Newsletter - Winter 2012 - Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

The California Los Padres Sectionof the American Chemical SocietyNEWSLETTER Winter/Spring 2012CALPACS Election ResultsVotes are in! We sent out 650 ballots and received65 votes. Please welcome your new CALPACSOfficers and Executive Committee members.Curtis Musser of Viewpoint School in Calabasaswill take over as section Chair from Richard Hurstwho will remain on the committee as ImmediatePast Chair. Nanine Van Draanen of Cal Poly SanLuis Obispo is the 2012 Chair-Elect. JamesPavlovich and Ata Shirazi were re-elected assection Secretary and Treasurer respectively. LaraBaxley of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, PayamMinoofar of Teledyne Scientific Company inThousand Oaks, Jean Osterman of PromegaBiosciences in San Luis Obispo, and Justin Russakof UCSB have been elected to serve as newExecutive Committee members. Al Censullo andDavid Marten continue to serve as Councilor andAlternate Councilor. Returning members of theExecutive Committee are Stephen Contakes,Jaime Dwight, Ivan Lorkovic, Allan Nishimura,and Jerry Skarnulis.Our next Executive Committee meeting isSaturday, March 3, 2012 at 10:00am at PromegaBiosciences in San Luis Obispo.If you have ideas for CALPACS events, outreach,speakers or want to get involved, send us an emailat calpacs@chem.ucsb.edu. We have opportunitieson various committees such as membership andhospitality, education, election nominations,industry relations, and more.Hot Off the Interwebs!Jerry Skarnulis has been working hard on a newand improved CALPACS website which willlaunch on February 1, 2012. The new web addressis www.lospadresacs.org. Here you will findcommittee email addresses, an event calendar,newsletter archives, meeting minutes, and more.Also be on the lookout for a new online eventregistration and web payment option. Thecommittee is also considering using our newwebsite for e-voting to simplify the process andget more voices heard.You can always stay connected with CALPACSby visiting our Facebook page at “California LosPadres ACS”.Event CalendarSPEAKER EVENT AT CAL POLYFebruary 11 th , 1:00pm - FREECal Poly, SLO, Building 52, E26Rebecca Anderson - “Finding New Drugs: ThePath from Test Tube to the Pharmacy”.WINE SOCIAL AT KUNIN VINEYARDSSpring TBA28 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara$10 at the door, light refreshments servedCALIFORNIA OIL MUSEUM TOURMarch 17 th , noonSanta Paula Oil Museum tour with optional lunchwith Museum Director at Glen Tavern InnSPRING STUDENT EVENTApril 14 th , noonWestmont College, Santa BarbaraEric Scerri - “The Periodic Table: Its Story and ItsSignificance”.GILLS ONIONS TOURSpring TBAA tour of Gills Onions of OxnardDigestion of onion waste to make biogas

