- Email: [email protected]
How Virginia Tech placed me on the map from May 2002 to June 2003! A bridge to my future
Inorganica Chimica Acta xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Inorganica Chimica Acta journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ica
Preface
How Virginia Tech placed me on the map from May 2002 to June 2003! A bridge to my future Alvin A. Holder Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Old Dominion University, 4541 Hampton Boulevard, Norfolk, VA 23529-0126, USA
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 4 July 2016 Accepted 5 July 2016 Available online xxxx Keywords: Vero cells Photodynamic therapy DNA plasmids Ruthenium Cancer Agarose gel electrophoresis
a b s t r a c t This is a preface of the influence of Professor Karen Brewer on my life as she taught me how to carry out good and sensible chemistry with osmium(II), ruthenium(II), and rhodium(III) complexes. Photodynamic therapeutic studies with pUC18 and pBluescript DNA plasmids and Vero cells were the order of the day! This research catalyzed my career and research in the U.S.A. Ó 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. The preface It all began as an undergraduate student and also a graduate student at the University of the West Indies (U.W.I.) at Cave Hill Campus, Barbados and Mona Campus, Jamaica, respectively (see my journey below), followed by a faculty position at U.W.I., Cave Hill Campus, Barbados from January 1994 until June 2003 (2001– 2003 with no paid leave). While at Cave Hill Campus, I really wanted to do some challenging chemistry, but when my mother departed from this Earth on Friday, June 04, 1994, followed by the death of my grandfather on Friday, December 31, 1999, I decided to apply for several faculty positions in the U.S.A., and one university that I targeted was Virginia Tech.
My journey in years!
E-mail address: [email protected]
After sending out so many applications, I was surprised to receive an e-mail from Professor Larry Taylor, Chair, Department of Chemistry, Virginia, in spring 2001. In that e-mail, he asked me whether I would like to come to Virginia Tech to carry out research with either Dr. Karen Brewer or Dr. Paul Deck. I immediately chose Dr. Brewer and wrote her and asked whether she had any postdoctoral fellow vacancies, but no reply from her. During August 2001, my good friend Dr. Floyd Beckford, who was a visiting assistant professor at the University of Toledo (UT) asked me to apply for a visiting assistant professor at UT because he was leaving to be an assistant professor at Lyon College in Arkansas. I
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ica.2016.07.012 0020-1693/Ó 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article in press as: A.A. Holder, Inorg. Chim. Acta (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ica.2016.07.012
2
A.A. Holder / Inorganica Chimica Acta xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
did, and was accepted to begin my very first academic job in the U.S. A. as a visiting assistant professor at UT in August 2001. More surprising was I was invited to give a seminar presentation at Virginia Tech in November 2001. I didn’t realize that all of this came through the efforts of Dr. Myra Gordon, Associate Dean for Diversity and Curriculum at Virginia Tech, who saw something in me. I am forever grateful to Dr. Gordon who saw something of value in me!! The contract at UT was supposed to be for three years, but in May 2002, I was told that my contract was over, but I was surprised that the Department of Chemistry, Virginia, asked me to teach summer school in 2002 and carry out research in Dr. Brewer’s laboratory from May to June 30, 2002, while making ruthenium(II) complexes with 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione as a ligand, all with my laboratory partners, Mr. Lee Williams and Mr. Mark Elvington. That went quite well, and during the month of June 2003, Dr. Brewer asked me about being a postdoctoral fellow in her laboratory for one year until June 2003. At one time in June 2002, a staff member from the main office pulled me aside and told me that Dr. Brewer only had one year’s worth of grant money to support me. I took a gamble as at that time I needed a job to keep me for one year. I accepted the position, went back home to Barbados for the summer, came back and began my first official job in Dr. Brewer’s laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow in the U.S.A. from August 2002 until June 2003. During that period, I began a new type of research that really floored me with the use of ruthenium(II)-containing complexes, and photocleavage of DNA (pUC18 and pBluescript DNA plasmids), extraction of pBluescript DNA plasmid from Escherichia coli, agarose gel electrophoresis, and PAGE! From August 2002 until December 01, 2002, I tried to reproduce the DNA photocleavage of pUC18 DNA plasmid with trinuclear