Dr. Michelle Kimberly Waddell Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Location: Turner Hall 325
Phone: 757-637-2164
E-mail: michelle.waddell@hamptonu.edu

My areas of expertise include the following: peptide synthesis, organic synthesis, bio-organic chemistry and chemistry education.

Professional Development:

• Postdoctoral Associate, University of Delaware, Newark, DE.
• Doctorate of Philosophy, December 2006. Purdue University, West Lafayette,IN.
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA.
• Bachelor of Arts Honors in Chemistry, Hampton University, Hampton VA.

Research Interests:
My research interests lies within the area of target oriented synthesis. Specially, synthesizing small organic compounds which exhibit biological activity. Once the target molecule has been synthesized, the focus will revolve around constructing analogs by varying the substituents to determine structure activity relationships (SAR). The overall objective being to optimize the biological activity of the molecule. For instance, Dragomabin is a lipopeptide isolated from the red Panamanian strain of the marine cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscule. It has been reported to exhibit anti-malarial activity with IC50 values 10.7 and 21.0 mM. By altering R1 and R2 one can optimize the molecule’s biological activity and hopefully add to the repertoire of currently available anti-malarial drugs.

Society Memberships:

• Iota Sigma Pi Honor Society
• National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers
• American Chemical Society

Honors:

• ACS Delaware Section Poster Competition First Place (Postdoctoral Division) 2007
• Inland-Ryerson Foundation Scholar
• Hampton Univ. Presidential Scholar
• SLOAN Fellowship 2001-2002
• NIH Developmental Fellowship 2002-2004
• NOBCChE Glaxo-Smith Kline Synthetic Organic Fellowship 2005-06

Presentations:

• American Chemical Society Delaware Section, University of Delaware,Newark, DE, April 18, 2007, Poster Presentation, Progress Towards the synthesis of Sordarin inspired antifungal agents
• Philadelphia Organic Chemistry Club, University of Pennsylvania,Philadelphia, PA, April 19, 2007, Poster Presentation, Progress Towards the synthesis of Sordarin inspired antifungal agents
• American Chemical Society National Organic Symposium, Indiana University Bloomington, IN, June 8, 2003, Poster Presentation, The Study of Alkoxide Promoted Enyne-Allene Cyclizations: Next Generation Isolated Alkenes
• American Chemical Society 227th National Meeting, Anaheim, CA March 28th –April 1, 2004, Poster Presentation, The Study of Alkoxide Promoted Enyne-Allene Cyclizations: Next Generation Isolated Alkenes
• National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers, National Conference, Orlando, FL. March 21th-25th 2005, Oxyanion Promoted Enyne-Allene Cyclizations

Publication:
Waddell, M. K.; Bekele, T.; Lipton, M. A., “Ring Size and Substituent Effects in Oxyanion-Promoted Cyclizations of Enyne-Allenes. Observation of a Myers-Saito Cycloaromatization at Cryogenic Temperature” J. Org. Chem., 71, 2006, 8372-8377.