Finding New Drugs: ThePath from Test Tube to thePharmacy A CALPACS speaker eventCurrent industry statistics estimate that it takesfifteen years and nearly $1 billion to bring a newdrug to market, but most consumers are unaware –and even skeptical – of the extensive effortsinvolved in finding and successfully developingthese products. This presentation looks inside theblack box, sharing an insider’s view ofpharmaceutical research and development andanswering several commonly asked questions:Where does a chemist get ideas for synthesizingand innovative drug? Why are animals still used indrug research? Why can’t scientists and clinicianswork faster? And why can’t they do their jobbetter and cheaper? In the course of describing thedrug development activities, this presentation willhighlight the range of chemistry subspecialtiesemployed in moving a drug from the lab bench tothe pharmacy shelf.***Rebecca Anderson has worked in thebiopharmaceutical industry from more than 25years in jobs spanning pharmaceuticals,biotechnology, medical devices, and contractresearch organizations. She holds a BA degree inchemistry from Coe College and a Ph.D. inpharmacology from Georgetown University.Following postdoctoral training at the Universityof Toronto, she held academic appointments at theGeorge Washington University Medical Centerand the University of Michigan School of PublicHealth. She subsequently held positions ofincreasing responsibility in pharmaceutical R&Dat Parke-Davis & Company, Boehringer IngelheimPharmaceuticals, Miravant Pharmaceuticals, andAmgen. Dr. Anderson currently works as afreelance technical writer and is the author ofCareer Opportunities in Clinical Drug Research.California Oil MuseumA CALPACS tour eventThe California Oil Museum in Santa Paula is anhistoric building in that it was the birthplace, inthe 1890s, of the Union Oil Company(UNOCAL). Prior to UNOCAL's deeding thebuilding over to the City of Santa Paula, the oilcompany invested millions of dollars to refurbishthe second floor of the building. The purpose ofthe remodeling was to resurrect the appearanceand facilities of the oil company as it was in the1890s. Visitors to the museum can view geologicand petroleum-related exhibits on the first floorthat includes a full-scale model of a 19th Centuryoil rig, as well as rotating exhibits that range fromart to scientific innovation. From the standpointof our discipline, chemistry, the area is also uniquein that it was one of the first areas wherepetroleum was not only discovered in California,but also refined to produce many of the numeroushydrocarbon products derived from crudeoil. Although off the beaten track, the museum iswell worth a visit given its significance to thepetroleum and chemical engineering industries inCalifornia.CALPACS will be hosting a tour of the OilMuseum on March 17 th after an optional lunchwith the Director at nearby Glen Tavern Inn.Please stay tuned for the event flier for details.On February 11 th , Rebecca Anderson will begiving a free lecture at Cal Poly State Universityin San Luis Obispo. There will also be a booksigning with books for sale after the talk and lightrefreshments will be served.

The Periodic Table: Its Storyand Its SignificanceA CALPACS student eventEric Scerri received all of his education in the UKat the universities of Cambridge, Southampton andKing’s College, London. He has been a Lecturerin Chemistry and History & Philosophy of Scienceat the University of California at Los Angeles(UCLA) for the past twelve years. He is theauthor of the definitive book on the periodic table,The Periodic Table: Its Story and Its Significance,Oxford University Press, 2007 as well as ofCollected Papers in Philosophy of Chemistry, andSelected Papers on the Periodic Table, publishedby Imperial College Press in 2008 and 2009respectively. Scerri has written over 150 articlesin journals and edited collections in chemistry,chemical education and history and philosophy ofscience.Chemistry Olympiad 2012An invitation to participate in the 2012 USNational Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO) was sentto 70 High School chemistry teachers andadministrators. The USNCO program seeks tostimulate interest in chemistry among high schoolstudents and recognize outstanding youngchemistry students, teachers, and schools. UScitizens competing in the USNCO are eligible tobe selected as members of the US team for theInternational Chemistry Olympiad. For the past27 years, the United States has sent a team of fourstudents to compete with nations around theworld. The students participate in both theoreticaland laboratory examinations over several days andgold, silver, and bronze medals are awarded to thebest performers.This year, the international event will be held inWashington, DC, on July 21-30. To identifypotential candidates for the four-member US team,CALPACS is conducting a preliminary screeningthrough a local exam that will be administered tostudents at their local High School. The top 10scoring students on the local exam will be invitedto take the national exam at Westmont College inApril where they will have a chance to qualify forone of 20 spots at the USNCO study camp whereHis most recent book is called A Very ShortIntroduction to the Periodic Table, has just beenpublished by Oxford University Press.Eric Scerri will be speaking on the periodic tableat our spring student event which will be held atWestmont College on Saturday, April 14 th .Stay tuned for details.they will compete for one of four spots on the U.S.team.As part of our support for the 2011 USNCO,CALPACS will provide participating High Schoolteachers with an award in the form of a 1-yearsubscription to Chem13News or a 1-yearextension to their current subscription toChem13News. The magazine subscription has theadvantage of promoting professional excellence inHigh School Chemistry teaching throughout oursection.Earth Day 2012CALPACS is planning to hold a table at the SantaBarbara Earth Day Festival again this year. Lastyear, fellow ACS members and the WestmontCollege Chemistry Club discussed greenchemistry with members of the public and handedout promotional materials, including coastersmade from recycled PET and denim, andenvironmentally-friendly thermochromic pens.If you would like to help with the Earth Day eventthis year, please contact Stephen Contakes atscontakes@westmont.edu.

