Dr Tak W. Kee

Biography/ Background

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Education
B.S. in Chemistry, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA, 1994 - 1997
Ph.D. in Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA, 1997 - 2003 (Date of Award: 9 June 2003)

Professional Appointments
Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 2003 - 2006
Lecturer in Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Physics, University of Adelaide, Australia, 2006 - present

Research Interests

My research interests are focused on biophysical chemistry and materials chemistry. My research is directed towards using time-resolved spectroscopy and nonlinear optical microscopy to investigate important molecular processes in the following systems.
- Elucidating the roles of excited state intramolecular hydrogen atom transfer and hydrogen bonding in the anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects of the medicinal pigment curcumin.
- Investigating the physical and chemical developments in the differentiation of cardiomyocytes from adult stem cells non-invasively and continuously using coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) and second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy.
- Providing chemical and physical insights into the formation of the highly luminescent conjugated polymer nanoparticles, improving the biocompatibility by biopolymer grafting and surface patterning for bio-imaging applications.

Publications

As Principal Investigator

1. Mandy H. M. Leung and Tak W. Kee "Association of Curcumin to Serum Proteins Maintains its Stability in Biological Buffers" Langmuir In Preparation
2. Ramkrishna Adhikary, Prasun Mukherjee, Tak W. Kee, and Jacob W. Petrich "Solvation Dynamics of Curcumin" In Preparation
3. Ramkrishna Adhikary, Prasun Mukherjee, Tak W. Kee, and Jacob W. Petrich "Direct Observation of Excited-State Intramolecular Hydrogen Atom Transfer in the Medicinal Pigment Curcumin" J. Am. Chem. Soc. Submitted
4. Samuel J. Wallace, Janna L. Morrison, Kimberley J. Botting, and Tak W. Kee "Second Harmonic Generation and Two-Photon Excited Autofluorescence Microscopy of Cardiomyocytes: Quantification of Cell Volume and Myosin Filaments" J. Biomed. Opt. Accepted
5. Mandy H. M. Leung, Hannah Colangelo, and Tak W. Kee "Encapsulation of Curcumin in Cationic Micelles Suppresses Alkaline Hydrolysis" Langmuir 24, 5672 (2008)

As Postdoctoral Fellow

6. Tak W. Kee, Matthew L. Becker, Joachim Kohn, Marcus T. Cicerone "Identifying Phase Specific Protein Adsorption in Polymer Blends via Broadband Coherent anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) Microscopy" In Preparation
7. Tak W. Kee, Hongxia Zhao, Marcus T. Cicerone "One-Laser Interferometric Broadband Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering" Opt. Express 14, 3631 (2006)
8. Tak W. Kee and Marcus T. Cicerone "Simple Approach to One Laser, Broadband Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering Microscopy" Opt. Lett. 29, 2701 (2004) [cited 53 time as of 24 Sept. 2008]

As Graduate Student

9. Tieqiao Zhang, Young Jong Lee, Tak W. Kee, and Paul F. Barbara "The Mechanism of Electron–Cation Geminate Recombination in Liquid Isooctane" Chem. Phys. Lett. 403, 257 (2005)
10. Young Jong Lee, Tak W. Kee, Tieqiao Zhang, and Paul F. Barbara "Pump Probe Spectroscopy of the Hydrated Electron in Reverse Micelles" J. Phys. Chem. B 108, 3474 (2004)
11. Patanjali Kambhampati, Dong Hee Son, Tak W. Kee, and Paul F. Barbara "Solvation Dynamics of the Hydrated Electron Depends on its Initial Degree of Electron Delocalization" J. Phys. Chem. A 106, 2374 (2002)
12. Dong Hee Son, Patanjali Kambhampati, Tak W. Kee and Paul F. Barbara "Femtosecond Multi-Color Pump-Probe Study of Ultrafast Electron Transfer of [(NH3)5RuIIINCRuII(CN)5]- in Aqueous Solution" J. Phys. Chem. A 106, 4591 (2002)
13. Tak W. Kee, Dong Hee Son, Patanjali Kambhampati and Paul F. Barbara "A Unified Electron Transfer Model for the Different Precursors and Excited States of the Hydrated Electron" J. Phys. Chem. A 105, 8434 (2001) [cited 43 time as of 24 Sept. 2008]
14. Dong Hee Son , Patanjali Kambhampati, Tak W. Kee, and Paul F. Barbara "Delocalizing Electron in Water with Light" J. Phys. Chem. A 105, 8269 (2001)
15. Dong Hee Son, Patanjali Kambhampati, Tak W. Kee and Paul F. Barbara "One-Photon UV Detrapping of the Hydrated Electron" Chem. Phys. Lett. 342, 571 (2001)
16. Patanjali Kambhampati, Dong Hee Son, Tak W. Kee, and Paul F. Barbara "Solvent Effects on Vibrational Coherence and Ultrafast Reaction Dynamics in the Multi-Color Pump-Probe Spectroscopy of Intervalence Electron Transfer" J. Phys. Chem. A 104, 10637 (2000)
17. Dong Hee Son, Patanjali Kambhampati, Tak W. Kee, and Paul F. Barbara "Femtosecond Multicolor Pump-Probe Investigations of Ultrafast Electron Transfer of [(NH3)5RuIIINCRuII(CN)5]- in aqueous solution" Ultrafast Phenomena XII, eds., T. Elsaesser, S. Mukamel, M. Murnane, and N. Scherer (Springer-Verlag), Heidelberg, 2000

Entry last updated: Tuesday, 26 May 2009