitled "The Analysis of Antimicrobial Testing Vinetoxicum stockii and the Isolation of a Highly Active Compound Against Candida albicans" under the direction of Dr. Keith Pascoe.
Ahmad Khan successfully defended his thesis: April 24, 2008. Ahmad Khan successfully defended his thesis entitled "Cyclic Enzymatic Solid Phase Synthesis of DNA Oligonucleotides on an Epoxide-Activated Resin." under the direction of Dr. Markus Germann.
Dr. Brian Sook successfully defended his dissertation: April 24, 2008. Dr. Brian Sook successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation entitled "I. Characterization of Sulfonated Phthalocyanines by Mass Spectroscopy. II. Characterization of SIAA, a Streptococcal Heme-Binding Protein Associated with a Heme ABC Transport System" under the direction of Professor Dabney Dixon. Congratulations to Dr. Sook, we wish him well.
Zhen Huang wins Faculty Achievement Award: April 18, 2008. Professor Zhen Huang has won the University Outstanding Faculty Achievement Award. The offical presentation will be at graduation on May 10.
Osbourne Quaye on cover of Biochemistry: April 8, 2008. Chemistry PhD candidate, Osbourne Quaye makes the cover of Biochemistry, an ACS publication. The April, May and June 2008 covers of Biochemistry feature a figure taken from an article authored by Osbourne Quaye who is from Professor Gadda's research group. The crystal structure of choline oxidase is shown with color coding to indicate binding sites in which Glu312 was discovered to play an important role. Link to Abstract: http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/bichaw/2008/47/i01/abs/bi7017943.html
Slavica Mijatovic successfully defended her thesis: February 28, 2008. Congratulations to Slavica Mijatovic on the successful defenseof her M.S. thesis entitled "Oxidation of Alkyl Nitronates Catalyzed by 2-Nitropropane Dioxygenase from Hansenula mraki" under the direction of Professor Gadda.
Shan Jin and Yubin Zhou win the "2007 Graduate Award for Outstanding Research at the Doctoral Level": February 25, 2008. We extend our sincere congratulations to Shan Jin of Professor Binghe Wang'sa group and Yubin Zhou of Professor Jenny Yang's group for winning the "2007 Graduate Award for Outstanding Research at the Doctoral Level".
Dr. Amy Watson successfully defended her dissertation: November 20, 2007. Dr. Amy Watson has successfully defended her dissertation entitled “Binding Studies of Near Infrared Cyanine Dyes with Human Serum Albumin and Poly-L-Lysine Using Optical Spectroscopic Methods” under the direction of Professor Patonay. Congratulations to Dr. Watson, we wish her well.
Dr. Yubin Zhou successfully defended his dissertation: November 20, 2007. Dr. Yubin Zhou has successfully defended his dissertation entitled “Exploring the Role of Calcium Ions in Biological Systems by Computational Prediction and Protein Engineering” under the direction of Professor Yang. Congratulations to Dr. Zhou, we wish him well.
Dr. Yao Xin successfully defended her dissertation: November 20, 2007. Dr. Yao Xin has successfully defended her dissertation entitled “Electrokinetic Modeling of Free-Solution Electrophoresis” under the direction of Professor Allison. Congratulations to Dr. Xin, we wish her well.
Dr. Yang has been awarded or will be awarded four new NIH grants.: August 16, 2007. So far this year Professor Jenny Yang has been awarded or will be awarded the following four new NIH grants. She is the principal Investigator on two grants and a funded co-principal Investigator on two others.; NCI/NIH R21 grant “Molecular MR Imaging by Targeting Cancer Markers”, Zhiren Liu, P.I.; Jenny Yang, co-P.I. This two year grant started on May 1, 2007.; GMS/NIH RO1 grant “Structural Biology of Calcium Sensing Receptors” is a five year grant, Jenny Yang, P.I.; NIBIB/NIH RO1 grant “Developing protein-based MRI contrast agent”, Jenny Yang, P.I.; Zhiren Liu, co-P.I. This is a four year grant started on August 8, 2007.; NCI/NIH RO1 grant “Biological function of the Y593 phosphorylated p68 RNA helicase”, Zhiren Liu, P.I.; Jenny Yang, co-P.I.. This is a five year grant thjat will start on September 1, 2007.
