West Virginia University continues to elevate its status as a prominent research institution through increased research funding and global recognition of its faculty. Leonardo Golubovic, associate professor of physics, in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, recently received the 2001 Marko V. Jaric Award for Outstanding Research in Physics from the University of Belgrade.
The prize is given annually to an individual of Yugoslavian origin for outstanding research results in physics. The award is presented in memory of Marko Jaric, a Texas A&M University physics professor originally from Yugoslavia, whose outstanding work in physics placed him in an elite class of late 20th-century scientists.
Golubovic, a Yugoslavian native, received his Ph.D. from the University of Belgrade in 1987, and worked as postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, UCLA , and Caltech before joining WVU in 1992.
“Receiving this award was like getting the Nobel Prize in Yugoslavia,”says Golubovic.”After the award I attended three interviews on television, one was an hour long. It was quite an exciting and proud moment for both me and WVU .”
Golubovic teaches courses in general physics, mathematical physics, and statistical mechanics, while conducting research in the area of condensed matter. Condensed matter physics has two major branches: hard condensed matter and soft condensed matter. He studies soft condensed matter, which includes bio-materials like chains of DNA , cell membranes, and proteins.
One of his major interests is understanding the properties and structure of the membranes that surround living cells. A cell membrane is very much like a door of a house. It both separates and connects the cell to the external world by letting various molecules in and out of the membrane.
For example, Golubovic studies the effects of surfactants, a material similar to laundry detergent, that can form a membrane between oil and water. Oil and water do not naturally mix, but, by adding surfactants, water and oil will mix. Why mix oil and water? The answer lies in the global need for oil and the resources diminishing reserves. A significant amount of the oil on earth isnt in the reservoirs; it is in pores of rock buried deep beneath the surface. How can this reserve be tapped? Golubovic explains that by pumping large amounts of water into the rock, aided with surfactant, the waters cells could mix with the oil, thus removing it from the rock and providing an abundance of oil.
Some of Golubovics recent work examines mixtures of membranes and long DNA molecules. This work was motivated by novel gene therapy techniques already used in medicine as a prospective cure for cancer. Every persons DNA undergoes mutations that may eventually lead to cancer.
The cancer cure, proposed more than ten years ago, was to extract the mutated gene, and replace it with a healthier gene in the DNA strand. For this process to be successful, they discovered that the healthy DNA must be transported across cell membranes into the cells. Unfortunately, DNA and cell membranes hold the same type of charge, causing them to repel each other. This obstacle can be overcome by the use of special vehicles that are mixtures of membrane-forming materials and DNA molecules that hold a neutral charge.
In 1998 Golubovic and his wife, Mirjana Golubovic, published an article in Physical Review Letters, which identified the structure and elucidated the properties of the vehicles that allow DNA transport across cell membranes.
“In part, I see my Marko Jaric prize as a celebration of physics contributions to this long battle against cancer”, says Golubovic.”In fact, these gene therapies are so promising that the final victory over caner is optimistically expected in not more than three decades. For the first time in history, we will have a real cure for cancer, which directly attacks its cause.”