VCU news

By Sathya Achia Abraham

Virginia Commonwealth University is hosting its inaugural John B. Fenn Memorial Symposium, a series of lectures from leading scientists in the field of mass spectrometry, gas phase clusters and molecular beams.

The symposium takes place Nov. 29 in the VCU Commons Theater at 907 Floyd Ave.

Fenn’s pioneering work on supersonic jet expansions, nozzle molecular beams and electrospray ionization has led to the development of new instrumentation and techniques for chemical analysis, spectroscopy and dynamics with applications in clusters, polymers, biomolecules, proteins and pharmaceuticals. It earned him the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2002.

This year’s event features three distinguished guest speakers working in research areas that were pioneered by Fenn.

• R. Graham Cooks, Ph.D., the Henry B. Hass Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Purdue University, will discuss his development of a desorption electrospray ionization technique called DESI, which has been applied to many societal issues ranging from the safety of food products to security at the airport.

• Mark Johnson, Ph.D., the Arthur T. Kemp Professor of Chemistry at Yale University, will speak on important processes in atmospheric chemistry involving protons shared between water and other relevant atmospheric molecules studied using the supersonic jet expansion techniques originally developed by Fenn.

• David Muddiman, Ph.D., professor of chemistry at North Carolina State University, will discuss the application of electrospray mass spectrometry developed by Fenn to understand biomolecules and protein interactions.

The event honors Fenn, a former VCU chemistry professor who was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work on electrospray mass spectrometry. His work has revolutionized the development of new pharmaceuticals and promises to advance disease diagnosis. Fenn died in December 2010.

The event is organized by Samy El-Shall, Ph.D., professor of physical chemistry, and Scott Gronert, Ph.D., professor and chair of the VCU Department of Chemistry.

For more information, contact chemistry@vcu.edu or call 804.828.1298.