mixed-metal osmium(II)/ruthenium (II)-rhodium(III) complexes!! Karen was getting worried when I produced great agarose gels, but not the results that she expected. I was worried myself, until December 01, 2002, when I made an error in micropipette volume of the pUC18 DNA plasmid, but fortunately, I recorded that volume in my laboratory notebook, and got the photocleavage reaction to work after two hours of photocleavage. Karen (now was the time she told me to call her that name) was very excited. We changed the concentration of the pUC18 DNA plasmid and adjusted the ratio of pUC18 DNA plasmid to metal complex in order to photocleave the pUC18 DNA plasmid with 20 min and less!!! That paved Karen’s trust in me. This gives reason why a good scientist with and without RCR training must always keep a well-written laboratory notebook with failed and successful experiments!! At that time, I knew nothing about RCR training! As such, she always to use to say ‘‘All righty” and would always tell me at 7:00 p.m. on a Friday while I was in the lab, ‘‘Alvin, don’t you have a family? Time to go home to your family.” She was always ‘‘family first”. Next came the real challenge, with the assistance of Professor Brenda Winkel, extraction of pBluescript DNA plasmid from E. coli for the next photocleavage exercise. That worked like a dream, with me learning new techniques!!!!!! Another challenge that really gave me gripe was to grow the green monkey kidney cells (Vero cells) after being trained by Dr. Maria Teresa TarragoTrani, a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professor Brian Storrie. This stint began in March 2003 and culminated in June 2003. Such a challenging was counting cells with a microscope from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. each day, and carrying out photodynamic therapeutic studies with trinuclear mixed-metal osmium (II)/ruthenium(II)-rhodium(III) complexes. I got it all done in one year!! One surprising note is that those green monkey kidney cells are from the same green monkeys that I used to run from my grandfather’s land in Barbados, when they used to eat and damage his
corn, mangoes, and bananas. It is ironic, that having lived in Barbados, that I would eventually have to carry out research on cells that are from our green monkeys as shown below. They live around the island of Barbados, and roam freely at The Barbados Wild Life Reserve, http://www.barbados.org/reserve.htm#.V3lQHNIrLIU
The Barbadian green monkey and The Barbados Wild Life Reserve
I am happy to show these publications that came out of my research with Karen, and they are as follows: 1. Holder, Alvin A.; Zigler, David F.; Tarrago-Trani, Maria T.; Storrie, Brian; Brewer, Karen J. ‘‘Photobiological Impact of [{(bpy)2Ru(dpp)}2RhCl2]Cl5 and [{(bpy)2Os(dpp)}2RhCl2]Cl5 on Vero Cells, bpy = 2,2’-bipyridine, dpp = 2,3-bis(2-pyridyl)pyrazine.” Inorg. Chem. 2007, 46, 4760–4762. 2. Storrie, Brian; Holder, Alvin; Brewer, Karen J. ‘‘Ru, Os, Rh mixedmetal complexes are a potential novel class of oxygen independent photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy (PDT).” Proc. SPIE-The International Society for Optical Engineering 2006, 6139, 336–342. 3. Holder, Alvin A.; Swavey, Shawn; Brewer, Karen J. ‘‘Design Aspects for the Development of Mixed-Metal Supramolecular Complexes Capable of Visible Light Induced Photocleavage of DNA.” Inorg. Chem. 2004, 43, 303–308. 4. Fang, Zhenglai; Swavey, Shawn; Holder, Alvin; Winkel, Brenda; Brewer, Karen J. ‘‘DNA Binding of Mixed-Metal Supramolecular Ru,Pt Complexes.” Inorg. Chem. Commun. 2002, 5, 1078–1081. I must say that Karen tried her best to garnish funding for me to stay longer in her laboratory, but that was not to be, hence I had to move onto the Ohio State University (OSU), a move that I eventually regretted! God knew best. Before my move to OSU, Karen advised me to find my own research area, and not to duplicate what I carried out in her laboratory, hence I came up with some novel mixed-metal binuclear ruthenium(II)-vanadium(IV) complexes that can fight cancer!! Finally, I had a wonderful time in Karen’s laboratory, learned some new chemistry, and met some good friends for life; Mark Elvington, Shawn Swavey, Lee Williams, Ran Miao, Andrew Riley, Bob, some of the academic (Profs. John Dillard, Gary Long, Timothy Long, David, Kingston, Brian Hanson, Larry Taylor, Gordon Yee, Paul Deck, and Dr. Patricia Amateis, to name a few) and office and regular staff (Jan, Wanda Hensley, Claudia Brodkin, and Larry Jackson) at Virginia Tech, and friends at the Weight Club (Police Officer David ‘‘Chico” Cole, The Coach (R.I.P.), and Manager, Michaela Galya) where I trained as a body builder! More recently, as an Invited Plenary Talk: 251st ACS National Meeting & Exposition, March 13–17, 2016, San Diego, California. Abstract # INOR-1141. Title: ‘‘Light that pleases the world in science: The Karen Brewer’s effect on my academic career.”
