CCE Newsletter Spring 2022

IN THIS ISSUE

Welcome Message from the Chair, Dennis Dougherty

Welcome to the Spring quarter, and a return to some sense of normalcy. We are excited to share with you the latest developments in CCE.

Our list of Awards and Honors this past quarter was fairly substantial, headlined by Peter Dervan receiving the 2022 Priestley Medal on March 22 at the Spring ACS meeting in San Diego. Jackie Barton received the Theodor William Richards Medal Award on March 10. Lu Wei and Max Robb were both named Sloan Research Fellows while Ryan Hadt and Scott Cushing both received the Cottrell Scholar Award. Bil Clemons was named a ASBMB Fellow as well as the Arthur and Marian Hanisch Memorial Professor of Biochemistry. Shasha Chong and Dan Semlow were both named Ronald and JoAnne Willens Scholars. Stoltz Lab students Tianyi Zhang and Alexia Kim were named the 2022 Medicinal and Bioorganic Chemistry Foundation Scholars. Reisman Lab student Sara Dibrell received the 2022 Merck Award. Congratulations to all.

In student news, we had two successful Admits Day /Open House events for admitted graduate students. These events were held on-campus with prospective students visiting from all over the world to engage with current students and faculty under the California sun in a relaxed atmosphere that included a poster session, lab tours, and a taco truck social.

Our Research Spotlight features work by graduate student Alexia Kim (Stoltz Lab), graduate student Gennady Gorin (Pachter Lab), Jay Labinger (Beckman Institute), Paul Oyala (CCE EPR lab) and a story on fighting cancer with sound-controlled bacteria from the Shapiro Lab.

This month, we celebrated the retirement of long-time administrative assistant Linda Symes. We are also introducing members of the CCE community in our #MeetCCE social media campaign. The first two people to participate are Kourtney Brodnax and Paresh Samantaray.

In facilities updates, we completed lab renovations for new faculty Shasha Chong in the basement of the Braun building. Also in Braun, the third floor was renovated for the Clemons and Rees labs as well as 4 faculty offices.

In DEI news, the DEI coordinators from each lab gathered for lunch to debrief the past year and discuss upcoming events and trainings. We feature DEI funding to support underrepresented minorities in CCE and STEM. We also give an update on an effort spearheaded by graduate students Levi Palmer and Michelle Qian to compile a list of non-gendered restrooms across campus. A list of non-gendered restrooms in CCE buildings is provided below

Finally, as we celebrate CCE alumni who receive professional and academic accolades, we also mourn the loss of Caltech Distinguished Alumni Art Riggs. Art was a dedicated scientist and friend of CCE. You can read more about Art's passing in this article.

We would love to hear your feedback and input on these quarterly newsletter. Feel free to email cce@caltech.edu with any thoughts or suggestions.

We are looking forward to a productive and healthy Spring quarter with our students, faculty, and staff.

Awards and Honors

Peter Dervan: 2022 Priestley Medal

Credit: Thomas Alleman Photography

"Peter B. Dervan started studying DNA through the lens of organic chemistry before the tools for sequencing and synthesizing it existed. He embraced risk and laid the groundwork for what became the field of chemical biology. Dervan’s team twice discovered ways to recognize specific DNA sequences—first in the minor groove and then in the major groove. In addition to his research, he helped found Gilead Sciences, served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Welch Foundation for 33 years, and was a trustee of Yale University."

Read the full C&EN story

Jacqueline K. Barton: Theodore Richards Award (ACS)

Maxwell Robb: Sloan Research Fellow

Lu Wei: Sloan Research Fellow

Ryan Hadt: Cottrell Scholar Award

Scott Cushing: Cottrell Scholar Award

William (Bil} Clemons: ASBMB Fellow and Named Professorship: Arthur and Marian Hanisch Memorial Professor of Biochemistry

Alexia Kim and Tianyi Zhang : 2022 Medicinal and Bioorganic Chemistry Foundation Scholars

Shasha Chong: Early Career Professorship - Ronald and JoAnne Willens Scholar

Daniel Semlow: Early Career Professorship - Ronald and JoAnne Willens Scholar

Sara Dibrell: 2022 Merck Award

STUDENT NEWS

CCE Admits Days

CCE welcomed prospective students to a division-wide open house on March 18 and March 24, 2022. Students had the opportunity to visit labs, tour the campus and engage with current graduate students and faculty during poster sessions.

RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT

Alexia Kim (Stoltz Lab)

Iridium-Catalyzed Asymmetric trans-Selective Hydrogenation of 1,3-Disubstituted Isoquinolines

Gennady Gorin (Pachter Lab)

Modeling bursty transcription and splicing with the chemical master equation

New experimental methods report highly detailed, genome-wide, and quantitative RNA abundance data in single cells. However, turning these data into actionable insights requires careful statistics: the abundance is governed by the stochastic processes of transcription, splicing, and degradation, which produce considerable and nontrivial noise. In this article, we derive the solutions to highly general systems incorporating all of these biological mechanisms, and demonstrate that they can be used to quantitatively predict correlations between different genes and isoforms. This approach opens an avenue for analytical, quasi-mechanistic models of gene co-regulation, which has typically been relegated to detailed and intractable mechanistic models, or omitted altogether.

Jay A. Labinger (Beckman Institute)

"Connecting Literature and Science"

Series: Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature

This work presents a case for engagement between the sciences and the humanities — focusing particularly on literature— and an empirical, non-theory-based approach thereto. Written from the perspective of a professional chemist, it seeks to demonstrate that the connections between those fields of intellectual activity are far more significant than anything that separates them.

Paul Oyala (CCE EPR Laboratory)

EPR Spectroscopy Helps to Shine New Light on Radical Nature of Photoinduced Copper-Catalyzed C-N cross-coupling Reactions.

In a pair of related studies published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), the Fu and Peters labs collaborated with Paul Oyala (Caltech EPR facility manager) to utilize Electron Paramagnetic Spectroscopy (EPR) to detect and characterize key radical intermediates in light-induced, copper-catalyzed enantioselective C-N bond formation between tertiary electrophiles and carbazole or aniline nucleophiles. In the first study headed by Heejun Lee (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c13151), advanced pulse-EPR methods allowed for detailed characterization of paramagnetic Cu(II)-nucleophile and electrophile radical intermediates generated during the reaction, providing key mechanistic evidence for direct radical C-N coupling, ruling out involvement of alkylcopper(III) intermediates. In the second study headed by Hyungdo Cho (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c12749), these same pulse EPR methods allowed for detailed characterization of a key Cu-anilido intermediate - revealing that this is best described as a Cu(I)-analidyl radical complex, on the basis of Cu and N-centered spin densities, in good agreement with DFT calculations. In recognition of the broad interest and importance to the field, the latter study was selected as an ACS Editor's Choice article and featured in a Spotlight on recent JACS publications (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c02527).

Investigation of the C–N Bond-Forming Step in a Photoinduced, Copper-Catalyzed Enantioconvergent N–Alkylation: Characterization and Application of a Stabilized Organic Radical as a Mechanistic Probe

Photoinduced, Copper-Catalyzed Enantioconvergent Alkylations of Anilines by Racemic Tertiary Electrophiles: Synthesis and Mechanism

Shapiro Lab

Fighting cancer with sound-controlled bacteria

In a new paper appearing in the journal Nature Communications, researchers from the lab of Mikhail Shapiro show how they have developed a specialized strain of the bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) that seeks out and infiltrates cancerous tumors when injected into a patient's body. Once the bacteria have arrived at their destination, they can be triggered to produce anti-cancer drugs with pulses of ultrasound.

PEOPLE PROFILE

Linda Syme, Administrative Assistant, retires after 37.5 years of service.

Linda Syme, long-time assistant to Bob Grubbs, Dennis Dougherty, and other organic chemistry faculty retired March 4, 2022 after 37.5 years of exemplary service. Dennis Dougherty, Professor of Chemistry and Norman Davidson Leadership Chair of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (CCE) said, “for over 37 years, Linda, Bob Grubbs, and I shared an office suite on the 3rd floor of Crellin. For Bob and I and all our students, Linda took care of everything – even Bob’s often chaotic travel schedule – always with intelligence, poise, and good humor. The Dougherty’s and Grubbs' think of Linda as family, and I wish her all the best in a well-deserved retirement.” A luncheon was held in her honor at The Athenaeum on February 25th, one of Linda's favorite places at Caltech.