Fall Luncheon 2011Honoring our Fifty Year Members – by DavidMartenThis year, our 50 year member luncheon was heldat Stella Mare Restaurant near the Bird Refuge inSanta Barbara on Saturday, October 22 nd . One ofour new 50 year members, Dr. J. Thomas Gerigfrom U.C. Santa Barbara, gave an inspiring talk onhis research entitled: “Understanding Peptide-Solvent Interactions through NMR and MD”.There were about 33 who attended and we enjoyeda wonderful lunch of either roasted chicken breastor Penne pasta with artichoke hearts, mushroomsand tomatoes. Several others with more than 50years in the ACS were there plus a couple with 60years as a member.The talk focused on using molecular dynamicscalculations to model what is being observed inthe NMR spectrum of a small protein, [val5]-angiotensin, in a solvent mixture of methanol andwater. Scientists often study proteins in thesemixed solvent systems and the intent is to be ableto use NMR nuclear Overhauser measurements onproteins to determine solvent-protein interactions.Due to the complexity of the systems, moleculardynamics calculations are required to helpunderstand the experiment data. Dr. Gerigreported his recent findings and gave details of thepeptide-solvent interactions that he has observedand interpreted.Chair-Elect Curtis Musser, Dr. Gerig and DavidMartenGills OnionsA CALPACS tour eventLocated in Oxnard, Gills Onions is one of thelargest fresh-cut onion processing plants in theworld. But Gills doesn’t just process onions, theyutilize an Advanced Energy Recovery System(AERS) on the property that turns the onion wasteinto biogas, which feeds into fuel cells to produceultra-clean heat and power. In 2010, PrudentEnergy announced the installation of a 600-kilowatt Vanadium Redox Battery Energy StorageSystem (VRB-ESS) at Gills Onions to enhancetheir existing AERS. The VRB-ESS will providethe facility with emergency backup power andreduce the company’s need to draw electricityfrom the grid when rates are highest. Gills expectsto save hundreds of thousands of dollars each yearin operating expenses.Keep your ears open for a weekday tour date inMay or June!ACS National MeetingChemistry of LifeSan Diego, CA March 25-29 Chemical Networks in Biology Epigenetics: From Basic Principlesto Drug Development Materials as Medicines Drug Polypharmacology Predictionand Design Protein Conjugates: From BasicPrinciples to Clinically Active DrugsThe Kavli Foundation Innovations inChemistry LectureMonday, March 26, 5:30-6:30Speaker: Carolyn Bertozzi of University ofCalifornia, Berkeley & San Francisco HowardHughes Medical InstituteREGISTER ONLINE

Annual CALPACS Wine Tasting Event 2011Mosby Winery and Vineyards – by Payam MinoofarChemistry is the science of transformation, andoenology is one of its earliest forms. As chemistswe may wonder which transformation is moreprofound: the transformation from squashedgrapes to an alcoholic elixir, or the one from a sadmood to a state of ecstasy.The winemaker and owner, Bill Mosby, showedup and entertained numerous questions about hiscareer as a periodontist, his early career as abrewer in his college dormitory, his retirement to anew career as a winemaker and, of course, the wayhe makes his wines. Unfortunately, legalrestrictions proscribed the pouring of brandies thathe had begun to distill on the property, but thathad no negative impact on the mood of theattendees.No one really pondered that deep philosophicalquestion at Mosby Winery and Vineyards onDecember, 10, 2011. We celebrated the fabulouselixirs fermented by Bill Mosby. The fullcontingent of chemists who descended uponBuellton on a sunny, cool autumn day were treatedto a wonderful tasting of many Italian varieties ofwine, an assortment of delicious cheeses andhearty soups prepared by members from San LuisObispo.Full attendance made the event a fantasticopportunity to meet chapter members from theextreme regions of the chapter's vast territory:from Thousand Oaks to San Luis Obispo. It was,therefore, just as fabulous a networkingopportunity as it was a way to spend a beautifulday.

