Daniel F. Moriarty

Born and raised in Delmar, NY, Dr. Moriarty received a B.S. in Chemistry from Siena College before moving to Stony Brook University.  He studied under Dr. Daniel Raleigh and received his Ph.D. in Chemistry.  He then spent three years at Rensselaer as a Post-Doc working with Dr. Wilfredo Colon in the Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department before coming back to his alma matter and joining the faculty.

My Siena Experience

My Teaching Philosophy

One thing I try to do is to make the material interesting for the students regardless of major.  Teaching is a partnership, and while it is ultimately the student’s responsibility to learn the material, I believe there is also a duty of the professor to help the students along and to make the subject matter accessible and engaging.  One important way I do this is in every lecture to show the students the relevancy of the material to everyday life.  Why does Tums or Milk of Magnesia help settle an upset stomach?  Simple acid-base chemistry. What causes Alzheimer’s Disease and Type II Diabetes?  Misfolded proteins.  Why does cooking an egg cause it to become harder?  Thermally denatured proteins.  Bringing the student’s own experiences into the lecture allows them to take more out of the material.  I also believe it’s important for the students to see exactly how scientists have arrived at their discoveries over the years.  This gives them a better understanding of how scientists conduct their work, as well as an appreciation for the many hurtles that we have yet to overcome.

What I Love About Siena

The school has a strong sense of community.  We have a strong focus on undergraduate education, both in the classroom and in the lab. The classes are small enough that I get to know all the students.  I can see what they are doing well on, and what they need a little extra help with.  

My Favorite Courses to Teach

-General Chemistry.  This class not only lays the foundation of the remianing chemistry courses, but since many students take the course in their first year, it helps prepare them for life in college.
-Physical Biochemistry.  Most of our chemistry majors do not take many biology courses while at Siena.  This gives me a chace to show the students biological application of the chemical principles they have learned.  It is also a class that the seniors take, so I get to see the students at both the beginning and the end of their career at Siena.

My Professional Experience

Current Research

-Protein Folding
-Amyloid Formation and Disease
-Astrobiology
-Molecules with Antibacterial Properties from Natural Sources

Articles & Book Reviews

• Using iPads in the Chemistry Classroom: Focusing on Paperless Education and Identification and Directed use of Pedagogically Directed Applications
  Chemical Educator
  2013
• A Truncated Peptide Model of the Mutant P61A FIS Forms a Stable Dimer
  Biochem Biophys Acta
  2007
• Equilibrium denaturation studies of the E. coli factor for inversion stimulation: Implications for in vivo function
  Protein Science, vol. 11
  2002
• Role of Local Interactions in Stabilizing the 6-120 Disulfide Bond in á-lactalbumin: Implications for Formation of the Molten Globule State
  Biochem Biophys Acta, vol. 1476
  2000
• Analysis of Sequential Proline Substitutions on Amyloid Formation in the Polypeptide Hormone Amylin
  Biochemistry, vol. 38
  1999
• A Role for the C-terminus of calcitonin in Aggregation and Gel Formation: A Comparative Study of C-terminal Fragments of Human and Salmon Calcitonin
  Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm, vol. 245
  1998