#MEETCCE

The division has started a new social media campaign -- #MeetCCE. This feature highlights members across the division to get to know them better. We are asking for submissions from across the CCE community (staff, faculty, students, postdoc, etc.).

If you are interested in being featured, please fill out the #MeetCCE form.

#MeetCCE submission form

FACILITY UPDATES

Chong Lab Renovation

Credit: Randall R. Howard

Renovations were completed in the basement of Braun for new faculty, Shasha Chong. The Chong lab develops single-cell and single-molecule imaging methods to investigate the interactions of intrinsically disordered protein regions and elucidate their roles in regulating gene transcription under normal and disease conditions.

Braun 3rd Floor Renovation

Recently the third floor of Braun was renovated for the move of the merged Rees and Clemons labs from Broad Center. In their new space, Bil Clemons and Doug Rees will be investigating membrane protein structure and begin new projects focused on sustainability and other areas. With this move, the biochemists in CCE are now housed in one building.

CCE DEI Updates & News

DEI Coordinator Lunch

On March 4 2022, CCE DEI Committee members and DEI Coordinators from across the division gathered at the Hameetman Center to debrief the past year and discuss trainings and upcoming events. Coordinators examined impactful DEI-related work in their respective lab groups and offered tips for common issues when implementing new DEI efforts.

DEI FUNDING

The CCE DEI committee has limited funding to support CCE groups and individuals in activities focused on diversity, equity inclusion, and accessibility. The committee's primary aim is to foster the success of underrepresented minorities in CCE and STEM.

Please contact ccedei@caltech.edu for the funding forms and information.

All-Gendered Restrooms in CCE

Chemistry graduate students Levi Palmer and Michelle Qian are spearheading an effort to map all-gendered restrooms across the Caltech campus. Their goal is to create a crowd-sourced list of the all-gendered restroom room numbers to provide students and visitors an easier way to locate an all-gendered restroom and provide administration information on which buildings lack restroom access. After compiling this list, their next hope would be for the institute to take the information and integrate it into the current campus-wide digital map.

The number of all-gendered restrooms and locations in CCE buildings are as follows:

Braun: 4 (Rooms: 117RR, 211RR, 325RR, B113RR)
Crellin: 3 (Rooms: 353RR, 267RR, B148RR)
Gates Annex: 3 (B124RR, B123RR1, B123RR2)
Schlinger: 4 (Rooms: B122RR, 122RR, 222RR, 322RR)
Spalding: 2 (Rooms: B201RR, B203RR)
Noyes: 2 (Rooms: 330RR, B222RR)

If you would like to get involved in this project, please reach out to Levi Palmer at lpalmer@caltech.edu

ALUMNI NEWS

February 16, 2022 | Yushan Yan (MS '95, PhD '97 - Davis Lab) "Yushan Yan Elected to the National Academy of Engineering"

Feburary 9, 2021 | Christopher Jones (MS '97, PhD '99 - Davis Lab) "Trio of Faculty Join Alums Named to National Academy of Engineering"

February 8, 2022 | David Dixon (BS '71) "Computational Chemist Credited with Saving Ozone Inducted into ARCS Alumni Hall of Fame"

July 19, 2021 | | Barbara Burger (PhD '87) "Caltech Names Its 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients"

March 25, 2022 | Art Riggs (PhD '66) "Caltech Mourns the Loss of Art Riggs (PhD '66)"

Upcoming CCE Events

April

May

June

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

Happy Pi Day!

On March 14, 2022, the CCE Division office celebrated Pi Day with an assortment of pies baked and bought by our staff members.

Stay Connected!

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Do you have suggestions for the next newsletter? Fill out this form or email cce@caltech.edu

Do you want to be featured in our next installment of #MeetCCE? Fill out this form.

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