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Growing up, Joan S. Valentine was an avid reader of “Nancy Drew” books. She was so inspired by these stories that she wanted to be a private investigator and solve mysteries. This was, however, until she found out how dangerous private investigator work is.
“I figured the next best thing was solving research mysteries,” Valentine explains. And solving research mysteries—specifically those involving metal-dioxygen chemistry—is exactly what the Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles, has spent her nearly four-decade career doing.
“Joan Valentine has done pioneering work in biological inorganic chemistry,” says Harry B. Gray, a chemistry professor at California Institute of Technology. “Her discoveries have greatly enhanced our understanding of the roles metalloenzymes play in diseases of aging.”
From the start of her career, Valentine has made key contributions to biochemistry. In the mid-1970s, her research showed how to dissolve potassium superoxide in organic solvents using crown ethers. This work opened the door to preparing novel complexes that are relevant to intermediates in oxygen activation.
In more recent work, Valentine is focusing on how mutations in copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD) cause familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (fALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Her lab is also looking at the possibility that CuZnSOD is linked to sporadic ALS.
Another active project that the Valentine lab is studying is the molecular mechanism of antioxidant protection of eukaryotic cells. This work involves using tools of inorganic chemistry, spectroscopy, molecular biology, and yeast genetics to explore the relationship between enzymes, redox balance, and metal metabolism.
“Professor Valentine was an early contributor in the field of bioinorganic chemistry and has played a key role in the development of this field through her service to the discipline and her mentorship of graduate students and postdoctoral associates,” notes Judith N. Burstyn, a professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
A pioneer in biological chemistry and editor-in-chief of Accounts of Chemical Research, “Valentine has ensured the high visibility of chemical biology from both the bioinorganic and bioorganic perspectives, while maintaining the breadth and depth of coverage in the more traditional subdisciplines of chemistry,” Burstyn adds.
Valentine, 64, received an A.B. in chemistry from Smith College, in Northampton, Mass., in 1967. She went on to be the first women to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry from Princeton University in 1971. After holding postdoc positions at Stanford University and Princeton, she became an assistant professor at Rutgers University in 1972. She moved as an associate professor to UCLA in 1980, where she has climbed the academic ranks to her current position.
A member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Valentine has received numerous honors including the John C. Bailar Jr. Medal in Coordination Chemistry in 2004. In addition to her academic post, she has headed Accounts of Chemical Research since 1994, and she was an associate editor of Inorganic Chemistry from 1989 to 1995.
Valentine will present the award address before the Division of Inorganic Chemistry.
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