No ACS chapter can claim these amazingprivileges that CALPACS members often take forgranted. So, don't miss the next opportunity tocelebrate your profession by drinking one of itsearliest successes. Keep your eye out for the nextCALPACS event, and make your reservationsearly.Special thanks are extended to Nanine VanDraanen for organizing the event, and to Jamesand Cathy Pavlovich, David and Ramona Marten,Jaime Dwight, and John Hagen for providing thedelicious spread.We celebrated last year's National ChemistryWeek by holding a slime-making activity at thePaseo Nuevo mall on October 29th. ACS memberKristi Lazar, an Assistant Professor of Chemistryat Westmont College, led this event. She wasassisted by Westmont Chemistry students.National Chemistry Week 2011Pictured from left: Nicole Grabe, Elizabeth Grossman,Kristi Lazar, Kylie Miller and Ryan Morgan.Kristi reported: "The students have told me howthankful that they were to be a part of this funday. We had a steady stream of kids visit ourtable to make slime and it was a beautiful day!"

We also held a liquid nitrogen ice cream demoevent at Hope Elementary school in SantaBarbara. Caleb Bos, Westmont CollegeChemistry Club president, and Ellen Brudi, aWestmont Chemistry student, visited HopeElementary and made liquid nitrogen ice creamfor approximately eighty 5th and 6th gradestudents. The kids enjoyed the demonstration andhad many good questions about phases of matterand nitrogen.New Faculty HiresAlan L. Kiste completed aB.S. in Chemistry atCalvin College in GrandRapids, Michigan in1993. He earned an M.S. inMacromolecular Science andEngineering and an M.A. inEducation, both from theUniversity of Michigan inAnn Arbor.After teaching high school chemistry for severalyears, he returned to the University of Michiganwhere he earned a combined doctorate inChemistry and Education while working withBrian Coppola and Joseph Krajcik. His researchinterests include the development of new methodsfor analyzing chemistry students' learning andproduction of chemistry symbolism andrepresentations, and the analysis of studentrepresentations using these new methods, theexamination of how students utilize learningresources in large lecture classes, and thedevelopment, assessment, and evaluation of newpedagogical interventions. He joined the facultyin the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistryat Cal Poly in September 2011.Greg Scott is a native ofeastern Kentucky andearned his B.S. inchemistry from DavidsonCollege in North Carolinain 2004. Subsequently, hejoined the corps of TeachFor America where hetaught high schoolchemistry and physics inBrownsville, TX for two years before pursuinggraduate studies in physical chemistry at theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. AtIllinois, Greg earned his Ph.D. under MartinGruebele, where he performed experimentalstudies of single-molecule optical absorption

detected by scanning tunneling microscopy andtheoretical studies of protein folding potentialenergy surfaces.Greg joined the faculty of Cal Poly in the fall of2011 as an assistant professor in the Departmentof Chemistry and Biochemistry where he isteaching in the General Chemistry sequence. Heis passionate about chemical education, both inimproving learning outcomes for Cal Polystudents, but also in working toward achievingeducational equity through K-12 outreach. Greghas continued research interests in the optoelectronicproperties of local single-moleculechemistry as well as in the application ofdiffusional dynamics for low-barrier kinetics.Shanju Zhang is currentlyan assistant professor ofPolymers and Coatingsprogram in the Department ofChemistry and Biochemistryat California Polytechnic StateUniversity San Luis Obispo.He received his B.Sc. inchemistry from JilinUniversity in 1993 and hisPh.D. in polymers from thesame university in 1998. In 1998-2000 he was anassistant professor at Changchun Institute ofApplied Chemistry at the Chinese Academy ofSciences. He received an Alexander vonHumboldt fellowship at Technical University ofBerlin in 2000-2002. He did his postdoctoralresearch at University of Cambridge in 2002-2006.Before he joined the faculty of Cal Poly in 2011,he was a research scientist at Georgia Institute ofTechnology (2006-2009) and Yale University(2009-2011). Dr. Zhang has published around 60papers in the peer-reviewed journals in the areasof synthesis, structure, processing and propertiesof polymers and liquid crystals. His currentresearch is focused on polymers and coatings withapplications in energy conversions, coveringconjugated polymers, semiconducting nanotubes/nanowires, and polymer nanocomposites.Michael Everest hasalways been fascinatedwith science. In high school,chemistry was the subjectthat tapped into thisfascination the most. It alsohelped that, compared to theway physics and biologywere taught, he could figurethings out on a chemistryexam without having verymuch information committed to memory. Hecontinued his interest in chemistry by completingthe ACS-certified B.S. at Wheaton College(Wheaton, IL). At that time, he decided thatteaching chemistry at a primarily undergraduateinstitution was his intended career goal. Hecompleted a Ph.D. at Stanford studying ionmoleculereaction dynamics under the direction ofRichard Zare. (While in graduate school, hefinally saw the value of having informationcommitted to memory, though it is an ongoingstruggle!)Michael’s Ph.D. work required a large lasersystem, a large vacuum system, and a largetandem mass spectrometer inside the vacuumsystem. Being aware of the levels of fundinggoing to undergraduate institutions, he decided tochange fields to an area that would require onlyone of those three components: cavity ring-downspectroscopy. After a post-doctoral stint at TrinityUniversity (San Antonio, TX), he taught chemistryat George Fox University (Portland, OR) from2001-2011. He also spent 12 months in Greeceworking to develop a cavity-enhanced variety ofellipsometry. Most of his research has involvedthe application of optical-cavity-enhancedtechniques to the study of processes at interfaces.Michael is thrilled to be joining the faculty atWestmont College where he plans to continueteaching physical chemistry and overseeingundergraduate research projects.***