Please cite this article in press as: A.A. Holder, Inorg. Chim. Acta (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ica.2016.07.012
A.A. Holder / Inorganica Chimica Acta xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Author: Alvin A. Holder; I learnt about the seven (7) Ps from Professor Mark Richter and the Brew Crew, who attended the ACS conference. They are as follows: The seven (7) Ps Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance
Credit for the seven (7) Ps must be given to my deceased former postdoctoral mentor, Professor Karen J. Brewer. She was a great Lady, who believed in ‘‘Family First”!! She and Virginia Tech placed me on the map from May 2002-June 2003, a bridge to my future!!
3
Please see http://www.chem.vt.edu/media/karen-brewer-obituary.pdf R.I.P. Acknowledgements AAH would like to thank the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a National Science Foundation CAREER Award as this material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under CHE-1431172 (formerly CHE – 1151832). AAH would also like to thank Old Dominion University’s Faculty Proposal Preparation Program (FP3), and also for the Old Dominion University startup package that allowed for the successful completion of this work. Full gratitude to Professor Karen Brewer (R.I.P.), Professor Brenda Winkel, Professor Larry Taylor, Dr. Myra Gordon, the research group (Brew Crew), and all at Virginia Tech.
Please cite this article in press as: A.A. Holder, Inorg. Chim. Acta (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ica.2016.07.012
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Inorganica Chimica Acta journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ica
Preface
How Virginia Tech placed me on the map from May 2002 to June 2003! A bridge to my future Alvin A. Holder Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Old Dominion University, 4541 Hampton Boulevard, Norfolk, VA 23529-0126, USA
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 4 July 2016 Accepted 5 July 2016 Available online xxxx Keywords: Vero cells Photodynamic therapy DNA plasmids Ruthenium Cancer Agarose gel electrophoresis
a b s t r a c t This is a preface of the influence of Professor Karen Brewer on my life as she taught me how to carry out good and sensible chemistry with osmium(II), ruthenium(II), and rhodium(III) complexes. Photodynamic therapeutic studies with pUC18 and pBluescript DNA plasmids and Vero cells were the order of the day! This research catalyzed my career and research in the U.S.A. Ó 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. The preface It all began as an undergraduate student and also a graduate student at the University of the West Indies (U.W.I.) at Cave Hill Campus, Barbados and Mona Campus, Jamaica, respectively (see my journey below), followed by a faculty position at U.W.I., Cave Hill Campus, Barbados from January 1994 until June 2003 (2001– 2003 with no paid leave). While at Cave Hill Campus, I really wanted to do some challenging chemistry, but when my mother departed from this Earth on Friday, June 04, 1994, followed by the death of my grandfather on Friday, December 31, 1999, I decided to apply for several faculty positions in the U.S.A., and one university that I targeted was Virginia Tech.
My journey in years!
