Kenyon College Annual Program Report to HHMI, Undergraduate Programs division

Report Period: May 1, 1998 through April 30, 1999

Narrative report on Faculty Development:

Funds from this grant for faculty hiring and development supported the second year salary and start-up funds for Elizabeth Ottinger, Assistant Professor of Chemistry. A successful teacher at Kenyon, Ottinger earned reappointment as a result of her First Reappointment Review this year. She taught courses in Organic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry Laboratory, Topics in Advanced Biochemistry, and Introduction to Chemistry Research. She continued to set up her laboratory, making three key instrument purchases: a refrigerated tabletop centrifuge, a lyophilizer (which gently evaporates solvent from a frozen solution, allowing users to purify synthesized proteins without damaging them), and a Fast Performance Liquid Chromatograph (FPLC, which separates proteins under low pressure, giving rapid separation).

In addition to teaching Organic Chemistry at Capitol University in Columbus during the summer of 1999, Ottinger guided Kenyon student Erin Wimmers, class of 2000, in an independent research project to design inhibitors for the protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP-2. Wimmers successfully synthesized five inhibitors and will continue with the project this summer to test their inhibitory activity. She presented preliminary results of this study at the Central Ohio Undergraduate Research Conference, as well as at the Kenyon Summer Science Poster Session, which was attended by faculty and trustees of the College. During the academic year, both Wimmers and Judy Phillips, class of 2000, worked on junior honors projects with Ottinger. Phillips won the American Chemical Society Junior Research Award for her work with Ottinger on the Src Kinase protein. In addition, Ottinger guided two students in the Chemical Research course mentioned above (in addition to administering this class for the whole department). Kristen Orr, class of 2001, worked on the purification of tyrosine phosphatase Kinase SHP-2 domains, while Brad Mena, class of 1999, worked on the synthesis of the inhibitory peptides. This coming summer, Ottinger will work with Phillips and Wimmers on continuations of their projects and with Aaron Hamilton, class of 2001, whose project is entitled "Synthesis and Characterization of Peptide Ligands to Src Kinase."