Faculty and Fields of Investigation

MAHDI ABU-OMAR, assistant professor. Chemical kinetics and reaction mechanisms of inorganic, bioinorganic, and organometallic reactions. Homogeneous catalysis. Activation of small molecules. Metal-catalyzed carbene and nitrene transformations. The role of metals in biological hydroxylation reactions. Metal-mediated oxidations of saturated and unsaturated organic compounds.

DELROY A. BAUGH, associate professor. Dynamics of photochemical and atomic-radical/surface reactions. The UCLA hexapole and polarization analysis of product quantum states are used to measure the transition matrix (magnitude/phase) for photochemical reactions. Hyperthermal H-atom beams are used to study etching reactions and to do vibrational spectroscopy of adsorbates on Si and diamond surfaces.

MARIO E. BAUR, professor. Physical chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere and hydrosphere; paleogeochemistry; energy balance in biological organisms and ecosystems; environmental chemistry; statistical mechanics.

JAMES BOWIE, assistant professor. Protein structure and folding, particularly membrane proteins; structure and function of signal transduction proteins.

EMILY A. CARTER, professor. Theoretical Physical Chemistry. Hybrid ab initio quantum chemistry/molecular dynamics/Monte Carlo methods are developed and used to predict reactivity, structure, energetics, dynamics, and kinetics of metal-ceramic interfaces, metal-catalyzed decomposition of toxic chemicals, gas-surface reactions and reactions of unstable gaseous species.

GUILLAUME F. CHANFREAU, assistant professor. RNA processing in the control of gene expression in eukaryotes; RNA-Protein interactions; mRNA splicing and RNA endonucleases.

CATHERINE F. CLARKE, associate professor. Biosynthesis, regulation and function of ubiquinone (coenzyme Q); characterization of genes and proteins in the ubiquinone biosynthetic pathway; antioxidant defense mechanisms.

STEVEN G. CLARKE, professor. Protein methylation reactions in eukaryotic cells; non-enzymatic degradation reactions of proteins; biochemistry of aging; signal transduction.

ROBERT CLUBB, assistant professor. Structural studies of proteins and protein complexes using heteronuclear multidimensional NMR spectroscopy; Biochemical characterization of proteins involved in DNA recombination and repair.

ALBERT J. COUREY, professor. Transcriptional regulation; biochemical and molecular genetic analysis of pattern formation during fruit fly embryogenesis.

RICHARD E. DICKERSON, professor. X-ray studies of nucleic acids and proteins; sequence/structure relationships in double-helical DNA; binding of anti-tumor drugs and recognition proteins to DNA; evolution of macromolecules and metabolic pathways.

DAVID EISENBERG, professor. Study of proteins by X-ray diffraction and computational methods; structure and action of enzymes and of membrane-related proteins; protein folding and the atomic basis of biological recognition.

JULI FEIGON, professor. Conformational studies of nucleic acids using multidimensional NMR techniques: DNA triplexes and quadruplexes; drug-DNA complexes, DNA and RNA aptamers; DNA and RNA-protein complexes; HIV-1 protein structures; RNA folding motifs.

PETER FELKER, professor. High resolution nonlinear laser spectroscopy of species in molecular beams; picosecond time-resolved studies of photochemical and photophysical dynamics of molecules.

CHRISTOPHER S. FOOTE, professor. Reactions of oxygen in its ground and excited states. Photochemical oxidation in organic, biological, and medical systems; photoprotective agents; laser spectroscopy of transient reaction intermediates; organic photochemistry; chemically generated excited states; fullerene chemistry and photochemistry.

MIGUEL A. GARCIA-GARIBAY, associate professor. Solid state organic chemistry. Control of reactive intermediates in organic crystals; environmentally benign solvent-free organic synthesis; structure-reactivity correlations; supramolecular organic photochemistry, X-ray diffraction and solid state NMR; crystal engineering and material science.

ROBIN L. GARRELL, associate professor. Laser spectroscopy of surfaces, interfaces, and thin films; experimental and theoretical studies of molecule-metal interactions; development of new techniques for probing adlayer microstructure and its effects on macroscopic optical and mechanical properties such as viscosity and adhesion; design of novel biomolecular and polymeric thin films.

WILLIAM G. GELBART, professor. Orientational order in flexible polymers and liquid crystals; statistical thermodynamics of surfactant solutions, micro-emulsions, and interfaces; theory of model membranes and biomolecules.

