Robert M. Strongin

Professor of Organic Chemistry

BS : Temple University, 1988

PhD : University of Pennsylvania, 1995

Phone: 503-725-9724
E-Mail: strongin@pdx.edu
Office: Science Building 2, Room 322

Area of Interest

Ours is an interdisciplinary research program. We are interested in the synthesis and evaluation of unique redox and chromophore materials. The new molecules synthesized are used for applications in detecting sugars and amino acids as well as other biomarkers for major diseases such as diabetes and cancer. The binding and signaling mechanisms are often biomimetic, thereby affording us an avenue by which to investigate bioorganic mechanisms relevant to disease states. Certain of the new compounds are being developed and tested as potential anticancer agents. In addition, new classes of white-light emitting organic fluorophores are currently being created in our lab.

Selected Awards & Honors:

2002 LSU College of Basic Sciences Faculty Research Award

LSU Tiger Athletic Foundation Undergraduate Teaching Award, 1999

Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation Young Investigator Award, 1998

Selected Publications

Alptürk, O.; Rusin, O.; Fakayode, S. O.; Wang, W.; Escobedo, J. O.; Warner, I. M.; Král, V.; Strongin, R. M.*. Lanthanide Complexes as Fluorescent Indicators for Neutral Sugars and Cancer Biomarkers. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 2006, 103, 9756-9760

Jiang, S.; Rusin, O.; Escobedo, J. O.; Kim, K. K.; Yang, Y.; Fakayode, S.; Warner, I. M.; Strongin, R. M.*. Stereochemical and Regiochemical Trends in the Selective Spectrophotometric Detection of Saccharides. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2006, 128, 12221-12228

Escobedo, J. O.; Wang, W.; Strongin, R. M.*. Using a Commerically Available Reagent for the Selective Detection of Homocysteine in Plasma (invited paper). Nature Protocols, 2006, 1, 2759-2762

Yang, Y.; Lowry, M.; Schowalter, C. M.; Fakayode, S. O.; Escobedo, J. O.; Xu, X.; Zhang, H.; Jensen, T. J.;Fronczek, F. R.; Warner, I. M.; Strongin, R. M.*. An Organic White Light-Emitting Fluorophore. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2006, 128, 14081-14092

Samoie, G.; Wang, W.; Xu, X.; Escobedo, J. O.; Schneider, H.-J.; Cook, R. L.; Strongin, R. M.*. A Chemomechanical Polymer that Functions in Blood Plasma with High Glucose Selectivity. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl., 2006, 45, 5319-5322

Wang, W.; Rusin, O.; Xu, X.; Kim, K. K.; Escobedo, J. O.; Fakayode, S. O.; Fletcher, K.; Lowry, M.; Schowalter, C. M.; Lawrence, C. M.; Fronczek, F. R.; Strongin, R. M.*. Detection of Homocysteine and Cysteine. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2005, 127, 15949-15958

Wang, W.; Escobedo, J. O.; Lawrence, C. M.; Strongin, R. M.*. Direct Detection of Homocysteine. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2004, 126, 3400-3401

Rusin, O.; St. Luce, N. N.; Agbaria, R. A.; Escobedo, J. O.; Jiang, S.; Warner, I. M.; Dawan, F. B.; Lian, K.; Strongin, R. M.*. Visual Detection of Cysteine and Homocysteine. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2004, 126, 438-439

Former Ph.D. Students

Kim Kyukwang PhD,12/05Brown University
Nadia St. Luce PhD,12/03Procter and Gamble
Rolanda Johnson PhD,12/03Procter and Gamble
Patrick Lewis PhD,12/00Dupont
Claude Davis PhD,12/00Kraft
Jorge Escobedo PhD,10/02LSU
Douglas Willis PhD,10/00Kodak
Ming He PhD,08/02Advanced Biotech
Taiya Fabre PhD,02/01Houston Baptist Univeristy