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Chemistry and Biochemistry Research

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Research in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry runs the gamut from the creation of new electronic materials to understanding protein structure to development of new pharmaceuticals. Led by faculty members with international reputations, undergraduate and graduate student researchers use state-of-the-art instrumentation to address questions that directly impact our society.

MAJOR INSTRUMENT ACQUISITION

  • 500 MHz Bruker AVANCE NEO with liquid nitrogen cryoprobe
  • Cryoprobe offers superior resolution: ~4x gain in S/N compared to RT probe
  • 24-Sample capacity autosampler allows users to queue multiple experiments
  • TopSpin spectral processing software free to all WSU-affiliated users
  • Superior cryogen depletion efficiency
  • Funded by NSF/MRI grant which was a large effort led by Prof. Jim Bann
  • Available for use since November 2023

PATENTS/PRESENTATIONS SINCE JAN 2023

  • 63 presentations in 2023  at regional and national conferences by faculty members and students.
  • 4 new patents issued since 2020 involving vaccines for anthrax, antivirals for COVID and antibiotics with novel mode of action.

Faculty connection to industry

Dr. Alexandre A. Shvartsburg

     WSU           

Thermo Sci
equipment

Shimadzu Card

Heartland Mobility card

Analytical Chem

RECENT GRANT ACTIVITY 2023

  • 28 proposals submitted
  • $6.6 M requested
  • 12 active research grants including 4 new grants
  • $4.2 M in active grant funding
  • Support for graduate students, undergraduate students, and postdocs

Grant highlights

  • Beck, NIH, $736 K/ 3 years, “Myopalladin’s role in cardiac muscle function and disease”
  • Groutas, NIH, $1.1 M/ 5 years, “Small Molecule Protease Inhibitors against MERS-CoV”
  • Groutas, NIH, $1.1 M/ 5 years, “Small molecule inhibitors against 3C-like protease of SARS-CoV-2”
  • Wang, NSF, $238 K/ 3 years, “LEAPS-MPS: Exploring Thiophosphates as Balanced Middle-infrared Nonlinear Optical Materials”
  • Shvartsburg, NSF, $475 K/ 3 years, “Structurally Specific Isotopic Shifts Across Analytical Separations”
  • Wu, NIH, $411 K / 3 years, “Chemical tools to target TREM2 in Alzheimer's disease”

STUDENT RESEARCH

  • 18 PhD, 6 MS students
  • Graduate Presentations at Southwest Regional ACS meeting (OKC), NOBCChe (New Orleans), Biophysical Society, and others.
  • Hosted 2ndAnnual Chemistry and Biochemistry Undergraduate Research Showcase.
  • 6 undergraduate students received ACS UG/Local Section awards
  • 5 undergraduate students received K-INBRE grants
  • Undergraduate presentations at Innovation Festival, K-INBRE symposium, Protein Society, etc.
         student discussing chart       three students discussing chart

 

PUBLICATION HIGHLIGHTS

26 peer-reviewed publications since Jan 2023.

Drug discovery against SARS-CoV-2

  • Chang KO, Li P, Kim Y, Dampalla CS, Nguyen HN, Meyerholz DK, Johnson D, Lovell S, Groutas WC, Perlman S. Potent 3CLpro inhibitors effective against SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV in animal models by therapeutic treatment. mBio. 2024 Feb 14; 15 (2): e02878-23.

Discovery of new optoelectronics materials

  • Cicirello G, Wang M, Sham QP, Hart JL, Williams NL, Yin H, Cha JJ, Wang J. Two-Dimensional Violet Phosphorus P11: A Large Band Gap Phosphorus Allotrope. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023 March 30; 145 (14), 8218–8230

High-resolution separation of challenging analytes

  • Thurman HA, Wijegunawardena G, Berthias F, Wu H, Jensen ON, Shvartsburg AA. Multiplatform High-Definition Ion Mobility Separations of the Largest Epimeric Peptides. Chem. 2024 Feb 1; 96 (6) 2318-2326. 

Structure-function relationships in proteins relevant to cancer metastasis

  • Albraiki S, Ajiboye O, Sargent R, Beck MR. Functional comparison of full-length palladin to isolated actin binding domain. Protein Sci. 2023 May;32(5):e4638.

Total synthesis and structural analysis of glycosylated proteins implicated in Alzheimer’s Disease.

  • Wijegunawardena G, Castillo E, Henrickson B, Davis R, Condello C, Wu H. Total Chemical Synthesis of Glycosylated TREM2 Ectodomain.  ACS Chemical Neuroscience, 2023, 14, 11, 2243–2251.

SCIENCE OUTREACH

National Science       Expanding your        
Olympiad                       Horizons              Graduate Recruitment at ACS
                                      
students workingSci Olymp logo     teacher overlooking student           Grad recruitment at ACAACS logo

 

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