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Chemical genomics network

Researchers at U.S. academic, govern-ment, and nonprofit institutions could,for the first time, get free access to exten-sive libraries of small organic molecules,such as those used by large pharmaceuti-cal companies for drug discovery, if allgoes according to the National Instituteof Health’s (NIH’s) plan to create a na-tionwide chemical genomics network.

The first step of the initiative, whichwas announced in early June, is to launcha Chemical Genomics Center under theNational Human Genome Research Insti-tute. The center plans to have a staff ofabout 50 scientists (primarily contract em-ployees) and is expected to begin screen-

ing small molecules with high-throughputtechnology by the end of 2004. In 2005,NIH plans to fund up to 10 additionalcenters at other locations.

“These chemical genomics centerswill be coordinated to build a networkin the academic research communityfor identifying a broad range of smallmolecules with promising propertiesfor biological research,” says ThomasInsel of the National Institute of Men-tal Health, one of the institutes provid-ing leadership for the initiative. Accord-ing to the plan, data generated by thenetwork will be deposited in a centraldatabase called PubChem and will befreely available to the scientific com-munity. NIH plans to manage the data

collection, which could contain up to1 million compounds.

In contrast to pharmaceutical research,which tends to focus on biological targetswith known relevance to human disease,the chemical genomics network plans toexplore a much broader group of targetsacross the entire human genome. Al-though hundreds of thousands of pro-teins are believed to be encoded by thehuman genome, fewer than 500 interac-tions between proteins and small mole-cules have been characterized. Such dataare needed to reveal the function of genesand the roles they play in critical biologi-cal pathways. Eventually, the efforts couldreveal new targets for therapeutics. a

—Britt E. Erickson

From left to right: Jed Harrison, Mary Kaiser, Ted Kuwana, David Muddiman, André Striegel, Henry White

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2004 DAC award recipients

Six analytical chemists will receive awardsfrom the ACS Division of AnalyticalChemistry (DAC). The awards will bepresented at the ACS fall meeting inPhiladelphia, Pa.

D. Jed Harrison, professor of chem-istry at the University of Alberta (Canada),will receive the Award in Chemical Instru-mentation, sponsored by the Dow Chem-ical Foundation. Harrison’s research hasfocused on the application of micro- andnano-fabrication techniques for miniatur-ized chemical, biochemical, and biologi-cal instrumentation and sensor systems.

Mary A. Kaiser, research fellow inthe DuPont Corporate Center for Analyt-

ical Sciences in Wilmington, Del., will re-ceive the Award for Distinguished Servicein the Advancement of Analytical Chem-istry, sponsored by the Waters Corp. Hercurrent technical interests involve analyti-cal measurements of fluorine-containingcompounds.

Ted Kuwana, distinguished emeritusprofessor of chemistry at the Universityof Kansas, will receive the J. Calvin Gid-dings Award for Excellence in Educa-tion from the DAC, sponsored by theDekker Foundation. Although retiredfrom active teaching, he continues as aprincipal investigator of a National Sci-ence Foundation grant to develop theAnalytical Sciences Digital Library—apeer-reviewed collection of Web-based

resources for teachers, students, andpractitioners.

David C. Muddiman, professor ofbiochemistry and molecular biology anddirector and founder of the W. M. KeckFTICR Mass Spectrometry Laboratory atthe Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, willreceive the Arthur F. Findeis Award forOutstanding Achievements by a YoungAnalytical Chemist, sponsored by thePhilip Morris Cos. Muddiman’s researchinterests include the fundamentals andchemical and biological applications ofFTICR-MS.

André M. Striegel, assistant profes-sor in the chemistry and biochemistrydepartment at Florida State University,will receive the first annual Award for

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Young Investigators in Separation Sci-ence, sponsored by Agilent Technolo-gies. This award will be presented at the2005 Pittsburgh Conference.

Henry S. White, professor at theUniversity of Utah, will receive theDAC Award in Electrochemistry, spon-sored by Cole-Palmer. White’s research

interests include iontophoretic trans-port, electrochemistry in ultrathin-layercells, pore-based sensors, and magneticfield-driven electrochemical fluidics.

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From left to right: Emily Clark, Amy Tabert, Li Zhu, Jamie Cohen, Gerardo Gamez, Seppe Kuehn, Mark Poggi, Zachary Schultz, Zhanping Zhang

2004–2005 DAC Graduate Fellowships awarded

The ACS Division of Analytical Chem-istry Graduate Fellowship Committeehas selected nine analytical chemistrygraduate students to receive nine-month fellowships during the 2004–2005 year or three-month fellowshipsduring the summer of 2004. The Grad-uate Fellowship Program, which is spon-sored by the benefactors named in thefollowing student research profiles, aimsto encourage basic research in analyticalchemistry and to recognize future lead-ers in the field.

Nine-month fellowshipsEmily Clark of the University of Arkan-sas in Fayetteville (Ingrid Fritsch) studiesredox magnetohydrodynamics in orderto control the fluid pumping and stirringneeded to achieve enhancements in ana-lytical applications. Such improvementscould lead to portable anodic stripping

voltammetry devices with increased sensi-tivity for detecting heavy metals in smallvolumes. Procter & Gamble sponsoredher fellowship.

Amy Tabert of Purdue University(Graham Cooks) designs and con-structs novel ion trap instrumentationfor multiplexed MS, featuring parallelion source/mass analyzer/detectorchannels for high-throughput sampleanalysis. GlaxoSmithKline sponsoredher fellowship.

Li Zhu of the Louisiana State Uni-versity (Steven Soper) is developinghighly multiplexed analytical methodsfor high-throughput genomic analyses.This multiplexing technology will beused to perform DNA sequencing inpolymer-based microchips by couplingtime-resolved fluorescence with spectraldiscrimination techniques. Eli Lilly &Co. sponsored her fellowship.

