Scheidt Receives Hans Fischer Career Award
The William K. Warren Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, W. Robert Scheidt, received the 2008 Hans Fischer Career Award in Porphyrin Chemistry, a lifetime achievement award, at the Fifth International Conference on Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines in Moscow in July. He has been doing research on porphyrin molecules since he came to Notre Dame in 1970. Scheidt gave an address entitled, "Explorations in Metalloporphyrin Stereochemistry, Physical Properties and Beyond," when he accepted the award.
“It’s something I’ve worked on since I came here in 1970,” says Scheidt, who became interested in the subject when he was a post-doctoral student. “I had some interesting approaches that were different from other people’s. The porphyrin molecule is widespread in biology and chemistry. It is involved in all aspects of respiration. We’ve been looking at the basic chemical properties, physical properties and electronic properties. We established the basic structural properties of these molecules.” The porphyrins are involved in cells’ ability to distinguish among the similarly-sized molecules nitric oxide, oxygen and carbon dioxide. That’s important, among other things, because the presence of nitric oxide relaxes blood vessel walls, affecting blood pressure.
Scheidt has recently started a new study, applying a new vibrational spectroscopy technique to iron porphyrins in a protein system, that he expects to take about five years. He says working with other researchers has been important for his career success. “I’ve had a large number of collaborations over the years, primarily with people outside the University,” he says. “Good collaborations bring the strength of more than one individual to bear on a problem of interest.” Scheidt has worked with more than 15 undergraduate students, 20 graduate students, 27 post-docs and scholars and 28 collaborators.
Some 600 researchers in the field were at the Moscow conference. The award, sponsored by the Hans Fischer Gesellschaft, is named for Hans Fischer, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for research that established the structure of naturally occurring porphyrins. Scheidt is author or coauthor of some 320 refereed scientific publications. He and graduate student Nathan Silvernail designed the porphine molecule in the chemistry seal in the floor of Jordan Hall, using the colors red and green for the iron porphyrin heme present in red blood cells and the related ring in chlorophyll. For more about Scheidt, visit: chemistry.nd.edu/faculty/detail/scheidt/.