Michelle Kim successfully defended her thesis: August 7, 2007. Michelle Kim successfully defended her thesis entitled "The Hydrolysis of Naphthalene Diimides" under the direction of Professor Dixon. Miss Kim will be joining a Ph.D. program at UC-Davis.
Dr. Miki Kassai successfully defended her dissertation: July 31, 2007. Dr. Miki Kassai successfully defended her dissertation entitled "Zirconium(IV)-Assisted Peptide Hydrolysis" under the direction of Professor Grant. We wish her the best of luck in her career
Dr. Dean Norton successfully defended his dissertation: July 31, 2007. Dr. Dean Norton successfully defended his dissertation entitled "Capillary Electrochromatography-Mass Spectrometry (CEC-MS) of Surfactants" under the direction Professor Shamsi. Dr. Norton has accepted an industrial position. We wish him the best of luck in his career.
Dr. Sandra Craig successfully defended her dissertation: July 31, 2007. Dr. Sandra Craig successfully defended her dissertation entitled "The Design and Evaluation of Boronic Acid Derivatives for the Recognition of Cell Surface Carbohydrates for Medicinal Applications" under the direction Professor B. Wang. Dr. Craig's Ph.D. will officially graduate in December.
Professor David Boykin's drug in phase III clical trials: July 16, 2007. In 1994 Regents' Professor Emeritus David Boykin's lab at Georgia State University first synthesized the compound pafuramidine. It was recently licensed to New Jersey-based Par Pharmaceuticals, which hopes to manufacture the drug if federal regulators approve the medication. Pafuramidine is now in the early stages of phase III clinical trials for pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP), malaria, and trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness). Read the full story.
Professor Netzel Awarded 2008 ACS Award for Volunteer Service: June 6, 2007. Professor Tom Netzel has received the American Chemical Society 2008 Award for Volunteer Service "for significant contributions to the goals and objectives of the American Chemical Society". For the complete article, please go to http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/85/i24/8524news6.html. Congratulations to Professor Netzel for this outstanding award.
Zhen Huang named executive editor of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences: May 9, 2007. Dr. Zhen Huang has accepted the Executive Editorship (and membership on the International Editorial Board) of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
Two Chemistry faculty members win University Awards: April 24, 2007. Two faculty members of the department have won University Awards Professor Wang has won the Alumni Distinguished Professor Award and Professor Gadda has won the Outstanding Faculty Achievement Award. Congratulations to both!
Dr. Charmita Burch has successfully defended her dissertation: April 23, 2007. Dr. Charmita Burch successfully defended her dissertation entitled "The Extent of Perturbation of Skin Models by Transdermal Penetration Enhancers Investigated by ³¹P NMR and Fluorescence Spectroscopy" under the direction of Professor Smith. Dr. Burch has accepted a position as an Assistant Professor.
Mr. Michael Kirberger has successfully defended his M.S. thesis: April 19, 2007. Michael Kirberger successfully defended his thesis entitled "Analysis and Applications of Metalloprotein Complexes" under the direction of Professor Yang.
Dr. Tanya Myers has successfully defended her dissertation: April 14, 2007. Dr. Tanya Myers successfully defended her dissertation entitled "New Techniques for the Qualitative and Quantitative Measurement of Naturally-Occurring Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Analogues by Mass Spectroscopy" under the direction of Professor Patonay. Her research has been supported by a Solvay Supplemental Fellowship.
Dr. Hsiau-wei Lee has successfully defended his dissertation: April 11, 2007. Dr. Hsiau-wei Lee has successfully defended his dissertation entitled "Determining the Site-Specific Metal Binding and Structural Properties of EF-Hand Proteins Using Grafting Approach" under the direction of Professor Yang. Dr. Lee.s degree is the 85^th Ph.D. awarded by the department. We wish Dr. Lee a very successful career
Kevin Francis wins Suddath Symposium Award: April 4, 2007. Kevin Francis was awarded third prize in the poster competition at the 15^th Suddath Symposium at Georgia Tech. The symposium was called "DIRECTED MOLECULAR EVOLUTION MECHANISMS." The title of Kevin's poster was: "Role of the anionic flavosemiquinone in the reductive half-reaction of 2-nitropropane dioxygenase." Kevin is a first year Ph.D. student in Prof. Gadda's laboratory,
Professor Zheng is a new Distinguished Cancer Scientist: January 10, 2007. Professor Yujun (George) Zheng has been selected as a new Distinguished Cancer Scientist for 2007 by the Georgia Cancer Coalition. This selective faculty award featured a state-wide competition and outside scientific review. It covers five years. This is a great honor and a great way to start the new year! Congratulations.
