Patricia Dove

About

Patricia M. Dove is a University Distinguished Professor and the C.P. Miles Professor of Science at Virginia Tech, with her office located in Derring Hall. Her research focuses on understanding how organisms nucleate and grow crystalline and amorphous materials within their tissues to produce functional structures such as skeletons, shells, teeth, and other hard parts. Her experimental studies investigate the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of crystal nucleation and growth, specifically how functional groups and residues attached to polysaccharides, proteins, and other macromolecules influence the timing, placement, and polymorph of crystallization. Her work aims to elucidate the physical basis of biological crystallization and has applications in designing and synthesizing crystal-organic composite materials for drug delivery, tissue engineering, pharmaceuticals, and energy industries.

Research topics

• Organic chemistry
• Chemistry
• Chemical engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Environmental chemistry
• Crystallography
• Biochemistry
• Chromatography
• Mineralogy
• Materials science

Selected publications

• The Role of Chemistry in Fracture Pattern Development and Opportunities to Advance Interpretations of Geological Materials

  Reviews of Geophysics · 2019-08-22 · 319 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Fracture pattern development has been a challenging area of research in the Earth sciences for more than 100 years. Much has been learned about the spatial and temporal complexity inherent to these systems, but severe challenges remain. Future advances will require new approaches. Chemical processes play a larger role in opening‐mode fracture pattern development than has hitherto been appreciated. This review examines relationships between mechanical and geochemical processes that influ…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Oxide– and Silicate–Water Interfaces and Their Roles in Technology and the Environment

  Chemical Reviews · 2023 · 186 citations

  Interfacial reactions drive all elemental cycling on Earth and play pivotal roles in human activities such as agriculture, water purification, energy production and storage, environmental contaminant remediation, and nuclear waste repository management. The onset of the 21st century marked the beginning of a more detailed understanding of mineral aqueous interfaces enabled by advances in techniques that use tunable high-flux focused ultrafast laser and X-ray sources to provide near-atomic measur…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Metastable solubility and local structure of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC)

  Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · 2020 · 67 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A new method for<i>in situ</i>structural investigations of nano-sized amorphous and crystalline materials using mixed-flow reactors

  Acta Crystallographica Section A Foundations and Advances · 2019-08-23 · 25 citations

  articleOpen access

  Structural investigations of amorphous and nanocrystalline phases forming in solution are historically challenging. Few methods are capable of in situ atomic structural analysis and rigorous control of the system. A mixed-flow reactor (MFR) is used for total X-ray scattering experiments to examine the short- and long-range structure of phases in situ with pair distribution function (PDF) analysis. The adaptable experimental setup enables data collection for a range of different system chemistrie…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Composition Systematics in the Exoskeleton of the American Lobster, Homarus americanus and Implications for Malacostraca

  Frontiers in Earth Science · 2019-04-05 · 22 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Studies of biominerals from the exoskeletons of lobsters and other crustaceans report chemical heterogeneities across disparate body parts that have prevented the development of composition-based environmental proxy models. Anecdotal evidence, however, suggests underlying composition systematics may exist in the mineral component of this biocomposite material. We test this idea by designing a protocol to separately extract the mineral (amorphous calcium carbonate plus calcite) and organic (chiti…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Unraveling the Complexity of Biosilicification Processes: Kinetic and Thermodynamic Controls of Organic Substrates on the Nucleation of Amorphous Silica

  NSF · $220k · 2006–2010

• Establishing a Baseline for Kinetic and Thermodynamic Origins of Vital Effects: The Interplay of Factors that Control Mg and Sr Signatures in Calcite

  NSF · $380k · 2005–2009

• Calcification by amorphous pathways: Establishing effects of acidification and interplays with Mg and biomolecule chemistry

  NSF · $419k · 2011–2015

Frequent coauthors

• James J. De Yoreo

  Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

  73 shared

• A. F. Wallace

  Duke University

  28 shared

• N. Han

  23 shared

• James J. DeYoreo

  Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

  23 shared

• A. E. Stephenson

  Virginia Tech

  23 shared

• G. V. Gibbs

  Virginia Tech

  21 shared

• Kevin M. Rosso

  Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

  18 shared

• Anthony S. Wierzbicki

  St Thomas' Hospital

  18 shared

Labs

• Dove, PatriciaPI

Awards & honors

• 2022 International Mineralogical Association Medal for Excel…
• 2017 Thomas Jefferson Medal for Outstanding Contributions to…
• 2014 Dana Medal, Mineralogical Society of America
• 2014 Hall of Distinction, Virginia Tech College of Science
• 2013 Governor of Virginia Outstanding Scientist Award

Similar researchers at Virginia Tech

• Sterling Nesbitth-70
• Robert J. Bodnarh-69
• W. Steven Holbrookh-57