White House honors local scientist

California Institute of Technology chemist and part-time Laguna Beach resident Peter Dervan was honored by President Bush last week at the White House, where he was awarded the National Medal of Science.

Dervan, who spends some of his time away from his Caltech research lab in his home on Crescent Bay, was among the eight scientists who were presented with the medal for 2006.

“It was a tremendous honor, kind of humbling really,” Dervan said.

Dervan wasn’t informed he’d be receiving the award until early July so he and his family had to shuffle around vacation plans to make the White House ceremony. They took a mini-vacation within a vacation and left Cape Cod to visit Washington, then resumed their trip afterward.

Dervan said he wasn’t too upset about having to leave Cape Cod in order to meet the president, who he said is warm and charismatic in person. Dervan said Bush was even funny, making self-effacing jokes as he mentioned how many “smart people” were present.

The citation congratulates Dervan for his “fundamental research contributions at the interface of organic chemistry and biology and for his influence in education and industrial innovation.”

In a process called gene transcription, Dervan fuses two fields of science by searching for chemical solutions to biological problems.

Dervan’s research is based on building molecules that can reprogram genetic material in cells. The molecules Dervan creates, which he described as an “ensemble of atoms,” can influence how genetic materials in a cell’s nucleus behave.

The eventual hope is to be able to fix cancerous cells by telling them to behave. Dervan has completed the process in a cell and says the next step is to try it in a living organism.

Dervan is a native of Boston and earned his undergraduate degrees at Boston College. He received his doctorate at Yale and began teaching at Caltech in 1973. He said lab work was one of the most enthralling things he had ever experienced as a young man.

“I found being in a research lab was like being at the race track,” Dervan said.

Dervan found Laguna Beach after visiting his mentor Arnold Beckman’s home in Corona Del Mar.

He said he is drawn to Laguna because of the artistic atmosphere. Dervan, whose Crescent Bay home is adorned with numerous works by local artists, compared chemists to artists.

Dervan said he hopes to retire to Laguna someday.

“When the research is done and we talk about settling down, it’ll probably be Laguna Beach.”