Dr. Beth White has successfully defended dissertation: December 01, 2006. Dr. Beth White has successfully defended her dissertation entitled Selective Recognition of Quadruplex DNA by Small Molecules under the direction of Regents Professor Dave Wilson. We wish her continued success.
Mr. Michael Bishop successfully defended M.S. thesis: November 29, 2006. Mr. Michael Bishophas successfully defended his thesis entitled The Application of Weak-Anion Exchange Chromatography for the Analysis of Organic Zwitterions Using LC/MS/MS under the direction of Professor Patonay.
Dr. Beth Wilson has successfully defended dissertation: December 01, 2006. Dr. Beth Wilson has successfully defended her dissertation entitled Syntheses and DNA Interactions of Acridine and Phenothiazine Based Photosensitizers under the direction of Professor Kathy Grant. Dr. Beth Wilson will be taking a postdoctoral position in San Diego at the end of the term.
Dr. Gurpreet Kaur has successfully defended dissertation: September 27, 2006. Dr. Gurpreet Kaur has successfully defended her dissertation entitled "Synthesis of Boronic Acid Sensors for Glucone and Synthesis of Novel and Selective PDE4 Enzyme Inhibitors" under the direction of Prof. Wang. Please congratulate Dr. Kaur on her excellent work. We wish her continued success.
Professor Wang receives NIH funding: September 22, 2006. Professor Wang has received NIH funding for a proposal entitled "Biomarker-based MRI Contrast Agents." It is exciting to see that GSU continues to compete successfully for NIH funds in these difficult times.
Dr. Jack Zheng successfully defended dissertation: August 18, 2006. Dr. Jack Zheng successfully defended his dissertation entitled Development of Chiral/Achiral Analysis Methods for Use in CE and CE Coupled to M.S. under the direction of Professor Shamsi. Dr. Zheng has taken a lucrative industrial position.
Dr. Anila Gill successfully defended dissertation: August 18, 2006. Dr. Anila Gill successfully defended her dissertation entitled Insights into Sulfonated Phthalocyanines; Insights into Anionic Tetraaryl Phorphyrins; Irradiation of Cationic Metalloporphyrins Bound to DNA under the direction of Professor Dabney Dixon. Dr. Gill has accepted a position teaching at a private school.
Dr. Yi Miao successfully defended dissertation: July 19, 2006. Dr. Yi Miao successfully defended her dissertation entitled Shape-Dependent Molecular Recognition of Specific Sequences of DNA by Heterocyclic Cations under the direction of Professor Dave Wilson.
Ms. Jane Hoang successfully defended M.S. thesis: July 17, 2006. Ms. Jane Hoang successfully successfully defended her M.S. thesis entitled Inactivation of Choline Oxidase by Irreversible Inhibitors or Storage Conditions under the direction of Professor Gadda.
GSU Wins a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Award: May 16, 2006. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has awarded GSU a biotechnology science education grant. Biology is the PI department while Chemistry is a co-PI department. At least 2 Graduate Laboratory Assistant positions will be funded at either the M.S. level or the Ph.D. level. These students will help man the Biobus.
Yang Research Student Wins National Award: May 4, 2006. Chamblee High School student Lev Shaket, who trained in Dr. Jenny Yang's lab, won 2^nd place ($6,000 scholarship to college) at the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His presentation title was "Improving the Stability of Novel Calcium-Binding Proteins." Mr. Shaket has been accepted at Harvard. We wish him great success.
Dr. Yunfeng Tie successfully defended dissertation: April 14, 2006. Dr. Yunfeng (Tracy) Tie successfully defended her dissertation entitled Crystallographic Analyis and Kinetic Studies of HIV-1 Protease and Drug-Resistant Mutants under the direction of Professor Weber.
Lisa Jones wins Suddath Symposium First Place Prize Again: April 10, 2006. Once again Lisa Jones in Dr. Jenny J. Yang's group won first prize in the poster competition at the 14th Suddath Symposium of Signal Molecule Dynamics in Biology. The title of Lisa's poster this year is Structural Biology of a Novel Calcium Binding Proteins.
