Virginia B. Pett

Virginia B. Pett, Professor of Chemistry, received her B.A. from The College of Wooster in 1963, her M.A. (1972) and Ph.D. (1979) from Wayne State University. Virginia came to Wooster in 1981 after a two-year postdoctoral appointment at the Institute for Cancer Research in Philadelphia. Her research interests include X-ray crystallography, computer graphics, and molecular modeling. Virginia has taken research leaves at the Laboratory for the Structure of Matter, which is part of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC; Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine; and the Structural Biology Laboratory at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She teaches physical chemistry, Introduction to Independent Study, and general chemistry. Her current research focus is the structure and function of small heat shock proteins from corn. Her leisure activities include gardening and card games.

Recent publications:

Pett, Virginia B.; Haynes, LeRoy W. Conformation and hydrogen bonding for the bicyclic compound 3-thiabicyclo[3.2.0]heptane-6,7-dicarboxylic acid 3,3-dioxide. Acta Cryst. Section C 2008, C64(9), o485-o488.

Zeller, Matthias; Pett, Virginia B.; Haynes, LeRoy W. Ring opening of pyridines: the pseudo-cis and pseudo-trans isomers of tetra-n-butylammonium 4-nitro-5-oxo-2-pentenenitrilate. Acta Cryst. 2007, C63, o343-o346.

Haynes, LeRoy W.; Pett, Virginia B. Structures of the Intermediates Formed in the Ring-Opening Reaction of 2-Chloro-3-nitropyridine. J. Org. Chem. 2007, 72, 633-635.

Pett, Virginia B.; Haynes, LeRoy W. 2,5-dichloro-2,5-dihydrothiophene 1-oxide: determination of its complete stereochemistry. Acta Cryst. Section C 2005, C61(4), 0211-0212.

Gora, Robert W.; Sokalski, W. Andrzej; Leszczynski, Jerzy; Pett, Virginia B. The nature of interactions in the ionic crystal of 3-pentenenitrile, 2-nitro-5-oxo, ion(-1), sodium. J. Phys. Chem. B 2005, 109(5), 2027-2033.

Pett, Virginia B.; Fischer, Anne E.*; Dudley, Gary K.*; Zacharias, David E. Probing the Mechanism of Coenzyme B12: Synthesis, Crystal Structure, and Molecular Modeling of Coenzyme B12 Model Compounds. Comments on Inorganic Chemistry 2002, 23, 385-400.

Buss, Julie*; Tsacoumangos, Amy M.*; Pett, Virginia B.; Bouchard, Robert A. Maize small heat shock protein 18-9 exhibits characteristics of a molecular chaperone in vitro. Maize Newsletter 2002, 76.

* Wooster undergraduate.

Invited Lectures and Papers/Posters Presented at Professional Meetings:

Tims, H. S.; Pett, V. B.; Chidawanyika, T. C.; Bouchard, R. A. Behavior of a Class II Small Heat Shock Oligomeric Complex from Maize, 40th Central Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society (Columbus, June 11-14, 2008).

Chidawanyika,* T. C.; Pett, V. B.; Tims, H. S.; Bouchard, R. A. Investigation of the Biologically Active Forms of ZmHsp17.0-CII, 235th American Chemical Society National Meeting (New Orleans, April 6-10, 2008).

Nau*, C. T.; Pett, V. B.; Times, H. S.; Bouchard, R. A. Expresssion and Purification of Class Two Small Heat Shock Proteins from Maize, 235th American Chemical Society National Meeting (New Orleans, April 6-10, 2008).

Haserodt*, S. K.; Pett, V.; Zachara, N. E. Dynamic Intracellular Glycosylation: O-GlcNAc is a Key Modulator of glutamine-Mediated Cellular Protection and Heat Shock Protein 72 Induction, FASEB J. 2008, 22, 648.3.

Pett, V. B. Crystallography and Semi-Empirical Modeling of Organo-Cobalt Complexes. November 30, 2001, Department of Chemistry, Texas A & M University.

Fischer, Anne*; Pett, Virginia B. Coenzyme B12: Finding the Smoking Gun. American Crystallographic Association national meeting, July 21-26, 2001, Los Angeles, presentation 02.01.09.

Jorjorian, Andrea D.*; Pett, Virginia B. Arginine: Structurally Unappreciated. American Crystallographic Association national meeting, July 22-27, 2000, St. Paul, MN, poster W0031.

Pett, V. B.; Haynes, L. W. How Can We Design a Therapeutic Drug? ChemLinks Authors' Workshop, June 2000, Beloit College.

Jorjorian, Andrea D.*; Pett, Virginia B. Arginine: Structurally Unappreciated. National Conference on Undergraduate Research, April 2000, Missoula, MT.

Dobroshi, Dita*; Pett, Virginia B. Computer Modeling of Anthroquinone Terminated Core-Containing Polyamide Dendrimers. National Conference on Undergraduate Research, April 2000, Missoula, MT.

Zeller, Julie A.*; Pett, Virginia B. Expression and Purification of sHSP18-9, a Small Heat Shock Protein from Zea mays. National Conference on Undergraduate Research, April 2000, Missoula, MT.

* Wooster undergraduate.

Recent Grant Support

"A Student Manual for the Chemlinks Module, How Can We Design a Therapeutic Drug?", Hewlett-Mellon Fund for Institutional Renewal, $10,000, 2000.