Ring: Sept. 19, 2002: Cornelia Bohne

Dr. Cornelia Bohne is used to explaining what her research is all about. After all, the dynamics of supramolecular structures isn’t exactly your typical water cooler conversation.

But Bohne doesn’t mind. She enjoys talking about a job that allows her to indulge her scientific curiosity. “The study of supramolecular dynamics takes structural organization in chemistry to a whole new level of complexity,” she says. “It’s fascinating to think about that.”

Bohne’s achievements and ongoing efforts to understand the chemistry of supramolecular structures have earned her the faculty of science’s Excellence in Research Award for 2002. The annual award goes to a faculty member who is at an early stage of his or her career.

Supramolecular structures are a collection of molecules held together by forces other than chemical bonds. Most significantly, they interact as a whole much differently than they do as individual molecules by themselves. “It’s as if you have the building blocks for a house—the walls, a roof, windows and doors—which by themselves are not a house, but put together they form a house,” says Bohne.

Bohne studies how smaller molecules move in and out of supramolecular structures. She follows this movement by measuring light emission or absorption using photomultipliers—fast light detectors— that can sense the change of light in time frames ranging from one second to a nanosecond.

Earlier this year, Bohne’s work was boosted with a $315,000 grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and UVic to construct an instrument called a laser temperature jump—the first of its kind in Canada.

“Basically, it’s like a microwave oven, but it heats up a solution in a billionth of a second,” she says. “The molecules are forced to re-arrange themselves very quickly, and we can look at how they do this.”

The research may ultimately lead to safer and more effective drugs. Bohne started her investigations with small supramolecules known as cyclodextrins, which can be used to separate drug molecules that come in two different forms, or “handedness.” Thalidomide, a pregnancy drug used in the late ‘50s, had both right-handed and left-handed forms. One form took away morning sickness and the other caused birth defects.

Bohne has also focussed on bile salt aggregates, supramolecules formed from an essential substance in our digestive systems. “Bile salt aggregates are excellent models for other supramolecular systems,” she says. “The techniques we’ve used on them will be essential for the kinds of things we hope to do with larger supramolecular structures such as DNA and proteins.”

Bohne, a native of Brazil, earned her PhD in biochemistry at the University of Sao Paulo before coming to Canada to pursue her research in physical organic chemistry. She joined UVic in 1992.

“It’s always nice to get recognition from the university,” says Bohne, who credits UVic with putting a lot of trust in her research proposals 10 years ago. This spring, she also picked up a YM-YWCA Woman of Distinction Award for her contributions to science. “In terms of the science I’ve been able to develop, the last decade has been a fantastic experience,” she says.