JAMES W. GOBER, associate professor. Transcriptional regulation during cell differentiation in Caulobacter; genetics and biochemistry of cell cycle and polar gene expression; DNA higher-order structure and transcriptional activation; chromosome structure.

JAY D. GRALLA, professor. The role of nucleic acid-protein complexes in cellular controls; repression and activation of transcription; role of protein domain structure and mutations in gene expression.

M. FREDERICK HAWTHORNE, professor. Inorganic and organic chemistry; host-guest chemistry with macrocyclic electrophilic mercuracarborane host molecules; modular synthesis of ordered structures comprised of carborane motifs for use in both supramolecular and nanomechanical arrays; synthesis and evaluation of boron-rich species capable of selectively placing large numbers of boron atoms in malignant cells for the purpose of applying the binary 10B+1n -->4He+7Li+2.4 MeV reaction to cancer therapy including liposomes and DNA surrogates.

JIM HEATH, professor. Chemical synthesis of semiconductor and metallic quantum structures. Self assembly of quantum structures into chemically and structurally complex environments. Integration of such assemblies into nano-scale electronic devices. Linear and non-linear photophysical studies and electronic transport properties of quantum structures. Development of chemical and lithographic techniques for the fabrication of smart surfaces.

KENDALL N. HOUK, professor. Theoretical and experimental organic chemistry; transition structures of organic and biological reactions; theoretical studies of catalytic antibodies and transition state binding; theory of reactive intermediates and fast reactions; structures, dynamics, and reactions of host-guest complexes and molecular recognition; gating in hemi-carceplexes and proteins; quantitative models of asymmetric organic reactions and catalyst design; mechanisms and synthetic applications of pericyclic reactions.

WAYNE L. HUBBELL, professor. Molecular mechanisms of membrane transduction and switching processes, primarily visual transduction and voltage dependent membrane gating systems. Development of spectroscopic approaches for the study of membrane structure, dynamics and electrostatic phenomena.

MICHAEL E. JUNG, professor. Organic synthesis, particularly of biologically active natural products; development of new synthetic methods; bioorganic chemistry; study of electrocyclic reactions and their use in organic synthesis; gem-disubstituent effect and polar solvent effects in synthesis; design, synthesis and testing of inhibitors of enzymatic reactions.

HERBERT D. KAESZ, professor. Chemistry of the transition metals, especially organometallic derivatives; metal and hydrido-metal cluster complexes; metal and alloy crystallites for microelectronics and for catalysis; aromatic metalation; studies into the mechanism of liquefaction and hetero-atom removal in fossil fuels by low valent metal coplexes of the transition metals; pathways of homogeneous catalysis; spectroscopic and structural studies of organometallic compounds. Chemical vapor deposition of thin films of transition metals and their alloys from organometallic precursors.

RICHARD B. KANER, professor. Inorganic chemistry; solid state synthesis and characterization; rapid precursor routes to refractory materials; conducting polymers as separation membranes; fullerenes-doping, superconductivity and physical properties.

CHARLES M. KNOBLER, professor. Structures and properties of monolayers and other two-dimensional systems; pattern formation; metastable and unstable states; nucleation; critical phenomena.

CARLA M. KOEHLER, assistant professor. Mitochondrial biogenesis and protein translocation into mitochondria.

CHRISTOPHER LEE, assistant professor. Development and applications of high-resolution modeling of protein and peptides; predicting protein stability and binding specificity; antigen presentation complexes; algorithms and systems for genome analysis and functional identification; structural approaches to solving sequence alignment problems: detecting & aligning distant homologies.

ANDREA LIU, associate professor. Theoretical physical chemistry; equilibrium and nonequilibrium behavior of complex fluids; polymer blends; polyelectrolyte solutions; liquid-crystal/polymer mixtures; near-critical fluids in porous media; foams and emulsions.

HAROLD G. MARTINSON, professor. Transcription Termination and RNA Processing in Eukaryotes. Transcription termination by RNA polymerase II requires prior cleavage and polyadenylation of the transcript. What is the mechanism by which post-transcriptional processing is coupled to transcription? We are addressing this and related questions using in vitro mutagenesis and transfection of expression vectors for studies in vivo, and cell free extracts for studies in vitro.

SABEEHA MERCHANT, professor. Metal ion regulated gene expression with focus on the identification of regulating molecules (e.g. metal sensors) and DNA sequences which mediate copper-responsive gene expression; protein assembly in eukaryotic cells with focus on compartmentalization and catalysis of cytochrome biosynthesis; tetrapyrrole biosynthesis; molecular biology of photosynthesis.

