Jacqueline Barton

Jacqueline K. Barton (born May 7, 1952

New York City, NY), is an American Jacqueline Barton
chemist. She worked as a professor of
chemistry at Hunter College (1980–82),
and at Columbia University (1983–89)
before joining the California Institute of
Technology. In 1997 she became the
Arthur and Marian Hanisch Memorial
Professor of Chemistry and from 2009 to
2019, the Norman Davidson Leadership
Chair of the Division of Chemistry and
Chemical Engineering at Caltech. She
currently is the John G. Kirkwood and
Arthur A. Noyes Professor of Chemistry,
Emerita.

Barton studies the chemical and physical

properties of DNA and their roles in
Jacqueline Barton, AIC Gold Medal, 2015
biological activities. The primary focus of
her research is transverse electron Born Jacqueline Ann Kapelman
transport along double-stranded DNA, its May 7, 1952
implications in the biology of DNA New York City
damage and repair, and its potential for Nationality American
materials sciences applications such as Alma mater Barnard College
targeted chemotherapeutic treatments for Columbia University
cancer. Among many other awards,
Spouses Donald J. Barton (m. 1973)​[5]
Barton has received the 2011 National
Medal of Science and the 2015 Priestley Peter Dervan ​(m. 1990)​[6]
Medal. Awards NSF Waterman Award (1985)
ACS Award in Pure Chemistry (1988)
MacArthur Foundation fellow (1991)
Early life and education Garvan–Olin Medal (1992)
William H. Nichols Medal (1997)
Jacqueline Ann Kapelman was born on Weizmann Women & Science Award (1998)
May 7, 1952, in New York City. Her ACS Gibbs Medal (2006)
father served in the Assembly for nearly a
Linus Pauling Award (2007)
decade before serving as a trial judge in
National Medal of Science (2011)
the New York Supreme Court next two
AIC Gold Medal (2015)
decades. Her father was one of the trial
Priestley Medal (2015)
judges in the Son of Sam serial murder
Centenary Prize (2018)
case.[7]
Welch Award (2023)
Jacqueline Kapelman attended Riverdale Scientific career
Country School for Girls in Riverdale, Fields Chemistry
New York, where her math teacher, Mrs.
Institutions Bell Labs
Rosenberg, insisted that she be allowed to
Yale University
take calculus at the boys' school. Her
Hunter College
interest in chemistry began at Barnard
Columbia University
College, where she studied physical
California Institute of Technology
chemistry with Bernice Segal. She loved
Thesis The structure and chemical reactivity of a
laboratory work and chemical
blue platinum complex: The interaction of
transformations and found Segal an
antitumor platinum drugs and a
inspiration as a teacher.[8][9] During her
metallointercalation reagent with nucleic
last year at Barnard she married first year
acids (https://search.proquest.com/docvie
medical student Donald J. Barton,[10][5]
w/302930751/) (1979)
receiving her B.A. from Barnard College
as Jacqueline Kapelman Barton, summa Doctoral Stephen J. Lippard[1]
cum laude, in 1974. advisor
Other academic Robert G. Shulman (post doctoral advisor)
She then studied inorganic chemistry at advisors
Columbia University under the
Doctoral Michelle R. Arkin
supervision of Stephen J.
[11][12][13] students Christine S. Chow[2]
Lippard. While at Columbia she
began studying transition-metal Sarah Delaney[3]
complexes and their possible applications Duncan Odom[4]
to chemotherapy.[8] She earned a PhD in Shana O. Kelley
Inorganic Chemistry in 1979, addressing
Anna Marie Pyle
The structure and chemical reactivity of a
blue platinum complex: the interaction of Other notable MS students:
antitumor platinum drugs and students Michael Purugganan
metallointercalation reagent with nucleic Post-docs:
acids.[14] Catherine J. Murphy
Website www.its.caltech.edu/~jkbgrp
/BartonBiography.htm (http://www.its.calte
Career and research ch.edu/~jkbgrp/BartonBiography.htm)