Professor Patonay Wins National Analytical Chemistry Award: March 27, 2006. Professor Patonay has won the Eastern Analytical Symposium Award in Near Infrared Spectroscopy, a national award in analytical chemistry.
Dr. Mahmoud Ghanem successfully defended dissertation: March 22, 2006. Dr. Mahmoud Ghanem successfully defended his dissertation entitled On the mechanistic roles of the protein positive charge close to the N(1) flavin locus in choline oxidase under the direction of Professor Gadda.
Departmental Self-Study Report Now Available: February 2, 2006. The department recently completed a self-study. Please see the Chair's comments on the report as well as the 27 page final report and the appendix (over 400 pages of additional information). They offer a great deal of insight into how far the department has come and where it is going in the future..
Rafay Shareef successfully defended his M.S. thesis: November 30, 2005. Rafay Shareef has successfully defended his M.S. thesis entitled Synthesis Of Potential Anti-Leishmanial Dicationic Diaryldiamidnes under the direction of Professor Boykin.
Dr. April Ellis successfully defended dissertation: November 23, 2005. April Ellis successfully completed the defense of her dissertation entitled Rational Design of Calcium Biosensors under the direction of Professor Jenny Yang. Dr. Ellis will officially graduate in May of 2006. She will be the first Chemistry Brains and Behavior Fellow to complete the Ph.D. degree. Congratulations!
Dr. Fan Fan successfully defended dissertation: November 1, 2005. Dr. Fan Fan successfully defended her dissertation entitled "On the Catalytic Mechanism of Choline Oxidase" under Professor Gadda's. direction. Dr. Fan is the first MBD Fellow working in Chemistry to finish (hopefully more to come in Spring). Her Ph.D. officially will be awarded in Biology but she'll always be a biochemist in our minds!
Dr. Brian Crow successfully defended dissertation: September 27, 2005. Dr. Brian Crow successfully defended his dissertation entitled "Epoxidation of Alkenes by Dimethyldioxirane: Kinetics, Activation Parameters and Solvent Studies" under Professor Baumstark's. direction. Dr. Crow has taken an industrial position in Norcross. We wish him the best of luck in his career.
Chem Club (ACS Student Affiliate Chapter) wins honorable mention: September 13, 2005. The GSU Chemistry Department's Chem Club (ACS Student Affiliate Chapter) has won an honorable mention Chapter Award from the American Chemical Society. A plaque will be presented at the 231st ACS National meeting. The Club, with Dr. Franklin as the faculty advisor, has consistently won national awards for activities with the community, industry and academics.
Yi Miao's poster wins award: September 1, 2005. Yi Miao of Dr. Wilson's group attended the Biannual International BIAcore Molecular Interaction Conference 2005 in Philadelphia and presented a poster, "Biosensor Analysis of Antiparasitic Diamidine-DNA Interactions" which is a collaboration with the Boykin group. Yi was one of three poster award winners at the conference.
Dr. Shamsi joins Electrophoresis editorial board: August 31, 2005. Dr. Shamsi has accepted an invitation to join the editorial board of the journal Electrophoresis. In addition, he has accepted an invitation to organize a symposium for the national ACS meeting in Atlanta, Spring '06. His work continues to attract attention including book chapters and by inclusion of his work in the leading analytical textbook Quantitative Chemical Analysis and Exploring Chemical Analysis by Daniel C. Harris.
Dr. Anna Wilkins Maniccia's dissertation defense: July 13, 2005. It is Chairman Baumstark's pleasure to announce the successful defense of Dr. Anna Wilkins Maniccia's dissertation entitled "Analyzing the Effects of Net Charge and Ligand Type to the Metal Binding Affinities for Calcium Binding Proteins by Design" under the direction of Dr. Jenny Yang. Please join Dr. Baumstark in congratulating Dr. Maniccia. .
Third Annual Georgia State Biotech Symposium honors Professor Boykin: May 19, 2005. The Third Annual Georgia State Biotech Symposium will honor Regent's Professor Emeritus David Boykin. The Symposium will be held on June 9 and 10 in 102 Library South.
Dr. Giovanni Gadda, Editor: April 28, 2005. Dr. Giovanni Gadda has accepted an invitation to join the Editorial Board of Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics.
