My research is in the area of bioinorganic chemistry which investigates the role of metals in biological processes and their use in medical treatments. Of primary interest is the isolation and preparation of novel iron-chelation therapy drugs. This class of drugs is used to reduce the amount of "free iron" in the bloodstream which can occur from medical treatments for anemia, genetics, and certain diets. Free iron can generate oxygen radicals that can lead to heart disease, cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis. My research students have isolated the novel marine metabolite adenochrome from the branchial hearts of an octopus and are attempting to characterize the material utilizing several spectroscopic techniques and determine its potential for chelating iron.

A second bioinorganic research project focuses on the protein chromadulin. It has recently been shown that the oligopeptide chromadulin (or also known as low-molecular-weight chromium-binding substance, LMWCr) binds to insulin receptor in response to insulin. This interaction results in the signal of insulin to be increased, which is a must for people suffering from adult-onset diabetes (90% of all diabetes cases in the United States). This is a condition where body tissues become insensitive to insulin. Chromadulin has been isolated from dog's liver, beef liver, and shrimp. My research team will attempt to isolate chromadulin from an octopus liver via ultrafiltration, ion-exchange chromatography, and electrophoresis. The isolated product will be characterized on the basis of structure and function and compared the other known chromodulins.

Another interest of mine is a class of bis(indole) alkaloids isolated from marine sponges called dragmacidins. These natural products are quite interesting due to their wide range of biological activities; they are inhibitors of protein phosphatases (PP1 and PP2) and possess anti-viral and anti-cancer activities. My research students will attempt to isolated these types of compounds from local marine sponges and determine their structures via ¹H and ¹³C NMR, mass spectrometry, and infrared spectrometry. The newly isolated materials will be tested for biological and pharmacological activity along with recently synthesized dragmacidins derivatives prepared by Dr. Christine Whitlock's research team.