A Quarter Century of Research

04.13.2021

I have been doing research with Dr. Desmond Murray, associate professor of chemistry, for the last two years. In his time at Andrews, he has mentored numerous high school and college students and has been instrumental in my own growth as a researcher. In this interview, we discuss his work over the last 25-plus years at Andrews University since he began teaching here in 1995.

Can you recall your early years of research at Andrews?

Well, first off, my research vocation is driven by an inner and innate curiosity and is part of my DNA and self-identity. I have always been poking around in nature. My mom can tell you those stories! However, my formal research journey as an undergrad began at Andrews in 1984 under the tutelage of Professor Dwain L. Ford investigating “The Hard Soft Acid Base Principle and Styrene Polymerization.” Later in ’84, I also did summer research in synthetic methodology at Florida State University under Professor Martin Schwartz.

My relationship with Dr. Ford has been pivotal in my career in other ways beyond research. His enthusiasm for organic chemistry rubbed off on me and influenced my decision to pursue and obtain a Ph.D. in organic synthesis. My doctoral dissertation and research on oxenium oxyallyl chemistry–a method used to make seven-membered carbon rings found in nature–conducted at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan under Professor Albizati was based on an original proposal and project I developed. In 1995, while seeking an academic job after completing postdoctoral research with Professor George Whitesides at Harvard, I applied for a teaching position in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Andrews with recommendation from Dr. Ford. All told, I have now been at Andrews, as a student and a teacher, for just about 30 years.

These research experiences serve as catalyst and inspiration now as I provide opportunities “early and often” for high school and college students to engage hands-on, minds-on, in the full processes of laboratory experimentation, discovery, innovation, and critical thinking. For me, research is not just about “what” but just as importantly about “who.” This is partly what drives my early research initiatives at both the high school and college levels. It also addresses the national problem of underrepresentation and underfunding of early researchers in the research enterprise.  

My research project with you is a collaboration with Dr. Denise Smith on the Synthesis and Anti-glioblastoma Activities of Temozolomide Derivatives. What other research projects are you currently conducting? What type of research do you do and how has it evolved over the years?

Your project is part of a new research area that Dr. Smith and I have started that we think holds great promise. However, there are a lot of other projects ongoing right now. For example, I am currently supervising just over 100 independent research projects being conducted by Grade 12 students and college students. This interlevel “high school–college” approach creates a unique synergistic feedback research system.

My area of research is organic synthesis and my approach focuses on designing, synthesizing and utilizing small novel functionally dense organic molecules. This approach is inspired, in part, by the fact that most biologically important and relevant molecules are small and functionalized. An example is glucose–where every carbon has an oxygen group attached–compared to many molecules that make up hydrocarbon-based fuels, like octane, which generally have little or no functional groups attached to the carbon framework or structure. Most often, functional groups are attachments of non-carbon atoms to carbon chains or rings.

Many of the specific projects are curiosity-driven research with potential applications in areas such as anticancer, antibacterial, and antifungal agents, agglutinators (“clumps” blood), dyes and sensors, hybrid drugs and hybrid pesticides, fragrances, transfectors (molecules that transfers or delivers DNA etc into cells), drug delivery systems, “green” non-polluting processes, enzyme catalysis, fruit puree catalysis, dendrimers, novel surfactants, and new methods of organic synthesis.  

How important have research collaborations been for you over the years?

Research collaborations are very important for any practicing scientist. It takes a village! While researchers have individual independence and responsibilities, it is also true that interdependence, teamwork, and community are essential to the research enterprise. I have had many research collaborations on and off campus. My collaborations tend to be ones in which the curiosity-driven projects developed in my lab find applications in biomedically or biologically relevant areas. For example, in addition to the Smith collaboration on anti-glioblastoma, I have a current collaboration with Biology professor Marlene Murray in developing new full-spectrum anti-bipolar agents. I also have an off-campus collaboration, building on methods developed from my research program, with Professor Shawn Hitchcock of Illinois State University to make and study a new class of rare compounds.

I know you mentor lots of students in research. Do you have a selection process?

Not really. The majority of students that do research with me are based on curricular labs that I have re-designed and re-purposed to have an independent research focus. My two re-designed lab courses are the year-long Berrien RESA Grade 12 class and second-semester Organic Chemistry Lab II. Together each year they have a combined total of close to 100 students. I began re-configuring the sophomore organic chemistry course in 1998 and the Grade 12 class in 2006.

Other students that choose to work with me outside of these two classes do so as Honors, graduate, independent or summer research students. These students are generally self-selected by their own curiosity, interest, and passion. Many are majors outside of chemistry, such as medical lab science, music, religion, business, journalism, art, pre-law, and pre-med. They all benefit from the fact that chemical research is great training in critical evidence-based thinking. This is a cross-disciplinary, marketable skill. To be more specific, after every experiment in a research project, the question that must be addressed by any researcher is, “what do I do next?” The answer always comes from gathering and analyzing data; the answer is always evidence-based. There are hunches and there is imagination, but those too are informed by data and evidence. 

