A perhaps idiosyncratic view.

So, as it turned out, I called this year's Nobel Prize for Chemistry.  While I am now curious if I have any Elven ancestry (Elrond had that gift of foresight, right?), I feel I should note the following for those feeling that biochemistry isn't really chemistry.

I like biological chemistry since, in my view, it allows me to explore so many areas of chemistry.  I've synthesized isotopically enriched small molecules, I've purified proteins, I've been able to work with multiple spectroscopic and physical measurement methods in detail, I've examined paramagnetic inorganic solids with both success and failure, I've spectroscopically dissected multicomponent organic solids, I've had to explore certain types of self-assembling systems, I've cranked through theoretical treatments of metalloenzyme catalysis as well as polymer chemistry to make sense of my data over the years.....it's been a good time.

Extending from that, I like chemistry since it is perfectly situated to go hopping over boundaries.  I don't see why I shouldn't be able to figure out signal transduction pathways just because I'm a chemist.  I don't see why I should humbly hand over fundamental questions about the theoretical basis for spectroscopic methods to the physicists.   

Although right now biochemistry is giving me a headache.  Speaking of which, back to it.....

P.S. - A hearty congratulations to both Serge Haroche & David Wineland as well as, of course, Robert Lefkowitz & Brian Kobilka! Read more!

To The Classroom!

A recent post at Chemiotics sparked some old, dimly remembered memories from my grad school days as a gen. chem. TA leading weekly discussion sections.

Now, general chemistry is, from what I can figure, is a slightly different beast than organic chemistry.  At the universities I attended, the class was also a requirement for physical science and engineering majors, and could make up a substantial fraction of the class given the strength of the engineering programs at my alma maters.  Organic chemistry tended to draw from a smaller student pool - outside of the legion of premeds, it was populated by those with chemistry & biological science majors, as well as the expected chemical/materials engineering students. 

Back to general chemistry - this situation leads to walking an incredibly tricky path so as to keep the material interesting, relevant, and not too off-putting to anyone in the audience.  In short, no one is entirely happy with things, but one might consider that a sign that everyone is getting what they need in the final accounting, although not necessarily what they'd prefer. I'll be a bit obnoxious as usual here and suggest that gen. chem. can be an opportunity to demonstrate chemistry's status as the central science to a diverse audience, if done well. 

Back to the premed issue, though - I think what perturbed many of us is the attitude that arises in a class with a significant premed population.  I won't belabor this point with various horror stories (as we all have them), but, for example, the majority of the "point lawyering" I experienced was from premedical students.  In all of those cases I can still remember/wrote down for the record, none of them involved an actual grade breakpoint (e.g., they were nowhere near the boundary that would have resulted in a different overall final grade).

Of course, perhaps what we need is a different model for medical education.   Or maybe not.  Perhaps what we need is to be reminded of the difference between education and training.  Learning about something that may not be transparently applicable to your post-university career plans is not the end of the world.  A radical idea, I know. 

Obligatory mention - congratulations to the new Nobel laureates! 

P.S. - If anyone wants to share their horror stories teaching undergraduates, please share in the comments.  Read more!

Nobel Notes

I am not even going to try and offer up any predictions or suggestions given last year's surprise.  I will, however, make a few comments, some of which I've mentioned in the past.


Molecular Dynamics

Martin Karplus is usually mentioned here.  Chembark has this folded into a more general computational chemistry prize with other scientists who have contributed greatly in other areas of comp. chem., as has the listing over at the Curious Wavefunction.  Not to take anything away from Prof. Karplus and his extraordinary career, but as was brought up last year, this position betrays a lack of appreciation for the development of MD.  I'm not sure how one could reward Karplus without snubbing the early accomplishments under the rug that showed the power of computational methods to ask questions and provide answers to physical problems.  Of course, it's also entirely possible that an MD prize would be one in Physics, which would be entirely acceptable as well.

GPCRs

While some have noted that a Prize for the recent structural accomplishments might seem premature, I can envision a slightly different scenario.  Kobilka's former mentor, Robert Lefkowitz, did receive the National Medal of Science a few years ago for his pioneering work in GPCRs, and has earned various other accolades over the years.  It's possible that there might be some sort of Prize that involves more on the biochemical side of things, but with an eye (and inclusion of) the structural work.

Magnetic Resonance

Not even going to try since I'll just keep babbling on for a while.

The Kavli Question

Will we ever see a dual Nobel/Kavli Prize laureate?  Or is the work that the Kavli Prizes recognize too interdisciplinary to make it through the Nobel process?  (Cue the whining of chemists who want to eliminate biochemistry from eligibility for the Nobel Prize.  Heh.)

P.S. - Really kind of hoping a physician wins the Nobel for chemistry, a chemist wins the Nobel for physics, and a physicist wins the Nobel for physiology/medicine.  It would be a tremendously hilarious week.









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A Note on "Pure" Chemistry

Over at the Curious Wavefunction, a recent post touched upon the idea of "pure" chemistry not being well-recognized as of late by the Nobel Committee. I of course find the entire notion to be rather silly - if one can't see the chemistry in those Prizes, then you have my condolences - but I thought it would be interesting to do the following exercise.

The American Chemical Society has a yearly "Award in Pure Chemistry" that is intended to recognize fundamental research in chemistry by a young researcher. Just to see what the ACS has considered "pure chemistry" since the 1990s, shall we?

Hmmm. This is a bit unusual. It seems that amongst the fairly obvious "traditional" chemistry researchers that are being recognized, there are a bunch of interdisciplinary scientists who are undermining the sanctity of chemistry! And some of them - dear Odin! - even have biological interests. Even if you go further back, I recognize a number of names who have become rather renowned for their interdisciplinary research.

Clearly, there is a mismatch between what the chemical community officially considers "pure" chemistry versus what the unofficial position tends to be, if one considers the chemical blogosphere to be representative. Hmmmm. Read more!