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Dr. Derrick Kolling
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry
Education
B.S. (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), The Pennsylvania State University
Ph.D. (Biophysics and Computational Biology), University of Illinois at Urbana
Research
Dr. Kolling's research interests involve two
areas of photosynthesis that can be applied to
alternative energy production. The first area is
studying the chemistry of photosynthetic water
oxidation. This is approached by observing the
light-dependent assembly of the catalyst responsible
for this water oxidation; this catalyst is a
manganese-oxo cube, which cycles through five
physiologically relevant oxidation states. The lab
uses oxygen electrodes, fluorometry, and EPR
spectroscopy to identify and characterize the
various intermediates of the assembly. This provides
information about the assembly mechanism and
further, clues about how the catalyst works once it
is assembled. Understanding the chemistry of water
oxidation will allow researchers to build an abiotic
catalyst that can extract electrons from water by
using light energy. The second area of study
involves producing biodiesel from algae. Students
are using gas chromatography linked to a mass
spectrometer to map the metabolic pathways in algae
under specific environmental conditions, such as
elevated carbon dioxide and nitrogen depletion.
Understanding what conditions result in elevated
production of fatty acids (the precursor to
biodiesel) and the mechanism by which these fatty
acids are produced will allow researchers to
genetically engineer algae to constitutively produce
high levels of fatty acids.
Teaching
Dr. Kolling currently teaches two sections of
Introduction to Biochemistry Lab. In the fall,
he will teach Introduction to Biochemistry and a
special topics course: Chemistry of Biofuels.
Service
Dr. Kolling is a member of the American
Chemical Society and the International EPR (ESR)
Society (electron paramagnetic resonance, also known
as electron spin resonance).
Contact Info
Telephone: (304) 696-2307
Email:
kolling@marshall.edu
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