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Associate Professor
Chemistry Department
Northern Kentucky University
Education and Postdoctoral Appointments
M.S.: (equivalent) Chemistry, University of Kaiserslautern, Germany
Ph.D.: University of California at Santa Cruz
Postdoctoral Research Associate: Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Munich
Postdoctoral Appointment: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Second NIH Grant
The primary goal of Dr. Paula's research is the discovery and characterization of a variety of bioactive compounds. Examples include enzyme inhibitors that facilitate the study of an enzyme's physiological functions or compounds that have potential medicinal applications, such as anti-cancer drugs.
Dr. Paula recently learned that his NIH grant for his research project "Hydroquinone Derivatives as Novel Calcium Atpase Inhibitors" was renewed through the year 2016.
In his own words
Just asking
When did you become interested in biochemistry?
“Well, I always knew that I wanted to study chemistry as a student in high school.. in Germany, But I was always interested in the natural sciences as a whole. I like math, I like physics, and biology just as much. Maybe the main factor was that my parents gave me a chemistry kit when I was ten, and I never moved away from that. (laughs)
In college I wanted to specialize in Physical Chemistry and there was a group at the University at that time that worked in the biophysical area. There is not even “chemistry” in that word, and I found it fascinating, basically applying physical principles that I very much enjoyed to living systems. That makes the whole thing a little bit more interesting.”
What do you find most rewarding about research?
“One of the most rewarding moments is when you’ve been working on an experimental assay that hasn’t been behaving the way you expected..in other words, it doesn’t work…the students have spent quite a bit of time with it and weren’t all that lucky. And then all of a sudden, after many variations of this experiment…all of the sudden it starts working. That very moment…I find that very enjoyable!”
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