Dr. Samantha Glazier
St. Lawrence University News
Submitted by sglazier on Wed, 05/14/2008 - 17:00.
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Courses I teach regularly:
General Chemistry I & General Chemistry Lab
Biophysical Chemistry and Quantum Chemistry and Spectroscopy
Physical Chemistry Laboratory
My research interests:
My research seeks to distinguish features of chemical structure that control how drug molecules interact with DNA. Molecules that become threaded through the helix, thereby distorting DNA shape, can inhibit further replication and are of particular interest. Students in my lab make ruthenium based molecules that intercalate between the base pairs inside the double helix of DNA. Exactly how the ruthenium molecules initially approach DNA, become inserted and eventually exist in equilibrium as a free and bound molecule is studied using synthesis and spectroscopic tools.
Sample student projects I have supervised:
James Virnelli '11: Looking Toward the Sky: Embracing the Sun as a Source for Positive Global Change
Michelle Dumas '10 and Breezy Dwyer '12: Assays to Study the Binding Affinity of Nogalamycin to Various DNA Motifs.
Stephanie Walter '08 and Kristin Berretta '10: Ruthenium (II) Complexes and Intercalation Binding to DNA
Matthew Millard '09 and Marcus Tuttle '10: Thermodynamic and Kinetic Study of DNA-Nogalamycin Interactions.
Jen Achtyl '08 and Brian Palmer '09: Synthesis of a Ruthenium Polypyridyl Compound for Kinetic Studies
Tim Chapp '05: Synthesis and DNA Binding of [Ru(bpy)2(dcbpy)](PF6)2 Isomers
Examples of presentations, exhibitions, performances and published work:
Glazier, S. Eisen, L. and Marano, N. A Closer Look at Trends in Boiling Points of Hydrides: Using an Inquiry Based Approach to Teach Intermolecular Forces of Attraction. Journal of Chemical Education, accepted July 2010.
Glazier, S., Berretta, K.* Chemical Models of DNA Binding Based on Chemical Model for Different DNA Binding Mechanisms. Oral presentation at the Northeast Regional Meeting of the ACS, Potsdam, NY June 3rd – June 5th 2010
Dalton, S., Glazier, S., Leung, B.*, Win, S.*, Megatulski, C.*, Burgmayer, Sharon J. Nieter, DNA Binding by Ru(II)-bis(bipyridine)-pteridinyl Complexes. Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, 13, 1133-1148, 2008.
Glazier, S., Law, N., & Dickson, E. Benefits of a Collective Approach to Independent Research. Oral Presentation at the 20th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, Indiana University, IN July 27th – July 30th 2008.
Glazier, S., Bloom, Bonnie & Verdell, Ellen. ACS Advanced Chemistry. Workshop facilitator for 30 high school teachers, Houston, TX, July 2007.
Aspects of my teaching that students find most effective and interesting:
1. Answering questions and being available to talk about chemistry. 2. Encouraging collaborative learning on homework and in lecture. 3. Using hands-on experiments in lecture to provoke questions that require new ideas to answer.
Some ways I connect with students outside the classroom:
I love watching students' sporting events, sharing beta at the climbing wall and doing volunteer work with student affiliates of the American Chemical Society.
Examples of connections between my research and my teaching:
Recently, I replaced a lab with one about the function of Vitamin B12 that combines biology and chemistry in the same way that my research is interdisciplinary. Research and teaching are always connected because scholars must continually learn and teach others through public dissemination of their work. By learning and peer teaching, students become equipped to create new knowledge. The creation of knowledge is the goal of research and is therefore inextricably connected to teaching.
My teaching philosophy:
While designing a course syllabus for the first time, I was forced to fundamentally question my teaching goals. Listing a collection of key topics, equations, theories, and tools in chemistry as the course objectives felt superficial. I know that learning chemistry improves skills such as critical thinking, scientific rhetoric, lab techniques, problem solving, and group work. I also know that the same skills or other equally important ones are learned from any academic course. Adding that most of my students will work outside of chemistry, the question of defining encompassing course objectives challenged me. Students should ask the same question. I ask myself, "Why are they taking my class and why do I teach it?" I believe in teaching and learning chemsitry because the skills and knowledge learned in chemistry exceed the bounds of discipline. Learning chemistry gives students another mode of knowing. What complex problem can't be better understood by looking at in more than one way? Teaching chemsitry pushes me to experience, create, and seek novelty in my thinking. My fundamental teaching goal is to enable students to judge when to implement tools - be they instrumental, rhetorical, mathmatical, or conceptual - directly and when to reform tools for novel applications.
Ways I offer service to my discipline and/or the University:
ISAC
Faculty council member
Workshop presenter for the American Chemical Society teaching high school teachers new ways of introducing chemistry
Committee member for departmental assessment
Examples of my work as a visiting scholar or guest at another institution:
Combined Isothermal Titration Calorimetry and Fluorescence Stopped Flow Study of the DNA Threading Mechanism of Nogalamycin at Chalmers University of Technology
My current projects:
Dye sensitized solar cells based on ruthenium complexes
Stopped-flow study of the binding kinetics of the antibacterial drug nogalamycin with DNA
Chemical models of anti-cancer pharmaceuticals based on ruthenium compounds with organic side chains
Synthesis of a series of ruthenium dimer compounds modified with different linkers thought to affect DNA binding
Photos:
