Ronald B. Davis, Jr.

Ron Davis.

Current Position

  • Teaching Faculty at American University

Education

  • B.A. Chemistry, cum laude, Virginia Tech (1998)
  • B.S. Geochemistry, cum laude, Virginia Tech (1998)
  • Ph.D. Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University (2007)

Awards

  • Dan Waugh Teaching Award Recipient – 2006
  • Chemistry Departmental Research Award Recipient – 2006
  • Penn State Chemistry Departmental Fellowship – 2000

Experience

  • Quality Control Chemist, Barr Laboratories (1999–2000)
  • Research Chemist, Avancis Pharmaceutical Corporation (2002–2003)

Current Research Interests

  • Magnetic properties of metallo-biomolecules and biomimetic molecules
  • Cofactor-induced changes in peptide secondary structure
  • Role of biological organisms in geological processes

Past Research Interests

  • Virginia Tech
    Advisor: Dr. Mark Anderson, Chemistry Department
    Reflectance IR Spectroscopy of thiohexadecanoic acid and thioctadecanoic acid bound to gold substrates
  • Virginia Tech
    Advisor: Dr. Robert Bodnar, Geology Department
    A High Pressure, Low Temperature Phase Study of the CH4/H2O System: A Model for Sea Floor Methane Clathrate Formation
  • The Pennsylvania State University
    Advisor: Dr. Richard Koerner, Chemistry Department
    Synthesis and Analysis of a Mimic for Heme P460

Publications

  1. Davis Jr., R.B., and Lecomte, J.T.J. (2006) A Dynamic N-cap Motif in Cytochrome b5. Evidence for a pH-controlled Conformational Switch. Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics, 63:336–348.

Professional Presentations

  • Davis Jr., R.B., and Lecomte, J.T.J. A dynamic N-capping motif in cytochrome b5: Evidence for a pH-controlled conformational switch. Annual Meeting of the Protein Society.  Boston, MA. August, 2005
  • Davis Jr., R.B., and Lecomte, J.T.J. Evidence for non-native structure in the isolated heme binding region of cytochrome b5.  Penn State Annual Summer Symposium in Molecular Biology. University Park, PA.  June, 2006
  • Davis Jr., R.B., Dissecting cytochrome b5. Penn State Lion Lecture Series sponsored by Rohm and Haas.  University Park, PA. April, 2006