Summer 2004 fellowshipsJamie Cohen of Cornell University(Héctor Abruña) uses silicon fabrica-tion techniques, along with electro-chemistry, in order to develop a planarmembraneless microchannel fuel-cellplatform. The platform can be used toanalyze a variety of fuel systems and tounderstand the kinetic behavior of fueloxidation at the anode catalyst surface.Johnson & Johnson PharmaceuticalResearch and Development sponsoredher fellowship.

Gerardo Gamez of Indiana Universi-ty–Bloomington (Gary Hieftje) studiesthe mechanisms of fundamental process-es that occur in glow discharges and in-ductively coupled plasmas. He uses diag-nostic tools that include laser Thomsonscattering, laser Rayleigh scattering, andlaser-induced fluorescence. The Societyfor Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh

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Arnold Orville Beckman

(1900–2004)

Arnold O. Beckman,credited withlaunching theelectronic revo-lution in chem-istry, died onMay 18 atScripps Hospitalin La Jolla,Calif. He was104 years old.

His invention and commercialization ofthe pH meter in 1934 introduced elec-tronic measurement into the chemicalsciences and revolutionized the study ofchemistry and biology.

Beckman was born in the small Mid-western town of Cullom, Ill. His first jobwas in his father’s blacksmith shop shooingflies off the horses and later putting steeltires on wooden wagon wheels. Following

high school graduation in 1918, he joinedthe U.S. Marines. Later, inspired by achemistry text he found in the attic at agenine, he went on to earn B.S. (chemicalengineering) and M.A. (physical chem-istry) degrees at the University of Illinoisand a Ph.D. (photochemistry) at Caltech.

During 1924–1926, Beckman workedat Western Electric under Walter A. She-whart on statistical quality control, gain-ing exposure to cutting-edge circuit andvacuum tube design. The experienceopened his eyes to the potential of elec-tronic measurement.

He joined the Caltech faculty in 1928and became well known for his innova-tive teaching, research, and problem-solving skills. In 1934, a friend broughthim the problem of determining thepH in citrus products dosed with sulfurdioxide. Beckman replaced the fragileelectrode and benchtop apparatus witha rugged glass electrode and two-stageelectronic amplifier packaged in a smallmetal box. A few weeks later, the friend

returned and asked for a second acidime-ter, because the first was always in use.The rest is history. The pH meter wasrecognized as an ACS National HistoricChemical Landmark in March 2004.

By 1939, Beckman had producedmore than 2000 units and reluctantly leftCaltech to run the business full time. Herealized that electronic amplification couldbe used in other chemical applications andproduced the first commercial UV–visspectrophotometer in 1941, the famousBeckman DU. Thousands of applicationswere developed on the DU, including vi-tamin A measurements, detection of or-ganic contaminants in ground water, andthe first complete chemical analysis ofDNA—the basis of Chargaff ’s rules.

The outbreak of World War II createddemand for synthetic rubber, which re-quired the rapid analysis of C4 isomers inhydrocarbon mixtures for production ofbutadiene. Beckman teamed with ShellDevelopment to create the first commer-cial IR spectrophotometer, the Beckman

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sponsored his fellowship.Seppe Kuehn of Cornell University

(John Marohn) works toward the real-ization of detecting magnetic resonancefrom a single proton by detecting mag-netic resonance as a force. This workaims to implement a “molecular micro-scope” that could determine the 3-Dstructure of a single copy of a large bio-molecule. The Society for AnalyticalChemists of Pittsburgh sponsored hisfellowship.

Mark Poggi of Georgia Tech (Law-rence Bottomley) uses a novel force spec-troscopic technique to evaluate the inter-facial and mechanical properties of carbonnanotubes. The Society for AnalyticalChemists of Pittsburgh sponsored hisfellowship.

Zachary Schultz of the Universityof Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (An-drew Gewirth) studies the behavior ofadsorbate molecules relevant to corrosionand deposition processes at the electro-

chemical interface by using in situ IR–vissum frequency generation spectroscopy.The Society for Analytical Chemists ofPittsburgh sponsored his fellowship.

Zhanping Zhang of the Universityof Delaware (Thomas Beebe) uses atom-ic force microscopy and other surface-sensitive spectroscopies to study of theinteractions between ligands and nerve-cell receptors. She is trying to better un-derstand the factors that modulate theextension of neurons for nerve-regenera-tion applications. Eastman Chemical Co.sponsored her fellowship.

Applications for 2005–2006DAC Graduate Fellowships

Applications are now being accepted forthe 2005–2006 ACS Division of Analyti-cal Chemistry (DAC) Graduate Fellow-ships. These fellowships are available tofull-time graduate students working to-ward a doctorate in analytical chemistry.

Applicants must be nominated by theirgraduate thesis advisors and must havecompleted their second year of graduatestudies by the time their fellowships begin.The applicant’s thesis advisor must be amember of the DAC, and only one nom-ination per advisor will be accepted. Inaddition to the application forms, appli-cants must submit three letters of rec-ommendation and copies of their under-graduate and graduate transcripts.

Detailed information about the DACGraduate Fellowship Program and theapplication process can be found on theprogram homepage (www.wabash.edu/acsgraduatefellowship/home.htm). Ap-plication forms may be downloaded fromthis website or may be obtained by con-tacting Richard F. Dallinger at WabashCollege (765-361-6242; fax 765-361-6149; dallingr@wabash.edu [preferred]).Completed application packages for the2005–2006 fellowships must be submit-ted by December 10, 2004.

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