Michael Green

I have spent most of my career at CCNY (with some teaching, and time, in the Chem PhD program). i arrived in 1966 after two years in the Peace Corps, teaching at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, for two years. 

At CCNY in the last few years I have taught a range of chemistry courses, from the non-major course, through the first year introductory course for chemistry majors and chemical engineers, through physical chemistry, primarily for majors in their third or last year, and chemical engineers. I have also taught masters courses, for example in Computers in Chemistry. In addition I have had a number of graduate students obtain their PhD in my group, and a number of undergraduate research students have also worked with my group.

My research started with noise (fluctuation) spectroscopy on synthetic membranes of a type used for desalting sea water. This showed that water at the surface of the membrane, when driven sufficiently hard, produced an unusual form of turbulence. After some years I spent more and more time on questions of chemical safety. In 1978 Amos Turk and I wrote a short book titled "Safety in Working with Chemicals", which was later listed as one of 13 references upon which Chemical Hygiene Plans could be based. I later worked on the first CCNY CHP, was on the college health and safety committee. Later I was on the PSC (union's) health and safety committee, and for some years taught a course in Chemical Health and Safety.

In 1988 I began to work on the question of how a group of proteins called "ion channels" function; these exist in every biological cell. Those in nerve and heart, which are excitable tissues, in the sense of producing electrical pulses, are of special interest. The channels open and close to allow electrically charged particles, called ions, in and out of cells. The electrical current produced by the passage of these ions constitutes the nerve impulse, among other channel properties. I proposed a mechanism by which the channels open and close, and began computations to test this idea. These computations have become more sophisticated as computers have gained more power over the last 20 years, and we are now able to do computations on large enough sections of the channels to produce results that can be compared with experiment. We believe one more generation of computers, with their ever increasing power, may make it possible to do computations that might be powerful enough to actually settle the gating mechanism question, at least in large part. This work goes on, using supercomputers at national laboratories. [For readers who are interested in the most recent work, please see http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/13/2/1680/. This article summarizes the progress we have made up to the end of 2011; since then we have carried out additional computations showing how water is arranged in the gate; the model we have been working on emphasizes the role of water, and of proton transport, as central to the gating of the channel, as well as ionic conduction.]

Along the way I spent six years as Chemistry Department chair (1990-1996). After 2000, I began working actively with the local CCNY PSC chapter, and spent three years as chapter chair (2008 - 2011). I still work with the chapter, and I believe a strong union under progressive leadership, as we have had since 2000, is critical for the progress of the university. 

At present, research continues with a small group (Alisher Kariev, who has been in the group since early 2005, and Philipa Njau, a graduate student, are the current members).

BS Cornell University 1959

MS, PhD, Yale Uinversity, 1961, 1964 (1964 is the official date; thesis submitted Summer 1963)

Postdoc: California Institute of Technology, 1963-1964

Most common courses, last 5 years:

Chem 100 (non-major course)

Chem 103-104: General Chemistry

Chem 330,332: Physical

Graduate course, U770: Statistical Thermodynamics and Kinetics

I am an amateur artist, emphasis on the amateur.

Significant publications since 2005:

     1.   Kariev, A. M., Green, M. E.: Voltage Gated Ion Channel Function: Gating, Conduction, andthe Role of Water and Protons Int’l J. Molec. Sci., 2012, 13:1680-1709.

2.               2.  Liao S, Green ME: Quantum calculations on salt bridges with water: Potentials, structure, and properties. Comput Theo Chem 2011, 963:207-214.

3.               3.   Green ME: Computer Simulations and Modeling Ion Channels. In: Essential Ion Channel Methods. Edited by Conn, P. M. Burlington: Academic Press; 2010: 179-207.

4.               4.  Kariev AM, Green ME: Quantum calculations on water in the KcsA channel cavity with permeant and non-permeant ions. Biochim Biophys Acta (Biomembranes) 2009, 1788:1188-1192.

5. Kariev AM, Green ME: Quantum mechanical calculations on selectivity in the KcsA channel: the role of the aqueous cavity. J Phys Chem B 2008, 112:1293-1298.
6. 
   
7. Green, M. E., A Possible Role For Phosphate In Complexing The Arginines Of S4 In Voltage Gated Channels J. Theor. Biol. 2005, 233, 337-341