Westmont New Faculty Continued…Kristi Lazar, a 2000Westmont Collegealum, has returned as anassistant Professor ofChemistry. Lazar earned amaster’s degree atPrinceton University and adoctorate from theUniversity of Chicago,where she conductedbiochemistry researchunder the direction of Stephen C. Meredith andwrote her dissertation on “Non-amyloid proteinaggregates.” Lazar returned to Westmont as avisiting professor in January of 2010 and beganher tenure-track position last fall. Her area ofexpertise is in protein aggregation, includingdeposits of misfolded proteins thought to beresponsible for amyloid diseases. Lazar undertooktwo years of postdoctoral research at Genentech,Inc., a biotech company, before applying toWestmont. Her research at Genentech exploredthe long-term stability of monoclonal antibodydrug products at sub-zero temperatures.***Coke Zero’s Secret FormulaExcerpt from C&EN Newscripts post byLauren WolfI’ve always thought the reason that I disliked thetaste of Diet Coke was that it contains aspartame.However, after reading the label more closely andchatting with some people at [Atlanta’s World ofCoca-Cola] museum, I noted that Coke Zero,which I think tastes great (and more like CokeClassic), contains aspartame as well. So whatgives?Coke Zero contains aspartame and acesulfamepotassium, another high-potency sweetener. “Theblend of aspartame and acesulfame-K is veryunique,” says Ihab E. Bishay, director of businessdevelopment and application innovation atAjinomoto Food Ingredients. “There is significantadditive synergy between the two sweeteners.Acesulfame-K has a very quick sweetness onset,which is followed by a bitter/metallic aftertaste,and aspartame has a slower onset, with a slightlylonger-lasting sweetness. Together, the blendprovides the product formulator with a tasteprofile that is closer to the taste of sugar thaneither sweetener by itself.” So this might explainmy preference for Coke Zero.Neither expert, however, thinks that’s the wholestory. “When formulating a beverage like a cola,formulators can modify the flavor system,acidulates, sweeteners, and myriad other variablesto arrive at the desired flavor and taste profile,”Bishay says. Shelke agrees, adding thatformulators probably alter other ingredients in thebeverages to give them a pH that maximizessweetness for their particular sweetener system.While I was at the World of Coca-Cola, I chattedwith an employee who told me that Diet Cokeuses a different syrup base (the preservatives andnatural flavors advertised on the label) than CokeClassic. Coke Zero, the employee said, uses asyrup that is closer to Coke Classic’s. That couldalso be a contributing factor in my dislike of DietCoke. But because the company isn’t about toreveal its secret formula for either beverage, I’mnot sure that I’ll ever know precisely.Plenty of sci-curious folks have tried to ascertainCoke’s exact ingredients and their proportions. Ileave you with one person’s interesting take on it.Well, I checked in with some experts to try to findout. “There are people for whom most highpotencysweeteners, such as aspartame andsaccharin, taste slightly bitter or metallic,” saysKantha Shelke, founder of consumer packagedgoods consultancy Corvus Blue. I’m guessing thatI’m one of them.