Stanford University


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  • James Collman

    James Collman

    George A. and Hilda M. Daubert Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus

    BioProfessor Emeritus James Collman has made landmark contributions to inorganic chemistry, metal ion biochemistry, homogeneous catalysis, and transition metal organometallic chemistry. He pioneered numerous now-popular research tools to reveal key structural and functional details of metalloenzymes essential to respiration and energy, and hemoglobin and myoglobin, essential to oxygen transport in the blood.

    Born 1932 in Beatrice, Nebraska, James P. Collman studied chemistry at U. Nebraska–Lincoln (B.S. 1954, M.S. 1956). His doctoral work at U. Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Ph.D., 1958) focused on Grignard reagents. As a faculty member at U. North Carolina, he demonstrated aromatic reactivity in metal acetylacetonates, and he developed metal complexes that hydrolyze peptide bonds under physiological conditions. He came to Stanford University as Professor of Chemistry in 1967. Among many honors, Prof. Collman’s was elected to the National academy of Sciences in 1975, and named California Scientist of the Year in 1983.

    At Stanford, Prof. Collman invented a new paradigm for studying biological systems using functional synthetic analogs of metal-containing enzyme systems, free from the protein coatings that can affect metalloprotein chemical properties. This strategy allowed him to elucidate the intrinsic reactivity of the metal center as well as the effects of protein-metal interactions on biological function.

    One focal point of this research has involved heme-proteins such as the oxygen (O2) carrier hemoglobin (Hb), and the O2-storing protein myoglobin (Mb). Prof. Collman was the first to prepare and characterize stable, functional analogues of the Hb and Mb active sites, which contain an iron derivative of the large flat “porphyrin” ligand. In his “picket fence” porphyrin, groups installed on the periphery block side reactions, which would otherwise degrade the structure. This protected iron complex manifests the unique magnetic, spectroscopic and structural characteristics of the O2-binding Hb and Mb sites, and exhibits very similar O2-binding affinities.

    The Collman Group also prepared functional mimics of the O2-binding/reducing site in a key respiration enzyme, cytochrome c oxidase, CcO, which converts O2 to H2O during biosynthesis of the energy storage molecule ATP. This enzyme must be very selective: partial O2 reduction products are toxic. Prof. Collman invented a powerful synthetic strategy to create analogs of the CcO active site and applied novel electrochemical techniques to demonstrate that these models catalyze the reduction of O2 to water without producing toxic partially-reduced species. He was able to mimic slow, rate-limiting electron delivery by attaching his CcO model to a liquid-crystalline membrane using “click chemistry.” He demonstrated that hydrogen sulfide molecules and heterocycles reversibly bind to the metal centers at CcO’s active site, connecting a synthetic enzyme model to simple molecules that reversibly inhibit respiration. These respiration inhibitors exhibit physiological properties, affecting blood clotting and controlling the effects of the hormone, nitric oxide, NO.

    In addition, Prof. Collman performed fundamental studies of organometallic reactions. He also prepared and characterized homodinuclear and heterodinuclear complexes having metal-metal multiple bonds, and made the first measurements of the rotational barriers found in multiple metal-metal bonds.

    Prof. Collman’s impactful textbook “Principles and Applications of Organotransition Metal Chemistry” has seen multiple editions. His book “Naturally Dangerous: Surprising Facts About Food, Health, and the Environment” explains the science behind everyday life, and received favorable reviews in Nature and The Washington Post.

  • Dan Colman

    Dan Colman

    Dean-Admin, Academic Council, Continuing Studies and Summer Session

    BioDan Colman is the Dean of Continuing Studies & Summer Session Programs, overseeing a unit of five programs that make Stanford courses accessible to approximately 24,000 students worldwide. The unit houses the following programs:

    —Stanford Continuing Studies is an open enrollment program that offers adult learners affordable courses in the liberal arts & sciences, creative writing, and business and technology. The program presents 550 on-campus and online courses each year.

    —Stanford Summer Session is the university’s fourth academic quarter. Enabling students to take 8-week Stanford courses and receive Stanford credit, the program serves matriculated Stanford students as well as visiting undergraduates, graduate students, and advanced high school students.

    —Stanford Online High School is an independent, diploma-granting school for grades 7–12, where dedicated instructors help academically advanced students worldwide pursue their passions in live, online seminars.

    —Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies serves middle school and high school students, allowing them to attend academically enriching programs that cover advanced subjects–ones rarely taught in local schools. Programs take place online and on campus, with residential programs offered during the summer.

