Professor Steven Bruner wins NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant

Professor Steven Bruner’s proposal to the NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant program has been approved for funding. This $228,000 award will be used to purchase an X-ray generator for macromolecular crystallography that will be used by Chemical Biology researchers. X-ray crystallography is a way to look at structures at atomic resolution and is especially useful for investigating proteins, DNA, and small molecules. The Chemistry Department is committed to shared instrumentation which fosters interactions among different research groups that otherwise might not interact regularly. The department’s plans include the construction of a new instrumentation room in Merkert, which will accommodate X-ray facilities. Professor Bruner is also the recent recipient of an NSF CAREER award.


Torsten Fiebig shares Gramaticakis-Neumann Prize

Professor Torsten Fiebig, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, is co-recipient of the Gramaticakis-Neumann Prize of the Swiss Chemical Society. He shares this award with Professor H.-A. Wagenknecht (Technical University of Munich). Professor Fiebig lectured at the fall meeting of the Swiss Chemical Society on light-induced dynamics in DNA on the femtosceond timescale (DNA photonics). A member of the Boston College Chemistry Department since 2003, Professor Fiebig's research group develops spectroscopic methods to investigate structural changes in biological molecules in real time.


Dr. Bridget McCarthy named Vice President of Chemistry

Dr. Bridget McCarthy was recently named Vice President of Chemistry at Surface Logix. Dr. McCarthy was an NIH postdoctoral fellow with Professor Amir Hoveyda in the mid-1990s and also collaborated with Professor Marc Snapper. She was also with Pfizer for ten years.
http://www.surfacelogix.com/news/news_060628.htm


Kevin Brown and Josh Sieber win prestigious graduate fellowships:

Kevin Brown (Hoveyda group) received the 2006-2007 Bristol-Myers Squibb Graduate Fellowship in Synthetic Organic Chemistry. Kevin is one of ten national winners. Fellowship awardees are chosen based on demonstrated academic and research achievements as well as for their potential for significant future accomplishments. Josh Sieber (Morken group) received the prestigious 2006/2007 American Chemical Society Division of Organic Chemistry Graduate Fellowship. This fellowship is awarded to eighteen organic chemistry graduate students across the country. Evidence of notable research accomplishment and career potential are important selection criteria for this award.