After earning her Ph.D. from Columbia in

External media
1979, Barton held post-doctoral appointments at Bell Labs and Yale
Audio
University, where she worked with Robert G. Shulman. She used
nuclear magnetic resonance imaging technology to examine the "Nature uses this for long-
metabolism of yeast cells.[10] Barton became a professor of chemistry range signalling and finding
at Hunter College from 1980 to 1982, and began to develop her own mistakes in DNA", Jacqueline
laboratory, the Barton Research Group.[10] While at Hunter, she Barton: DNA like wire for
studied the interactions of zinc ions with DNA, and later the signaling within a cell (http://ea
interactions of ruthenium(II) and cobalt(III) complexes with DNA. rthsky.org/human-world/jacque
This enabled her to roughly model complexes on a DNA helix and to line-barton-says-dna-like-a-wir
begin studying the photophysical and photochemical properties e-for-signaling), EarthSky &
related to enantiomers.[8] Chemical Heritage Foundation
Video
In the 1980s, she moved to Columbia University where she taught "Science is the most fun in
from 1983 to 1989. [10] She became a full professor in 1986 [15] and the whole wide world", Medal
was the first woman to receive tenure in the chemistry department at of Science 50 Videos – Peter
[8]
Columbia. Her research focused on the use of organo-ruthenium Dervan and Jacqueline Barton
complexes to examine the physical structure of DNA. With Nicholas (https://www.nsf.gov/news/spe
Turro and Vijay Kumar she studied the interactions of ruthenium cial_reports/medalofscience50/
phenanthroline complexes and DNA and was able to design binding dervan-barton.jsp), National
molecules targeted to specific DNA sequences. [8] Photosensitive Science Foundation
ruthenium complexes would glow brightly when they attached to the
DNA double helix. When rhodium complexes were attached to the
DNA, they would attract the electron causing the glow, and "turn off" the effect. During her time at
Columbia, Barton obtained two patents for this method of analyzing DNA structure.[16]

In 1989, Barton moved to Caltech,[15] where her research has focused on charge transport in DNA. By
using specially-designed chiral metal complexes as probes of DNA she has been able to study how DNA
is damaged and repaired.[15] In DNA-based diagnostic tests, complexes are used to determine whether
electrons can flow across the DNA. If an electron could not move along the DNA, the DNA would
continue to glow, indicating that there was damage in the DNA genetic molecule.[16]

The research that Barton, Catherine J. Murphy, Megan Núñez and others have done at Caltech has
supported the idea of fast long-range electron transfer over DNA, challenging accepted scientific views
and causing considerable controversy.[8] Based on years of studies, Barton and her group theorize that
DNA operates like a wire, supporting a type of long-range signaling that enables repair proteins to detect
and correct mistakes in DNA. This view of DNA is deeper and more dynamic than previous views of
DNA as a static library.[17]

Understanding the mediation of electron-transfer chemistry by the DNA double helix has laid a
foundation for the development of new diagnostic tools and for the possible design of novel
chemotherapeutics.[8][18] Barton, Erik Holmlin, Shana Kelley, and Mike Hill created the company
GeneOhm Sciences to explore the development of sensitive diagnostics for detecting DNA mismatches.
The company has since been acquired by BD Diagnostics.[8]

Barton has taught more than 100 graduate and postdoctoral students, many of whom are women.[18]
Recognized as a "superb role model, not just for young women but for all young scientists",[15] Barton
advises others that "the best thing that I can do for women in science is first to do good science".[8] She
became the Arthur and Marian Hanisch Memorial Professor of Chemistry in 1997.[19] She was named
chair of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of California Institute of Technology,
effective July 1, 2009.[10]

Barton was a Member of the Board of Directors of Dow Chemical for more than twenty years.[20] She
has also served on the Gilead Sciences Scientific Advisory Board (1989–2008) and has been a member of
Gilead's Board of Directors since 2018.[10]
In 1990, she married Peter Dervan, a fellow chemist and professor at Caltech,[6] who is also a National
Medal of Science winner.[21] She has two children, a daughter, Elizabeth (born in 1991),[22] and a stepson
Andrew.[22]

Research summary
Barton introduced the application of transition metal
complexes to probe recognition and reactions of double
helical DNA. She has designed chiral metal complexes which
mimic the properties of DNA-binding proteins, allowing
other researchers the capability to simulate and analyze
experiments in this nature. Barton additionally established
that DNA charge transport chemistry is extremely sensitive to
intervening perturbations in the DNA base stack, as with
single base mismatches or lesions. This discovery has been a Barton (third right) receiving the National
cornerstone for the development of DNA-based Medal of Science at the White House in
electrochemical sensors. 2011

