Research & Fieldwork

The Department of Chemistry is committed to providing interested students studying chemistry with the opportunity to conduct cutting-edge research in cooperation with a faculty member. Current faculty conducting projects of interest are Priscilla Bell (Medicine and Culture: People, Prescriptions, and Practice) and Devin Iimoto (Uses of Snake Venom). Dr. Iimoto also offers a summer research program.

DR. PRISCILLA BELL

MEDICINE AND CULTURE: PEOPLE, PRESCRIPTIONS AND PRACTICE

Projects are varied and guided generally by student interests. Presently we are looking at four general areas as shown below, but other areas are developing all the time. Interested? See Dr. Bell (Science 307).

  • Cultural and Chemical Properties of Medicinal Herbs: We are looking at herbs that are used for a variety of medicinal uses, comparing the properties and mode of action with that of medications prescribed by allopathic physicians (MD). Other studies include looking at diseases and medical conditions that are treated by herbs in a variety of cultures. These studies will include field interviews with alternate healers to compare and contrast their recommendations with that in the literature.
  • Training, practice,and patient utilization of alternative healers in Southern California: Presently, we are studying the training, background and practices of sobador(a)s and yerbero(a)s. This project involves interviews and literature analysis.
  • Women in Medicine: Historical study on women and their contributions and hurdles in medicine. One project will be to research the role of women as physicians in wartime.
  • Medical Cultural Competency training: We are studying the training in cultural differences that physicians receive, with a view towards developing a related undergraduate program at Whittier—and one of the first in the nation.
  • Religion and Medicine: A project on the interphase of religious belief and the practice of medicine is ongoing, with a focus on medieval saints and their role in medicine.

DR. DEVIN IIMOTO

USES OF SNAKE VENOM

Dr. Iimoto's laboratory work investigates the properties of snake venom components that might have some therapeutic or other benefits to humankind. It is known that many different snake venoms contain enzymes and other proteins that can affect blood clotting by acting as either an anti-coagulant (prevents blood clotting) or as a fibrinolytic agent (dissolves blood clots). The Florida Cottonmouth Snake (Agkistrodon piscivorus conanti ) is one such snake whose venom contains an enzyme, apcfib, which is capable of hydrolyzing fibrin, the protein which holds the platelets together in the blood clot. The enzyme has not been studied much and so the laboratory is interested in isolating and studying this enzyme for its biochemical properties (structure and function), as well as its potential to treat heart attacks and strokes by dissolving unwanted blood clots—and for removing blood stains from clothes.

Undergraduate students perform almost all the experiments on this research project and have been involved from the very beginning. Current research is focused on two areas. First, the enzyme must be purified to study its biochemical properties and to test its effectiveness in dissolving blood clots in vivo. So far the fibrinolytic enzyme is about 60% pure based upon SDS gel electrophoresis after passing the crude venom over a hydrophobic interaction column and then the active fractions over a hydroxyapatite column. Other columns have been tested, but so far have been unsuccessful. We will next test an IDA (Iminodiacetic acid) column that will bind to metals as we have evidence to indicate that our enzyme is a metalloprotease.

The second project is using the partially purified enzyme to determine how effective it is at removing blood stains from clothes. Because the enzyme breaks down fibrin, Iimoto and his student team hypothesized that the enzyme could help loosen the blood on the clothes before washing. Preliminary results indicate that the enzyme plus detergent is about 15-20% more effective at removing the blood stains than the detergent alone. Future work involves experimenting with various parameters to try to optimize conditions for removing the blood stains with our enzyme.

Supporting this research are a Research Corporation Grant and a Whittier College Faculty Research Grant.