Professor Charles Drain has an h-factor of 34, demonstrating his international reputation in research. His research develops novel approaches to materials and biochemical problems to meet societal needs sustainably. Notable, his approaches are commercially viable. His research is featured on several international publication covers and used by the NSF as an example. His lab's research focuses on innovative applications of chromophores for commercial technologies like photovoltaic coatings. His research includes new tools for biochemistry research, sugar-coated dyes as diagnostics and therapeutics, photonic materials, molecular electronics, and radiolabeled nanoparticles for cancer treatment. He has seminal papers with three Nobel laureates and is considered a pioneer in self-organized molecular

1. Professor Charles Michael Drain has one of the greatest h-factors in the physical sciences at Hunter
College (h=34, a measure of citations/paper), which attests to his well-established international
reputation in research. His research presents creative and novel approaches to materials and biochemical
problems that address some of the great challenges in science today to meet societal needs with reduced
environmental impacts. Notably, these approaches are commercially viable. Another indication of the
broad impact of professor Drain’s research is that it is featured on the cover of several international
publications including Chemical & Engineering News, the scientific publication with the largest circulation
in the world. The National Science Foundation uses his work as an example of supramolecular chemistry.
The common theme in The Drain lab’s research portfolio is the creative applications of chromophores
(dyes) to develop innovative technologies that have commercial potential; most recently these are for
urban photovoltaic coatings for windows and for clickable labeling of biomolecular systems. The research
in the Drain lab includes: (1) new tools for biochemical research as “trackers” and systems for single
molecule fluorescence patented by CUNY and commercialization by Chlorophore, LLC; (2) new sugar
coated dyes as theranostics (diagnostic and therapeutic), which he and collaborators are working on to
get into clinical trials; (3) new photonic materials for sensors, solar energy harvesting, and understanding
the fundamental physical processes underlying the functions; (4) hybrid materials for molecular
electronics; (5) radiochemistry and applications of radiolabeled nanoparticles for cancer diagnostics and
treatment in collaboration with Drs. Moritz Kircher and Jan Grimm at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Dr. Drain
has seminal papers with three different Nobel Laureates: R.B. Merrifield for new approaches to
antibiotics, J.-M. Lehn for new approaches to self-organized dyes, and E.R. Kandel for new RNA probes for
in vivo biochemical studies. In many ways, one can consider his seminal 1989 paper in the Proceeding of
the National Academy of Sciences as the starting point for the design and evaluation self-organized
molecular devices and photonics, of which there are now many thousands of papers.
Highlights of each topic are given here. Synthetic chemistry: The click chemistry on porphyrins (related
to chlorophyll and hemoglobin cofactors) and phthalocyanines (commercial dyes) that the Drain lab
developed are now so widely used that his former doctoral student, Xianchang Gong, started a company,
Huhu Technology, Inc. to manufacture and marked the core dye platforms. His development of an
environmentally friendly method to make the porphyrins is now used commercially and even in
undergraduate teaching labs. Therapies and diagnostics: though he did not come up with the idea of ‘sugar
coating’ photodynamic therapeutics for cancer, his key insight for this was to make them stable to in vivo
conditions. The Biochemistry paper with David Foster is highly cited (>160 times), shows the effectiveness
of the approach. There are now several dozen international labs using this strategy to develop new
therapeutics for cancer, bacterial infections, and biochemistry. Photonic Materials. Photosynthesis, the
basis for all life on earth, provides inspiration for the new organic photonic materials made in Mike’s lab.
These are designed for urban applications as transparent coatings on windows, and this highly creative
and innovative approach is featured on two journal covers. Molecular electronics. Mike and his
collaborator James Batteas at Texas A&M and the National Institute of Standards and technology (NIST)
have recently reported the first example of an organic molecular device that has the properties of a
Coulomb blockade – electrons moving though the device in single file. Radiolabeled nanoparticles for
molecular imaging and therapy. Chelator-free nanoparticles for intrinsic radiolabeling are highly desirable
for whole-body imaging and therapeutic applications. Drs. Drain, Grimm, and Kircher, reported that
amorphous silica nanoparticles serve as general substrates for chelator-free radiolabeling and
demonstrated their ability to bind six medically relevant isotopes of various oxidation states with high
radiochemical yield. These are stable in vivo and the binding correlates with the hardness of the
radioisotope. Intrinsically labeled silica nanoparticles prepared by this approach demonstrate excellent in
vivo stability and efficacy in lymph node imaging.

2. The education and training of women and underrepresented minorities in the physical sciences continues
to be a hallmark of Drain’s research program because of his vigorous, proactive recruiting and mentoring
of both minority and non-minority students (Chemical & Engineering News). He has mentored over 30
minority undergraduates, five minority graduate students, one minority postdoc. In turn, they serve as
mentors, leaders, and have a large impact on the scientific community across the USA. His success in this
endeavor was acknowledged by his nomination for the American Chemical Society Award for Encouraging
Disadvantaged Students into Careers in the Chemical Sciences.