Awards and honors

Barton was awarded the National Medal of Science by Barack Obama in 2011, "For discovery of a new
property of the DNA helix, long-range electron transfer, and for showing that electron transfer depends
upon stacking of the base pairs and DNA dynamics. Her experiments reveal a strategy for how DNA
repair proteins locate DNA lesions and demonstrate a biological role for DNA-mediated charge
transfer."[23] Other awards include:

Alan T. Waterman Award of the National Science Foundation (1985), first woman
recipient[16][24]
Fresenius Award from Phi Lambda Upsilon (1986), first woman recipient[25]
Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry by the American Chemical Society (1987)[26]
American Chemical Society Award in Pure Chemistry (1988), first woman recipient[27]
Mayor of New York's Award in Science and Technology (1988)
American Chemical Society Baekeland Medal (1991), first woman recipient[28]
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1991)[10][29]
MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (1991)[22]
Garvan Medal of the American Chemical Society (1992)[30]
Tolman Award of the American Chemical Society (1994), first woman recipient[31]
Havinga Medal (1995)[32]
Paul Karrer Gold Medal (1996), first woman recipient[10][33]
Skidmore College honorary Doctor of Laws degree (1997)[34]
Nichols Medal of the American Chemical Society (1997), first woman recipient[35]
Weizmann Women & Science Award (1998)[36]
elected American Philosophical Society (2000)[10]
elected National Academy of Sciences (2002)[10][37]
 Ronald Breslow Award in Biomimetic Chemistry from the American Chemical Society
(2003)[38]
Yale University honorary Doctor of Science degree (2005)[39]
Hamilton College honorary Doctor of Science degree (2005)[40]
ACS Gibbs Medal (2006)[41]
Linus Pauling Award (2007)
F.A. Cotton Medal for Excellence in Chemical Research of the American Chemical Society
(2007)[42]
National Medal of Science (2011)[17][43]
elected Institute of Medicine (2012)[44][45]
Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS) (2014)[46]
Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2014)
American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal (2015)[18]
Priestley Medal (2015)[15][47]
Centenary Prize (2018) from the Royal Society of Chemistry[48]
Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2018)[49]
NAS Award in Chemical Sciences (2019)[50]

Theodore Richards Award, Northeastern Section, American Chemical Society (2021)

Welch award in Chemistry ( Welch foundation) (2023)

References
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in RNA (http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:10142011-105722078). caltech.edu
(PhD thesis). California Institute of Technology. OCLC 437064763 (https://search.worldcat.or
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3. Delaney, Sarah (2004). Oxidative DNA Damage by Long-Range Charge Transport (PhD
thesis). doi:10.7907/9Q0X-TZ17 (https://doi.org/10.7907%2F9Q0X-TZ17).
OCLC 654923736 (https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/654923736). ProQuest 305200014 (http
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charge transport in nucleic acids (http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:03212014-095
851500). caltech.edu (PhD thesis). California Institute of Technology. OCLC 874759941 (htt
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5. "Miss Kapelman Becomes Bride At the St. Regis" (https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/12/arc
hives/miss-kapelman-becomes-bride-at-the-st-regis.html?pagewanted=all). The New York
Times. November 12, 1973. "The bride is the daughter of Mrs. Claudine Gutchen Kapelman
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6. "Meet Jacqueline K. Barton, 2015 Priestley Medalist" (http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i12/Meet
-Jaqueline-K-Barton-2015.html). Chemical & Engineering News. 93 (12). Mar 23, 2015.
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7. Kerr, Peter (November 10, 1984). "William Kapelman, Ex-Judge And A Bronx Assemblyman"
(https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/10/obituaries/william-kapelman-ex-judge-and-a-bronx-as
semblyman.html?pagewanted=all). The New York Times.
 8. Barton, Jacqueline K. (March 23, 2015). "A Career In Chemistry" (http://cen.acs.org/articles/
93/i12/Career-Chemistry.html). Chemical & Engineering News. 93 (12): 15–19.
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entbiography2006clif/page/23) (67th annual cumulation ed.). New York: H. W. Wilson. p. 23
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Achievement Awards at GSAS Convocation Ceremonies" (https://web.archive.org/web/2015
0402162846/http://gsas.columbia.edu/news/jacqueline-barton-phd-%E2%80%9979-and-mic
hael-l-lomax-ma-%E2%80%9972-receive-distinguished-achievement-awards). Graduate
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0%9972-receive-distinguished-achievement-awards) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 31 March
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