What is the inspiration and the process for coming up with your original research ideas?

My mind is pretty much open to inspiration, stimulation and creation 24-7. Ideas come from multiple sources, such as reading old chemistry papers, brainstorming with colleagues, learning about new chemical reactions and processes, or simply asking the question, “what if?” This is not work for me but a joyous calling. But, it does take time to go from idea to experimental procedure. So, imagine trying to come up with 100 individual research projects each year. Many, of course, build upon previous years' research and results, but each still seeks to address something different, something new, something significant. We generally try to optimize reactions and processes using green chemistry principles. For example, that means using nontoxic solvents and catalysts, and has taken us in the last three years into an exciting research area that I call “fruit puree catalysis.” This latter research area involves using common fruits, plants and their juices to catalyze important organic chemistry transformations. Under this project theme we are investigating, for example, the use of lemon juice, mango puree, “dumbcane” puree, avocado puree, and ground-up black hornet’s nest!

What are some research highlights and discoveries you and your students have made over the years?

There are many. Here are some thematic highlights: (a) development of several underutilized reagents and catalysts for organic reactions and green chemistry processes, (b) synthesis and sensor development of a new class of azo compounds, which are among the most common commercial dyes, and (c) development and utilization of a new class of carbonyl functional group reactions and derivatives. I often tell my students that if a synthetic organic chemist is lost and alone on an island, the only functional group they would need is a carbonyl. It is carbon double-bonded to oxygen and is found in an astonishing array of important molecules like carbohydrates, amino acids, proteins, pharmaceuticals, polymers, on and on. Anyway, there have been and continue to be discoveries and advancements in these and other areas of our research efforts.  

As a Seventh-day Adventist research scientist, what role does belief play in your approach to science and research?

First, it is important to note, I think, that there is not a unique fully articulated Adventist philosophy of research. I believe there should be, at least, some serious thought and scholarship should address it. However, my philosophy of research begins with a constant and deep recognition of the divine spark that gives rise to human insight and creativity. Research is, for me, an intensely sacred calling that winds through inspiration, revelation, and imagination. In the deepest sense, I believe research is ministry, not just philosophically but pragmatically, in and for the real world. For me, research is not a secular activity, it is peering into the mind and mysteries of God. Secular and sacred define two different states of human consciousness towards life. Research is fundamentally a journey of discovery, including self-discovery, as implied by the Middle French root word, recherch, “to go about seeking.”

“Seeker” is our earliest archetype and our most viral meme. Our innate curiosity, the foundation of all learning, is embedded in our primal genes and neurotransmitters. Curiosity is the inexhaustible stream that helps us to be conscious of and be the consciousness of the universe. Before hunter-gatherers, we were explorers, we were seekers. Before we were civilized, we explored. Indeed, before we can read, write and count, we “go about seeking.” This is our path to being modern and beyond. We explore inward to discover consciousness and soul and language. We explore the heavens for gods and earth for elements and atoms.

I believe the attitude of a relentless researcher is eternally embedded in the Old Testament archetype of Jacob wrestling, and in the New Testament text “Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” This text is to me the Researcher’s Creed. In addition, Emily Dickinson’s poem tagline, “This World is Not Conclusion” expresses a powerful reason “to go about seeking.” Nature does not reveal all her secrets all at once so we must persist, continue to research, and go about seeking. You cannot help but be hopeful as a researcher that up ahead lies a discovery waiting patiently upon your persistence. That the best is always yet to come.

This is our legend and legacy. Our first steps out of Africa, our first impulses in Eden, our first wanderings in the womb. This is what we do. This is who we are. We go about seeking. We are all natural-born researchers. Research is our birthright and inheritance. This means that all God’s children, regardless of demographic–age, gender, race, sexual orientation or nationality, are born with the capacity “to go about seeking,” to research. The diversity of Andrews provides constant opportunities to engage all of God’s children in research–one of the greatest adventures known to humans.

What qualities do you believe make a good researcher?

Going back to the idea that researchers are fundamentally seekers, I offer six characteristics of a good seeker. They “go about seeking” with 1. A sense of awe and reverence, 2. Humility, 3. Openness and imagination, 4. Persistence, 5. Exuberant curiosity, and 6. A sense of service and mission.

What advice would you give to students thinking about doing research? When do you think is a good time for students to get involved in research during their academic careers?

Just do it. Do it early and often. Do it in high school and in college. There are increasing opportunities for students to engage in hands-on, minds-on research. Search them out online. Speak to your teachers and advisors about research opportunities. A lot of research opportunities were also mentioned in my 2016 book The Power and Promise of Early Research, co-authored and co-edited with Dr. Sherine Obare and Dr. James Hageman, and published by the American Chemical Society and Oxford University Press.