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Chemistry Department Chair听YuYe Tong and professors听Sarah Stoll, Steve Metallo, and Travis Holman (L-R) have all received major research grants from the U.S. government in recent months.

September 20, 2016 鈥� Four professors from Georgetown 海角论坛鈥檚 have received major grants from various branches of the U.S. government in the last three听months, marking an exciting period for one of the university鈥檚 most prolific research areas.

Professors , , and and Department Chair all won competitive grants to continue their research in a number of fascinating fields, with potential applications from designing more effective drugs to cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Metallo received a three-year, $453,764 grant from the National Institutes of Health for his proposal, 鈥淭he binding of small molecules to disordered proteins: specificity, affinity, and portability.鈥� He aims to determine the interactions and energetics that underlie the specific binding interactions between small molecules and disordered proteins. These interactions redefine what constitutes a small鈥恗olecule binding site on a protein and what is a 鈥渄ruggable target鈥�.

In the long term, Metallo鈥檚 research may be used to help bioengineers design drugs to effectively target diseases such as cancer or/and Alzheimer’s disease.

鈥淭he proteins in our body are very complex and intrinsically disordered,鈥� Tong said. 鈥淗ow a small molecule bonds to a site and changes the function of the protein has deep implications for the cure of diseases.鈥�

Holman, meanwhile, received a three-year, $455,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study develop molecules materials for the complexation of gases. In the 鈥淧orous Molecular Solids with Zero-Dimensional Pores鈥� project, Holman鈥檚 lab aims to study systematically sorbent-sorbate interaction in zero dimensional (0D) porous solids that are a class of still relatively unappreciated and understudied porous materials with emerging new properties of confining and releasing gases. If successful, this material could contribute to major advances in gas storage and separation.

鈥淔or example, you could catch greenhouse gases 鈥斕鼵O2, methane 鈥斕齳ou could trap these highly stable gases inside a porous material, then induce a chemical reaction that would produce useful chemicals,鈥� Tong said.

Stoll received a highly competitive three-year, $395,000 grant from the NSF鈥檚 Division of Materials Research for her project, 鈥淢agnetic Semiconductor Solid Solutions.鈥� This research will focus on the magnetocaloric and magneto-optical effects of magnetic europium chalcogenides based semiconductor alloys. These alloys鈥� novel properties could be of potential use in interconverting magnetic, electronic and optical signals in novel solid-state devices. Stoll鈥檚 research in materials synthesis and associated magnetocaloric and magneto-optical properties characterization could help develop high-performance magneto-optical electronics and storage devices.

鈥淓ven with the same-sized drive, you can store more and more information with better performing materials,鈥� Tong said.

Tong himself received a two-year, $340,000 grant from the Department of Energy for an especially ambitious project, 鈥淓xploring Electrocatalysis of Methane on Transition Metal Surfaces.鈥� Tong hopes to develop an catalytic process by which common but environmentally harmful methane gas can be converted to methanol or other useful chemicals through electrochemistry 鈥斕齝utting out the massive expenditure of energy the current steam-reforming process now requires. It鈥檚 a process that has been tried before without success, but Tong hopes a new approach can make it possible.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of methane coming out of the U.S. energy supply, primarily through shale gas,鈥� Tong said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to make this reaction feasible at room temperature, with a much lower cost of energy.鈥�

Tong emphasized the role of chemistry students 鈥斕齪articularly the strong Ph.D. program 鈥斕齣n the department鈥檚 impressive spate of successful grant applications.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the culmination of a lot of students鈥� work as well, to get to this point where the reviewers come and say 鈥榃ow, that鈥檚 a good project worth of funding!鈥欌�� Tong said.

Related Information

Other major grants to chemistry faculty members in recent years include:

• Professor Jennifer Swift, “Engineering Defects in Molecular Hydrates鈥� with a funding level of $485,000 for three years (NSF,听April 2016)
• Professor Richard Weiss, “Design of Molecular Gels with Exceptional Structural, Dynamic and Mechanical Properties鈥� with a funding level of $539,999 (NSF, September 2015)
• Professor Christian Wolf, “Development of stereodynamic chemosensors for chiroptical analysis鈥� with a funding level of $442,368 (NSF,听August 2015)
• Professor Toshiko Ichiye, “Computational Studies of Aqueous Solvation of Proteins鈥� with a funding level of $450,000 (NSF, May 2015)