"Constructing Killer Surfaces" - 63rd Annual NY ACS Undergraduate Research Symposium

Date: May 9th, 2015
Duration: 1h:2m:2s

The Student Activities Committee of the New York Section of the American Chemical Society
Saturday, May 9th, 2015 at Queensborough Community College

Keynote Speaker: Dr. JaimeLee Rizzo
Department of Chemistry and Physical Sciences, Pace University
JaimeLee Iolani Rizzo is a Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Physical Sciences at Pace University, NYC campus. A native of Honolulu, Hawai’i, Dr. Rizzo received her associate’s degree from Queensborough Community College followed by a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Chemistry from Queens College, CUNY. She completed her graduate studies under the tutelage of Robert Ralph Engel at Queens College, CUNY, where she developed an interest in organic synthesis particularly polyammonium compounds. A series of these compounds were covalently bound to macromolecules where host/guest binding interactions were investigated.

In 2001, Dr. Rizzo joined the faculty at Pace University, where her laboratory codeveloped a method to bind polycationic organic compounds to carbohydrate-based surfaces which exhibits antimicrobial activity. This work has led to the acquisition of 14 patents and 5 publications. Johnson & Johnson Wound Management Division and Prismatic Dyeing and Finishing Company have supported this endeavor and are collaborators on some patents.

Constructing Killer Surfaces
Our laboratory has been developing an array of new surfaces that kill bacteria and fungi on contact. We have successfully synthesized antimicrobial surfaces that destroy bacteria and fungi where the mode of action is through an electrostatic disruption of the cell wall. The antimicrobial activity of the surface is continual with regard to the agent that is covalently bound to the surface because it is not consumed in the process of invasion and disruption of the cell wall. This makes it unlikely that microorganisms could become resistant to this type of attack as it would involve a major modification of their cell-wall structure. Surfaces which have been prepared include carbohydratebased materials as in wood, cotton cloth, paper; proteinaceous-based as in wool and silk; chitosan; agarose; gelatin. The agents that are covalently bound to a given surface are a series of quaternary ammonium salts. The salts are then attached via a simple two-step procedure that involves activation of the surface followed by an SN2 reaction of the salt with the activated surface. The synthesis, characterization, and bacteriological results will be presented.