Books & Book Chapters

• Amyloid Proteins: The Beta Sheet Conformation and Disease
  Wiley-VCH
  2005

Presentations

• Investigation into the Energetic Processes of Peptide Bond Formation on Prebiotic Earth
  2014
  Eastern New York ACS Undergraduate Research Poster Session, Loudonville, New York
• Isolation and Characterization of Antibacterial Molecules in Different Species of Cinnamon
  2014
  Siena College Summer Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
• Isolation and Characterization of Water Soluble and Organic Soluble of Antibacterial Compounds in Plants using Mass Spectrometry
  2014
  Eastern New York ACS Undergraduate Research Poster Session, Loudonville, New York
• Isolation and Identification of Antibacterial Compounds in Sage (Salvia officinalis) and Rosemary (rosmarinus officinalis)
  2014
  Siena College Academic Celebration, Loudonville, New York
• Isolation and characterization of water-soluble and organic-soluble antibacterial molecules in plants using mass spectrometry
  2014
  248 American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition, San Francisco, California
• Practical Limitations on Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectroscopy (MALDI-TOFMS)
  2014
  Academic Celebration Siena College, Loudonville, New York
• Designing a Lab to Study the Comparative Proteomics of Fish using Gel Electrophoresis Techniques
  2013
  Siena College Academic Celebration, Loudonville, New York
• Isolation and Characterization of Water Soluble Antibacterial Compounds in Sage and Rosemary
  2013
  Siena College Summer Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
• Isolation of Antibacterial Molecules from Garlic and Sage against Staphylococcus aureus
  2013
  Eastern New York ACS Undergraduate Research Poster Session, Loudonville, New York
• Quantifying Protein Content in Various Food Types via Spectroscopic Analysis and High Performance Liquid Chromatography
  2013
  Siena College Academic Celebration, Loudonville, New York
• Determining the Characteristics of Proteins Using Differential Scanning Calorimetry
  2012
  Siena College Academic Celebration, Loudonville, New York
• Direct Oxidative Induced Folding of α-conotoxin ImI
  2012
  Siena College Academic Celebration, Loudonville, New York
• Isolation of Antibacterial Molecules from Garlic and Sage against Staphylococcus aureus
  2012
  244th American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Staphylococcus aureus cell wall proteins targeted by antibacterial plant extracts
  2012
  243rd American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition, San Diego, California
• Staphylococcus aureus cell wall proteins targeted by antibacterial plant extracts
  2012
  Eastern New York ACS Undergraduate Research Poster Session, Loudonville, New York
• Using iPads in the chemistry classroom: Steps toward a fully paperless classroom
  2012
  243rd American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition, San Diego, California
• Calculation of Enthalpy Changes for a Series of Proteins Using Differential Scanning Calorimetry
  2011
  Siena College Academic Celebration, Loudonville, New York
• Inhibiting the Growth of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus using Geranium Leaf Extracts
  2011
  Siena College Academic Celebration, Loudonville, New York
• Isolation of Kinetic Stability in Proteins via Two-Dimensional Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis
  2011
  Siena College Academic Celebration, Loudonville, New York
• Solvent-Induced Folding and Isolation via HPLC of α-conotoxin ImI
  2011
  Siena College Academic Celebration, Loudonville, New York
• Testing for the Presence of Kinetic Stability in Proteins in Various Foods Using 2-D Gel Electrophoresis
  2010
  Academic Celebration Siena College, Loudonville, New York
• Testing for the Presence of Kinetic Stability in Proteins in Various Foods Using 2-D Gel Electrophoresis
  2010
  Eastern New York ACS Undergraduate Research Poster Session, Loudonville, New York
• Thermodynamic Analysis of Protein Unfolding and Identification: DSC Method
  2010
  Academic Celebration Siena College, Loudonville, New York
• Thermodynamic Analysis of Protein Unfolding and Identification: DSC Method
  2010
  Eastern NY ACS Undergraduate Research Symposium, Loudonville, New York
• alpha-conotoxin ImI disulfide Bonding
  2010
  Academic Celebration Siena College, Loudonville, New York
• Antibiotic Activity of Plant Extracts on E. coli (gram negative rod) and Staphlococcus Aureus (gram positive coccus)
  2009
  Siena College Academic Celebration, Loudonville, New York
• Formation of disulfide bonds in α-conotoxin ImI"
  2008
  Siena College Academic Celebration, Loudonville, New York
• FIS project
  2007
  Siena College Academic Celebration, Loudonville, New York
• The Effect of Organic Cosolvents on the Folding of α-conotoxin ImI
  2007
  Siena College Academic Celebration, Loudonville, New York
• The Core of Factor for Inversion Stimulation Forms a Stable Structure: A Model for the Dimeric Intermediate of P61A Fis
  2002
  224th American Chemical Society National Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts
• Peptide Fragments From the DNA Binding Protein FIS: Influence of Proline on Secondary Structure
  2001
  6th John Hopkins Folding Meeting, Berkeley Springs, West Virginia
• Peptide Models of Amyloid Formation by Amylin
  1999
  13th Symposium of the Protein Society, Boston, Massachusetts