“Professor Weihong Tan is the winner of the 2012 Americal Chemical Society Florida Award. The award was established in 1952 by a vote of the Florida Section of the American Chemical Society and is presented annually to a chemist in the Southeast Region by the ACS Florida Section. The Florida Award recognizes leadership and contributions that advance chemistry in both scientific research and education. The specially organized symposium was part of the Florida Annual Meeting and Exposition that was held in May, 2012.”
Professor McElwee-White selected to receive CLAS Term Professorship
“Professor Lisa McElwee-White is one of sixteen College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) Term Professors named for 2012-2013. The term professorships were made possible by the generosity of Robin and Jean Gibson, Waldo W. Neikirk, and Colonel Allan R. and Margaret G. Crow to recognize faculty members who have established an outstanding record of scholarship, teaching, and service at the University of Florida.”
Chemistry Department Invention Garners First Runner-Up for 2012 Cade Prize
“Over 120 inventors and entrepreneurs from the State of Florida entered to win the prestigious Cade Museum Prize. The 1st runner-up for 2012 was ReliOx Corporation, which adavanced breakthrough research from the Research Group of Prof. David Richardson that generates chlorine dioxide. The technology replaces dangerous and obsolete chlorine dioxide generation processes with a single-step, single-chemical, solid phase reaction. This facile method of disinfection can be an important new public health tool in hospitals, food processing, restaurants, and public transportation.”
Technology from UF Chemistry Department reaches Final Four in 2012 Cade Prize Competition
“Over 120 inventors and entrepreneurs from the State of Florida entered to win the prestigious Cade Museum Prize. Today, only the “Final Four” remain, all vying for the $50,000 reward and the title of 3rd Annual Cade Museum Prize Winner, which will be revealed at a gala event on May 11th at the Santa Fe Fine Arts Hall in Gainesville.”
Graduate Student Mona Minkara Awarded 2012 NSF Fellowship
“Graduate Student Mona Minkara, a member of the Merz Research Group, will receive a 2012 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Fellowship. According to NSF’s website…”
Merz Group Research Featured on JACS Cover
“A molecular dynamics study of the zinc sensing transcriptional repressor Staphylococcus aureus CzrA was featured on the cover of the Feb 22nd edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. CzrA is a member of the ArsR/SmtB family of metal sensor proteins and functions through a mechanism of allosteric negative regulation. The cover shows the protein undergoing a quaternary structural switch from a “closed” DNA-bound conformation to a more “open” conformation in response to Zn(II) binding. This disrupts the DNA-binding interface and reduces the binding affinity of CzrA for DNA and, ultimately, transcriptional de-repression. In collaboration with the Giedroc group at the University of Indiana, the Merz group used classical MD, QM/MM and QM/MM MD methods to investigate the molecular basis for the large conformational motions and the allosteric coupling free energy (~6 kcal/mol) associated with metal ion binding.”
Merz Group Research Featured on JACS Cover
“A molecular dynamics study of the zinc sensing transcriptional repressor Staphylococcus aureus CzrA was featured on the cover of the Feb 22nd edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. CzrA is a member of the ArsR/SmtB family of metal sensor proteins and functions through a mechanism of allosteric negative regulation. The cover shows the protein undergoing a quaternary structural switch from a “closed” DNA-bound conformation to a more “open” conformation in response to Zn(II) binding. This disrupts the DNA-binding interface and reduces the binding affinity of CzrA for DNA and, ultimately, transcriptional de-repression. In collaboration with the Giedroc group at the University of Indiana, the Merz group used classical MD, QM/MM and QM/MM MD methods to investigate the molecular basis for the large conformational motions and the allosteric coupling free energy (~6 kcal/mol) associated with metal ion binding.”
Brent Sumerlin will join the UF Chemistry Department
“The Polymer Program at the Department of Chemistry, the George and Josephine Butler Polymer Research Laboratory, and the Center for Macromolecular Science and Engineering are pleased to announce that Dr. Brent Sumerlin will be joining our research and teaching efforts here at the University of Florida in the summer of 2012. Currently the Harold Jeskey Associate Professor in Chemistry at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, Dr. Sumerlin comes to us with a wide range of expertise in the areas of materials chemistry and the life sciences.”
Follow the UF Chemistry Department on facebook or on your mobile device
“The UF Chemistry Department’s facebook page is now live and viewable. Please “like” us!”
Special IJMS issue in honor of Prof. Eyler
“The December edition in the International Journal of Mass Spectrometry is dedicated to Professor Emeritus John R. Eyler’s life-long contributions in the field of mass spectrometry. This special issue includes 26 manuscripts from colleagues, friends, and peers with the general theme: Probing the Structures of Ionic Complexes by Photons, Electrons, Collisions, Reactions and Mass. John will be presented with a print version of the issue in his honor at the 2012 Lake Arrowhead Conference on Gas Phase Ion Chemistry and Mass Spectrometry (Lake Arrowhead, CA, January 13-15). We congratulate John on a well-deserved recognition, and hope that he will continue to share his wisdom with his colleagues at UF!”