    —Stanford Distinguished Careers Institute (DCI) inspires accomplished individuals to thrive in the next chapter of their lives by providing opportunities to discover, connect, and contribute through engagement within Stanford’s diverse academic community.

    Before his current position, Dan was the Director & Associate Dean of Continuing Studies from 2006-2019. In this role, he introduced online courses to the curriculum and helped Continuing Studies evolve from a local Bay Area program to one serving learners across the United States and the globe. Notably, Continuing Studies became Zoom’s first customer in 2012 and used the platform to enhance the interactivity and engagement of its online courses.

    From 2001–2005, Dan served in leadership roles at the Alliance for Lifelong Learning, an early e-learning venture backed by Stanford, Oxford, and Yale. The consortium developed some of the first online courses offered by these universities, gearing them toward alumni and lifelong learners worldwide. He also worked at About.com, a leading information website during the dot-com era, where he developed expertise in digital media and online publishing.

    Dan received a Ph.D. in History from Stanford. In his dissertation, he focused on the French Revolution and how moderate politicians attempted to use education and Enlightenment philosophy to stabilize the French Republic after the Terror.

  • Ruben J Colman, MD, PhD

    Ruben J Colman, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Gastroenterology)

    BioDr. Colman is a pediatric gastroenterologist and physician-scientist with an overarching goal to improve and optimize the quality of care and outcomes for children with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) through precision medicine approaches. His interdisciplinary team science research program focuses on making precision medicine clinically actionable through innovative solutions merging clinical pharmacology knowledge with ‘-omics’ discoveries using microbiome and metabolomics signatures. Part of this work includes translating these findings into improved clinical treat-to-target endpoints with immediate noninvasive point-of-care measures such as intestinal ultrasound.

    The foundation of his current work originates from his PhD titled ‘Precision Dosing and Personalized Medicine in pediatric IBD’. During his training, Dr. Colman was also an American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) editorial fellow for Gastroenterology and he is actively involved in the committees of several professional societies including the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN), the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation and the International Bowel UltraSound (IBUS) Group. Dr. Colman is supported by a Career Development K23 Award from the NIH, which focuses on evaluating personalized treatment strategies for children with Crohn's disease, specifically examining microbial and transmural intestinal ultrasound findings. He is also funded by awards of the NASPGHAN Foundation and the Stanford Pediatrics Physician-Scientist Bridge to K Program.

  • Craig V. Comiter

    Craig V. Comiter

    Professor of Urology and, by courtesy, of Obstetrics and Gynecology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsUsing various animal models of bladder outlet obstruction as a representation of human prostatic disease, I am investigating how intervening with pharmacotherapy, neuromodulation, and other novel therapies may help to reverse the adverse changes in the bladder due to the obstruction.

    I also am investigating new, minimally invasive treatments for post-prostatectomy urinary incontinence.

    I am also investigating the role of neruomodulation in the treatment of chronic pelvic pain and IC.

  • David Como

    David Como

    Joan Danforth Professor of History

    BioMy teaching and research focus on the following areas of interest:

    Puritanism, Politics
    English Revolution
    History of print
    History of Political Thought
    History of Religion and the Reformation
    Global History

  • Le Cong

    Le Cong

    Associate Professor of Pathology (Pathology Research) and of Genetics

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur lab develops gene-editing technologies like novel CRISPR systems and large gene insertion techniques for gene and cell therapy. We also leverage these gene-editing tools for single-cell functional screening to probe mechanisms of cancer, immunological, and aging-associated diseases. To accelerate our work, we integrate AI and machine learning to design and evolve therapeutic RNAs/proteins, and build AI-XR co-scientists like LabOS that bridge AI computation and biomedical experimentation.

  • Daniel Norbert Congreve

    Daniel Norbert Congreve

    Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering

    BioDan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. Prior to Stanford, Dan received his B.S. and M.S. from Iowa State in 2011, working with Vik Dalal studying defect densities of nano-crystalline and amorphous silicon. He then received his PhD from MIT in Electrical Engineering in 2015, studying under Marc Baldo. His thesis work focused on photonic energy conversion using singlet fission and triplet fusion as downconverting and upconverting processes, respectively. He spent a year as a postdoc with Will Tisdale in Chemical Engineering at MIT studying perovskite nanoplatelets. He joined the Rowland Institute in 2016 as a Rowland Fellow before starting at Stanford in 2020. Dan is a Moore Inventor Fellow, Sloan Research Fellow, Intel Rising Star, and co-founder of Quadratic3D, a startup looking to commercialize 3D printing technologies. His current research interests focus on engineering nanomaterials to solve challenging problems.