Last updated: 05/06/2009 07:10:37 PM -0700

Katherine A. Kantardjieff

Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Director, W. M. Keck Foundation Center for Molecular Structure

McCarthy Hall 59

(714) 278-3752

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List of Publications

CMolS

 Office Hours

M 9:00 - 11:00AM (MH-59)

Th/Su 8p - 10p (online using iLinc MeetingLinc/join link required)

Spring 2009 Course Information

Chemistry 210: Computational Tools for the Chemical Sciences is the 1-unit introductory module to the computational chemistry track in the department. It will be offered during the first 5-weeks of the spring term. Because the class enrollment is impacted, it will be offered in a blended mode. This means some students will bring their own laptop computer to the computer classroom, while others will participate synchronously online from a remote location.

Chemistry 410A: Introduction to Computational Biochemistry/Computational Genomics is the upper division 1-unit module in the computational chemistry track required of all biochemistry majors for the degree (Note: 410C is required of chemistry majors for the degree - please see the undergraduate handbook). It will be offered the second 5-weeks of the spring term. Because 410A is also heavily impacted, it will be offered in a blended mode, as described for 210.

If you have questions about accessing course websites or blended learning environments using iLinc�, please email Professor Kantardjieff or see her blog at http://ilincusers.blogspot.com.

Biographical Sketch

Professor Kantardjieff is Director of the W.M. Keck Foundation Center for Molecular Structure, a biophysical chemist and crystallographer. She is also the Faculty Coordinator for Academic Technology at CSU Fullerton. Professor Kantardjieff completed B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Biology at USC (1979), a M.S. in Chemistry (1984), a Ph.D. in Chemistry (1988) at UCLA, where she was a Gold Shield Distinguished Scholar, and postdoctoral studies in structural biology at UCLA. Professor Kantardjieff has been Principle Investigator or Co-PI on more than $2.3M in grants from Research Corporation, NSF, NIH, W.M. Keck, Camille and Henry Dreyfus, The Boeing Company, and the State of California. She has supervised more than 170 undergraduate research students and sixteen Masters' students. A more than a dozen high school interns have also participated in research, several going on to win state and national science competitions, as well as co-author peer-reviewed publications in the primary literature.

In 1995, she was named a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Scholar. In 1996, she was recognized as a Teacher/Scholar by CSUF, and in 1998, 2001, and 2004  the University recognized her for "Creative and Scholarly Activity". In 2003, Professor Kantardjieff was the recipient of the College of Natural Science and Mathematics Outstanding Teaching Award and, in 2006 and 2007, she was nominated for the College's Outstanding Research Award. In 2008, Kantardjieff was named one of 14 national Campus Technology Innovators. In January 2009, Kantardjieff was honored with the Andreoli Faculty Service Award, the highest honor for faculty given by the California State University Program for Education in Research and Biology (CSUPERB).  The award honors a Cal State faculty member who has made outstanding contributions to the development of biotechnology programs in the university system. In Spring 2009, Kantardjieff was named Distinguished Faculty Member by the College of National Science and Mathematics.

Professor Kantardjieff has served on the Executive Committee of the Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society, where she was Chair of the Women Chemists' Committee from 1996-1999. She is past president and secretary of the UCLA Association of Chemists and Biochemists, and a member of the UCLA Chemistry and Biochemistry Advisory Council. Professor Kantardjieff  has chaired the Education Subcommittee of  the United States National Committee for Crystallography,  and she is now the USNC/Cr Chair. She has served on the American Crystallographic Association Continuing Education Committee, is a member of the International Union of Crystallography Commission on Crystallographic Teaching, is Co-Editor of the IUCr Journal of Applied Crystallography, and is the ACA Liaison to the American Institute of Physics Committee on Education. Kantardjieff is Vice Chair of the SSRL Users' Organization Executive Committee, and she a member of the  NUFO (National User Facility Organization) Steering Committee. In 2005 and 2008, Kantardjieff  represented the United States as a delegate to the IUCr Congress and General Assembly in Florence, Italy and Osaka, Japan respectively.

"My experimental research interests are in the determination of both small and macromolecular structure, primarily by single crystal x-ray diffraction methods. My laboratory uses computational and informatic approaches, including homology modeling and simulated docking, to understand protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions and apply structural knowledge to drug design and to protein engineering. We also uses bioinformatics and statistics to analyze data generated by structural genomics projects and put this information into predictive frameworks. Molecules being studied in my laboratory include : 1) tuberculosis proteins that represent novel targets for antimycobacterial drugs;  2)  cytochromes from photosynthetic bacteria that may be used as biosensors; 3) enzymes for synthetic advantage; 4) enzymes implicated in antibiotic resistance; 5) bacterial toxins; 6) cholinesterases as targets for Alzheimer's therapeutics. I am also interested in the history of women in science, the development of computer technologies as both research and education tools for learning and communicating chemistry, and using end-to-end cyberinfrastructure and the Internet for remote-enabling instrumentation. Our latest project in this area is called PRISSM."

Kantardjieff led the team of faculty who developed the University's Certificate Program in Bioinformatics and a pending Minor in Bioinformatics, and she co-leads, with Spiros Courellis (CSUF-CPSC), a team of faculty across several CSU campuses to develop a distributed computing resource, the "grand grid", G2.

"I am first generation Bulgarian, born and raised in Los Angeles. My hobbies include Bulgarian folk dancing (I danced with "Kitka" for five years; check out a great Balkan dance archive at Folk with Dunav), running (10Ks and half marathons mostly), x-c skiing (Coldwater at Tamarack is a favorite trail), cooking (I have been a vegetarian for 37 years), fine dining (Fog City Diner in SF is a favorite restaurant), sampling California wines, photography, and listening to jazz (the Playboy Jazz Festival is a tradition). Although I am passionate about my research and my teaching, and you will often find me working late in the lab (in vitro or in silico), I am also an avid fan of sports, particularly football (UCLA, USC, 49ers), baseball (Dodgers, Angels), and ice hockey (LA Kings and Mighty Ducks)."

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