E-mail address: [email protected]
After sending out so many applications, I was surprised to receive an e-mail from Professor Larry Taylor, Chair, Department of Chemistry, Virginia, in spring 2001. In that e-mail, he asked me whether I would like to come to Virginia Tech to carry out research with either Dr. Karen Brewer or Dr. Paul Deck. I immediately chose Dr. Brewer and wrote her and asked whether she had any postdoctoral fellow vacancies, but no reply from her. During August 2001, my good friend Dr. Floyd Beckford, who was a visiting assistant professor at the University of Toledo (UT) asked me to apply for a visiting assistant professor at UT because he was leaving to be an assistant professor at Lyon College in Arkansas. I
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ica.2016.07.012 0020-1693/Ó 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article in press as: A.A. Holder, Inorg. Chim. Acta (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ica.2016.07.012
2
A.A. Holder / Inorganica Chimica Acta xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
did, and was accepted to begin my very first academic job in the U.S. A. as a visiting assistant professor at UT in August 2001. More surprising was I was invited to give a seminar presentation at Virginia Tech in November 2001. I didn’t realize that all of this came through the efforts of Dr. Myra Gordon, Associate Dean for Diversity and Curriculum at Virginia Tech, who saw something in me. I am forever grateful to Dr. Gordon who saw something of value in me!! The contract at UT was supposed to be for three years, but in May 2002, I was told that my contract was over, but I was surprised that the Department of Chemistry, Virginia, asked me to teach summer school in 2002 and carry out research in Dr. Brewer’s laboratory from May to June 30, 2002, while making ruthenium(II) complexes with 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione as a ligand, all with my laboratory partners, Mr. Lee Williams and Mr. Mark Elvington. That went quite well, and during the month of June 2003, Dr. Brewer asked me about being a postdoctoral fellow in her laboratory for one year until June 2003. At one time in June 2002, a staff member from the main office pulled me aside and told me that Dr. Brewer only had one year’s worth of grant money to support me. I took a gamble as at that time I needed a job to keep me for one year. I accepted the position, went back home to Barbados for the summer, came back and began my first official job in Dr. Brewer’s laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow in the U.S.A. from August 2002 until June 2003. During that period, I began a new type of research that really floored me with the use of ruthenium(II)-containing complexes, and photocleavage of DNA (pUC18 and pBluescript DNA plasmids), extraction of pBluescript DNA plasmid from Escherichia coli, agarose gel electrophoresis, and PAGE! From August 2002 until December 01, 2002, I tried to reproduce the DNA photocleavage of pUC18 DNA plasmid with trinuclear mixed-metal osmium(II)/ruthenium (II)-rhodium(III) complexes!! Karen was getting worried when I produced great agarose gels, but not the results that she expected. I was worried myself, until December 01, 2002, when I made an error in micropipette volume of the pUC18 DNA plasmid, but fortunately, I recorded that volume in my laboratory notebook, and got the photocleavage reaction to work after two hours of photocleavage. Karen (now was the time she told me to call her that name) was very excited. We changed the concentration of the pUC18 DNA plasmid and adjusted the ratio of pUC18 DNA plasmid to metal complex in order to photocleave the pUC18 DNA plasmid with 20 min and less!!! That paved Karen’s trust in me. This gives reason why a good scientist with and without RCR training must always keep a well-written laboratory notebook with failed and successful experiments!! At that time, I knew nothing about RCR training! As such, she always to use to say ‘‘All righty” and would always tell me at 7:00 p.m. on a Friday while I was in the lab, ‘‘Alvin, don’t you have a family? Time to go home to your family.” She was always ‘‘family first”. Next came the real challenge, with the assistance of Professor Brenda Winkel, extraction of pBluescript DNA plasmid from E. coli for the next photocleavage exercise. That worked like a dream, with me learning new techniques!!!!!! Another challenge that really gave me gripe was to grow the green monkey kidney cells (Vero cells) after being trained by Dr. Maria Teresa TarragoTrani, a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professor Brian Storrie. This stint began in March 2003 and culminated in June 2003. Such a challenging was counting cells with a microscope from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. each day, and carrying out photodynamic therapeutic studies with trinuclear mixed-metal osmium (II)/ruthenium(II)-rhodium(III) complexes. I got it all done in one year!! One surprising note is that those green monkey kidney cells are from the same green monkeys that I used to run from my grandfather’s land in Barbados, when they used to eat and damage his