Rucks Winkeljohn's dissertation defense: April 28, 2005. It is Chairman Baumstark's pleasure to announce the successful defense of Rucks Winkeljohn's dissertation entitled "Synthetic and Physical Studies of Heteroatom Chemistry" under the joint direction of Professor Strekowski and Professor Baumstark. Please congratulate Dr. Winkeljohn. He will start a postdoctoral appointment with Dr. Dunams on Defense-related research next month.
Lisa Jones wins the Suddath Poster Presentation: April 18, 2005. Congratulations to Lisa Jones of Dr. Jenny Yang's lab for winning the Poster Presentation award at the 13^th Annual Bud Suddath Bioscience Symposium "Fluorescence Imaging in Cellular Biology." Her poster was entitled "Understanding the Effect of Electrostatic Interactions on Calcium Binding Affinity: Proteins by Design." Co-authors include Kendra L Hubbard, Daniel Spratt, Wei Yang, Yiming Ye, and Jenny J Yang.
Robert Daniel is a 2005 Sparks Award Recipient.: April 18, 2005. It is Chairman Baumstark's pleasure to announce that Robert Daniel has been named a 2005 Sparks Award Recipient
NIH/NCI award for Professor Binghe Wang: April 15, 2005. Professor Binghe Wang has received an NIH/NCI award effective July 1st
Nebiyou Desalegn's successful M.S. thesis defense: April 15, 2005. It is Chairman Baumstark's pleasure to announce the successful defense of Ning Chen's thesis entitled "Kinetic Studies of the Thermolysis of 3-Halogenated-4,5-Dihydro-3H-Pyrazoles" under the co-direction of Professors Kennedy and Baumstark.
Ning Chen's successful M.S. thesis defense: It is Chairman Baumstark's pleasure to announce the successful defense of Ning Chen's thesis entitled "Chromophore Formation and Protease Sensitivity of Enhanced Green Fluorescent Protein Sensors by Grafting Approach" directed by Professor Jenny Yang.
Dr. Jenny Yang is a new editorial board member: Dr. Jenny Yang has accepted an invitation to join the Editorial Board of the journal Protein and Peptide Letters.
GSU Chemistry's M.S. program is ranked 12^th nationally.: The latest C&E News rankings for '03 (Feb. 7, 2005, pg. 39) have placed the GSU M.S. program 12^th nationally in the number of M.S. degrees awarded, tied with UC-Riverside, Georgia Tech and the University of Puerto Rico. Although GSU has previously been nationally ranked in the number of minority B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees awarded, this is the first time GSU has been nationally ranked among the top 25 Chemistry producers in a general category! Furthermore, in the State, GSU is tied with Georgia Tech (both at 17 M.S. degrees awarded) followed by Emory and UGA, both with 2 M.S.'s each. We continue to produce a significant number of the M.S. degrees awarded in the State!

In Ph.D. production in Chemistry (2002-03), UGA had 23, Georgia Tech 16, GSU 11, and Emory 8. This marks the first time that GSU has surpassed another of the State's research universities in Ph.D. production.

In B.S. production for the same period, Emory had 50, Georgia Tech 38, UGA 21, and GSU 18. We continue to improve in B.S. degree production in the State. According to the latest C&E News stats ('03), GSU Chemistry has produced approximately 9% of the B.S. degrees in the State (18/201); 45% of the M.S. degrees (17/38), and 19% of the Ph.D. degrees (11/58).
Medicinal Research Reviews, edited by Professor Binghe Wang, wins top honor.: Medicinal Research Reviews, edited by Professor Binghe Wang, has been ranked number one among 36 journals worldwide in the category of medicinal chemistry. The journal was also rated number three of 185 journals in the broader field of pharmacology and medicinal, pharmacy-related journals. The rankings were determined by the Institute for Scientific Information, which measures the impact of journals by looking at the number of times their articles are cited.

Al Baumstark, chair of the Department of Chemistry, said "These are truly impressive numbers and show the influence that Dr. Wang is having in this vital area. This important contribution will continue to increase Georgia State's reputation both nationally and internationally."

The journal publishes articles in general research areas that impact drug discovery. Topics include the underlying pathophysiology of diseases; therapeutic approaches to the treatment of diseases; the properties of molecular targets for therapeutic agents; the development of new imaging and diagnostic tools; drug delivery; and chemical, pharmacological, pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and clinical characteristics of drugs.

Professor Wang has edited Medicinal Research Reviews for four years and brought the journal to Georgia State when he joined the chemistry faculty in 2003.