Professor David H. Russell received a Ph. D. in Chemistry from the University of Nebraska and spent two years at Oak Ridge National Laboratory prior to joining the faculty of the Department of Chemistry at Texas A&M University. His research involves development of instrumentation for structural mass spectrometry. Specifically, interactions of ionic molecules with water, viz. how does water affect structure of the molecule, and how the molecule affects the structure of water? Similarly, how do metal ions affect structure/conformational of peptides and proteins, and how lipids affect structure/conformation of membrane protein complexes—questions at the forefront of structural biology. Such challenging problems necessitate development of novel experimental tools capable of capturing complex chemical processes. The instrument development research includes a one-of-a-kind cryo-ion mobility mass spectrometry, variable-temperature electrospray ionization and next-generation ion mobility mass spectrometer, viz. a Fourier-transform ion mobility mass spectrometry specifically designed for native mass spectrometry. Professor Russell has published over 350 papers, trained over 100 Ph. D. students, all of whom have made possible the recognition afforded by awards such as the ACS Field and Franklin Award, election as Fellow AAAS and the ACS Analytical Chemistry Division Award in Chemical Instrumentation.
More information on Russell’s research group can be found here: https://www.chem.tamu.edu/rgroup/russell/index.html