Departments
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Week of 2 October 1998 |
Vol. II, No. 8 |
Feature
Article
Everything that rises must converge
Chemistry department's growth bespeaks increasing interdependence of disciplines
By Eric McHenry
The CAS department of chemistry will expand significantly over the next five years. Professor and Chairman Thomas Tullius says he hopes to add approximately seven full-time faculty members at a rate of one or two per year -- principally experts in the fields of biophysical, bio-organic, and bioinorganic chemistry.
The border at which biology and chemistry meet is, increasingly, a cutting edge. With simultaneous growth under way in the departments of biology and biomedical engineering, Tullius observes, BU is positioning itself to become "a real powerhouse in the biological sciences.
"Disciplinary boundaries are breaking down," he says, "and the interesting science is really at the conjunction of at least two, if not more, disciplines. Many of the approaches biologists are using today depend greatly upon chemistry, and upon a molecular-level understanding of biological processes."
He notes that both Harvard and Cornell universities have recently amended the names of their departments of chemistry to include "and chemical biology," reflecting this convergence of disciplines. "I think that many forward-looking chemists are acknowledging and contributing to the interdependence of these fields," he says.
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Thomas Tullius
Photo by Fred Sway
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"I think 2002 is the target year for this building's completion," says Tullius. "It's very exciting because it will combine people who are in different formal disciplines but who have common research interests."
Tullius joined BU in July 1997, leaving professorships of chemistry, biology, and biophysics at Johns Hopkins University. He brings administrative experience to the chairmanship as well, having directed a biophysics institute at Johns Hopkins. Boston University sought a person with such credentials to oversee the chemistry department's expansion.
"My own work is in DNA chemistry," Tullius says, "so I've been very focused on biological questions. I was really excited by the opportunity to bring to the University many new chemists who have similar interests and who I knew would find it attractive to be at a place that's experiencing such growth in the biological sciences."
The first such chemist is John Caradonna, an associate professor who came to BU from Yale University this fall. Caradonna says that his research interests cross the traditional lines of demarcation between biology, chemistry, and biomedical engineering. Like Tullius, he lauds the University for its prescience in recognizing that traditionally insular fields of study are growing toward one another.
"At the end of the day we all label ourselves as part of one discipline or another," he says, "but many of the very interesting questions lie at the interface of these disciplines. Communicating and collaborating with individuals at that interface are the ways that you solve very challenging problems.
"There are many institutions, unfortunately, where strong barriers still exist between disciplines. At BU, both the administration and the departments clearly see that the sum is greater than the parts. I think the Photonics Center, where the interactions between physical chemists, physicists, and engineers has proven very fruitful, is an excellent model to follow."
Caradonna's area of expertise is the study and design of metalloproteins, a subspecialty of bioinorganic chemistry. Metalloproteins are transition metals that catalyze reactions in the human body. The power to harness them, Caradonna says, can have many medical applications.
"After a heart attack or stroke, for example, a great deal of damage is done at the reintroduction of oxygen to the traumatized area," he says. "You get a burst of superoxide ions and then hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radicals. By learning how to design metalloproteins, we can potentially create active sites that will remove these reactive oxygen species and thereby minimize that harm."
"There's a great potential for new therapeutics resulting from that," Tullius says of Caradonna's research. He attributes much of chemistry's recent growth and interaction with other disciplines to trends in the medical products industry. The synergism between academic research areas reflects a larger synergism between the academic and commercial realms; each has tremendous influence over the other.
"Chemistry is becoming very important to these emerging pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies," says Tullius. "Many of them are starting to look seriously at small molecules again, because small molecules are more stable, easier to handle, and you can get better patent protection on them. So chemistry has undergone a real renaissance in some respects. The direction in which the pharmaceutical industry moves is ultimately going to be determined by chemists coming up with new drugs."