corn, mangoes, and bananas. It is ironic, that having lived in Barbados, that I would eventually have to carry out research on cells that are from our green monkeys as shown below. They live around the island of Barbados, and roam freely at The Barbados Wild Life Reserve, http://www.barbados.org/reserve.htm#.V3lQHNIrLIU
The Barbadian green monkey and The Barbados Wild Life Reserve
I am happy to show these publications that came out of my research with Karen, and they are as follows: 1. Holder, Alvin A.; Zigler, David F.; Tarrago-Trani, Maria T.; Storrie, Brian; Brewer, Karen J. ‘‘Photobiological Impact of [{(bpy)2Ru(dpp)}2RhCl2]Cl5 and [{(bpy)2Os(dpp)}2RhCl2]Cl5 on Vero Cells, bpy = 2,2’-bipyridine, dpp = 2,3-bis(2-pyridyl)pyrazine.” Inorg. Chem. 2007, 46, 4760–4762. 2. Storrie, Brian; Holder, Alvin; Brewer, Karen J. ‘‘Ru, Os, Rh mixedmetal complexes are a potential novel class of oxygen independent photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy (PDT).” Proc. SPIE-The International Society for Optical Engineering 2006, 6139, 336–342. 3. Holder, Alvin A.; Swavey, Shawn; Brewer, Karen J. ‘‘Design Aspects for the Development of Mixed-Metal Supramolecular Complexes Capable of Visible Light Induced Photocleavage of DNA.” Inorg. Chem. 2004, 43, 303–308. 4. Fang, Zhenglai; Swavey, Shawn; Holder, Alvin; Winkel, Brenda; Brewer, Karen J. ‘‘DNA Binding of Mixed-Metal Supramolecular Ru,Pt Complexes.” Inorg. Chem. Commun. 2002, 5, 1078–1081. I must say that Karen tried her best to garnish funding for me to stay longer in her laboratory, but that was not to be, hence I had to move onto the Ohio State University (OSU), a move that I eventually regretted! God knew best. Before my move to OSU, Karen advised me to find my own research area, and not to duplicate what I carried out in her laboratory, hence I came up with some novel mixed-metal binuclear ruthenium(II)-vanadium(IV) complexes that can fight cancer!! Finally, I had a wonderful time in Karen’s laboratory, learned some new chemistry, and met some good friends for life; Mark Elvington, Shawn Swavey, Lee Williams, Ran Miao, Andrew Riley, Bob, some of the academic (Profs. John Dillard, Gary Long, Timothy Long, David, Kingston, Brian Hanson, Larry Taylor, Gordon Yee, Paul Deck, and Dr. Patricia Amateis, to name a few) and office and regular staff (Jan, Wanda Hensley, Claudia Brodkin, and Larry Jackson) at Virginia Tech, and friends at the Weight Club (Police Officer David ‘‘Chico” Cole, The Coach (R.I.P.), and Manager, Michaela Galya) where I trained as a body builder! More recently, as an Invited Plenary Talk: 251st ACS National Meeting & Exposition, March 13–17, 2016, San Diego, California. Abstract # INOR-1141. Title: ‘‘Light that pleases the world in science: The Karen Brewer’s effect on my academic career.”
Please cite this article in press as: A.A. Holder, Inorg. Chim. Acta (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ica.2016.07.012
A.A. Holder / Inorganica Chimica Acta xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Author: Alvin A. Holder; I learnt about the seven (7) Ps from Professor Mark Richter and the Brew Crew, who attended the ACS conference. They are as follows: The seven (7) Ps Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance
Credit for the seven (7) Ps must be given to my deceased former postdoctoral mentor, Professor Karen J. Brewer. She was a great Lady, who believed in ‘‘Family First”!! She and Virginia Tech placed me on the map from May 2002-June 2003, a bridge to my future!!
3
Please see http://www.chem.vt.edu/media/karen-brewer-obituary.pdf R.I.P. Acknowledgements AAH would like to thank the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a National Science Foundation CAREER Award as this material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under CHE-1431172 (formerly CHE – 1151832). AAH would also like to thank Old Dominion University’s Faculty Proposal Preparation Program (FP3), and also for the Old Dominion University startup package that allowed for the successful completion of this work. Full gratitude to Professor Karen Brewer (R.I.P.), Professor Brenda Winkel, Professor Larry Taylor, Dr. Myra Gordon, the research group (Brew Crew), and all at Virginia Tech.
Please cite this article in press as: A.A. Holder, Inorg. Chim. Acta (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ica.2016.07.012