CRAIG A. MERLIC, associate professor. Organic chemistry; applications of transition metal chemistry to organic synthesis; new synthetic methodology; natural products synthesis; organic and organometallic radical reactions; mechanistic and synthetic organometallic chemistry.

DANIEL NEUHAUSER, associate professor. Theoretical Chemistry. Quantum chemical dynamics; exact quantal simulations of molecule-molecule reactions. Real-time path integral methods for solving the Schroedinger equation. Quantum Monte Carlo methods for molecular structure. Condensed matter electron and proton transfer reactions. Environmental chemistry.

SUZANNE PAULSON, assistant professor. Atmospheric chemistry; gas-phase free radical chemistry of organic compounds, heterogeneous processes, and field measurements of organic compounds applied to oxidant and particulate formation in the lower atmosphere.

EMIL REISLER, professor and Chairman. Mutational and biophysical analysis of structure and function of contractile proteins; protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions; mechanism of muscle contraction; self assembly of myosin and actin; cell motility.

YVES RUBIN, associate professor. Fullerene chemistry: Functionalization chemistry of C60 using Diels-Alder, carbene, and related addition reactions in the preparation of bioactive compounds (HIV-1 protease inhibition, photodynamic therapy). Total synthesis and study of buckminsterfullerene C60, its endohedral metal complexes, and higher fullerenes (C84, etc.). Synthesis of bowl-shaped aromatic hydrocarbons. Organic ferromagnets: synthesis of two- and three-dimensional high spin networks based on stable organic radicals and manganese(II) complexes. Enediyne antitumor drugs: design and synthesis of novel strained enediynes and study of their Bergman reactivity and DNA cleavage properties.

BENJAMIN SCHWARTZ, assistant professor. Experimental and Theoretical Physical Chemistry: femtosecond studies of solution phase photochemistry; solvation dynamics; classical, quantum and non-adiabatic molecular dynamics simulations; photophysics of conducting polymers, polymer interfaces and polymeric devices.

DAVID S. SIGMAN, professor. Bioorganic chemistry; chemical nucleases; gene-specific inhibitors of transcription; chemical reagents for the analysis of genomic DNA.

FRASER STODDART, professor. Nanoscience as it relates to both supramolecular and macromolecular chemistry: Carbohydrate-containing dendrimers; catenanes, rotaxanes, and knots; concept transfer between the life sciences and materials science: interlocked and intertwined structures and superstructures; molecular machines; molecular shuttles, molecular switches; polycationic dendrimers; nature of the mechanical bond; nature of the noncovalent bond; self-assembly processes under both kinetic and thermodynamic control; synthetic cyclic oligosaccharides; template-directed synthesis.

SARAH TOLBERT, assistant professor. Solid state physical chemistry; non-equilibrium control of solid structures; kinetics of solid-solid phase transitions; high pressure phase stability. Self assembled inorganic/organic composites; formation and stability of nanostructured materials; synthesis and structural characterization (on many length scales) of new solid phases.

JOAN S. VALENTINE, professor. Study of structure-function relationships in the enzyme copper-zinc superoxide dismutase and of the relationship between this enzyme and ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease); mechanisms of oxidative damage, studied in vivo in yeast, and its role in aging and programmed cell death; biochemistry of oxygen, superoxide, and peroxide, especially with metal ions.

JOHN T. WASSON, professor. Cosmochemistry; origin of the solar system; geochemistry; analytical chemistry; origin and composition of meteorites and tektites; noble metals in sediments; neutron activation; ion-microprobe analysis of oxygen isotopes.

RICHARD L. WEISS, professor. Compartmentation of enzymes and metabolites; molecular genetics, metabolic and genetic regulation in eukaryotic microorganisms.

FRED WUDL, professor. Optical and electrooptical properties of processable conjugated polymers as well the organic chemistry of fullerenes and the design and preparation of organic ferromagnets, particularly ferromagnetic organic metals. Design and preparation of ultrahard organic solids. Synthesis of heterocycles exhibiting unusual solid state properties.

TODD O. YEATES, professor. Three-dimensional structure and function of proteins by X-ray diffraction. Computational analysis of macromolecules. Principles of symmetry in protein assemblies.

JEFFREY I. ZINK, professor. Excited state processes in metal complexes including luminescence, photochemistry and photocatalysis; laser-assisted chemical vapor deposition and simultaneous characterization of photofragments; sol-gel optical materials and sensors, single crystal polarized spectroscopy, resonance Raman spectroscopy; triboluminescence.