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Physical & Biological Sciences Division
Chemistry & Biochemistry Department
Assistant Professor
Faculty
Regular Faculty
Chemistry
Physical Sciences Building
248
Physical Sciences Bldg 248 (Office)
Physical Sciences Bldg 243 (Lab)
Chemistry
B.Sc. Chemistry, McGill University (Montreal, QC)
Ph.D. Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA), Prof. S. J. Lippard
Post-Doctoral Researcher, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA), Prof. E. M. Nolan
NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Toronto (Toronto, ON), Prof. D. W. Stephan
Medicinal bioinorganic chemistry; synthetic inorganic chemistry; main-group structure and bonding; inorganic spectroscopy; small-molecule X-ray crystallography
The group studies the chemistry and reactivity of inorganic compounds to solve important problems in the arena of human health. Current topics of investigation include: developing an antidote for carbon monoxide poisoning; studying the antimony-based drugs used to treat leishmaniasis; understanding the arsenic-based drugs used to treat cancer and tropical diseases; and discovering new fundamental main-group structures and bonding.
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning – Over 20,000 Americans visit emergency rooms for CO poisoning each year. The toxicity of CO arises in large part from its avidity for binding transition metals, such as the Fe in hemoglobin. Currently, the best option to treat an individual with CO poisoning is to place them in fresh air but, in the time it takes for CO to be fully cleared from the body, oxygen deprivation can result in severe injury and brain damage. By capitalizing on our fundamental understanding of the coordination chemistry of CO, we are designing transition metal complexes that can be used as antidotes to treat CO poisoning.
Pentavalent Antimonial Antileishmanials – Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease that affects over 6 million people in close to 100 different countries. The disease is caused by infection with parasites from the Leishmania genus that are transmitted by insect vectors. A mainstay treatment for the disease comprises a class of drugs known as the “pentavalent antimonials.” These drugs are formulated by combining a source of Sb(V) with carrier ligands, but despite having been used clinically for over a century, the structures of the molecules being administered remains unknown. We are seeking to use a variety of physical inorganic methods to uncover the structures of these compounds and use that molecular-level understanding to improve antileishmanial therapy.
Arsenic-Based Anticancer Agents – Despite the common association of arsenic with toxicity, arsenic trioxide (As2O3) is approved by the FDA for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). In addition to acting as a cytotoxic agent, arsenic trioxide appears to specifically target APL by inducing differentiation of the cancerous promyelocytes. As with many cytotoxic anticancer drugs, however, off-target toxicity results in a range of side effects including nausea, vomiting, fatigue, fever, headaches, tachycardia, swelling, and peripheral neuropathy. We are exploring whether organoarsenicals can provide a means of retaining the chemistry needed to exert an antileukemic effect, while affording the physicochemical control needed to mitigate side effects.
Novel Group 15 Structure and Bonding – In the course of investigating the medicinal inorganic chemistry of Group 15 compounds, we came to appreciate that a number of important questions related to their fundamental structure and bonding remain unanswered. We use a variety of synthetic, computational, and physical inorganic methods to answer such questions. One area of particular interest centers on unprecedented unsaturated bonds involving heavy pnictogens.
2018 - Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning Faculty Fellow
2020 - Hellman Fellow
2023 - NSF CAREER Award
2023 - ACS PRF New Directions Grant
2023 - Beckman Young Investigator
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