Officers for 2007

Mrs. Jean Delfiner, co-chair
Mrs. Joan Laredo-Liddell, co-chair
Mrs. Carol Sencen, Secretary
Dr. Rolande Hodel, Treasurer

Directors

Dr. Mary Cowman
Mr. Joseph Sencen
Dr. Peter Corfield

The Westchester Chemical Society had 6 varied and exciting programs, including its Distinguished Scientist Award and Achievement Chemistry Certificates for first year college chemistry students.

The first meeting was on Wednesday, March 7 with Dr. David Fairhurst of Colloid Consultant Ltd.  His topic was Formulating Semi-solid Topical Delivery Systems: Development of a Microbicide for HIV.  Activated by the slow pace of progress in developing a vaccine for AIDS, one proposed an approach to slow or reduce the spread of HIV is to prevent initial infection by the virus through the use of a microbicide.   The subsection recommended Dr. Fairhurst as a speaker at MARM 2008.

The April 16 meeting by Professor Abhijit Mitra of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Manhattan College/College of Mount Saint Vincent was at Polytechnic University Westchester Graduate Center in Hawthorne, NY  His topic was “When Can the NMR Spectrum Change?”  Understanding  stacking plays an important role in determining the properties and behaviors of biomolecules and their interaction with drugs and proteins.

The May 2 meeting was at Pace University - Pleasantville, NY for the Westchester Chemical Society’s Distinguished Scientist Award.  The Award was presented to Dr. Mary K. Cowman of Polytechnic University in recognition of her work on solution properties and nanoscale imaging of polymers and for advances in the understanding of polysaccharides.  Dr. Cowman’s presentation was “One Molecule at a Time: Using Nanoscale Imaging to Understand Biological Properties”.

Following the lecture, we distributed the College Chemistry Achievement Awards. The members, who attended the dinner, were from Bronx Community College, the College of New Rochelle, College of Mount St. Vincent, Iona College, Manhattan College, Manhattanville College, Marymount College of Fordham University, Pace University, Purchase College - SUNY, and Westchester Community College.  Dr. Peter Corfield of Purchase College coordinated the college awards program.  Two Salutes to Excellence were presented to Mrs. Carol Sencen, Secretary, who e-mailed members as a reminder of meeting and Dr. Rolande Hodel, Treasurer, for her work with the section.

Our next meeting was October 4, with Professor Abhijit Mitra, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Mount Saint Vincent was on “Fingerprinting Molecules by Proton NMR Spectroscopy.”  This presentation was the continuation of his previous topic.

On Thursday, November 1, Professor Kalle Levon of the Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences of Polytechnic University in Brooklyn was “Selective Recognition of Macromolecules with Ion Sensitive Electrodes”.  Symptoms based medicine provides the market for pharmaceutics industry but is often too late for the patient.  The December 10 meeting was “Metal Ions: Inducers & Mediators of Oxidative Stress” by Irina Gazaryan, Director of Laboratory of Enzymology at Burke Medical Research Institute.  Neurodegeneration and injury is accompanied by mitochondrial failure and formation of protein aggregates, which are believed to undergo a gain-of-function event by entrapping metal ions such as iron, zinc and copper.

The Section also sponsored the first Science Café with Dr. Susan Ettinger, who presented “Whole Foods and Disease Prevention”.  Of the 30 people who came to Borders Bookstore for the presentation, only 5 were ACS members.     Program Booklet