Karen M Holman

Professional Interests

In Prof. Karen Holman's research group, students investigate fundamental chemical reactions of ruthenium anti-cancer drugs and carry out biochemical studies related to the mechanisms of action of this class of metal-based chemotherapeutics. For a brief overview of her research topic, watch the TED Talk she gave at TEDxSalem in 2017!

Students use spectroscopic methods to determine the early reactions that these drugs undergo as soon as they are dissolved in water, as well as chemical reactions relevant to the hours that follow drug administration to the patients.  Prof. Holman has a long-standing collaboration with Prof. Sarah Kirk, where students study interactions of ruthenium-based drugs with RNA. Ruthenium-RNA interactions have also been studied in collaboration with Dr. Victoria DeRose at the University of Oregon. In 2011, Dr. Holman, Dr. DeRose and their students published the first study that established binding of a Ru-based drug to RNA in cells. Karen Holman and her students have also collaborated with Prof. Chuck Williamson in the department and Dr. Robert Szilagyi at Montana State University.

In addition to using in-house spectroscopic techniques (NMR, UV-Vis, FTIR, and Raman), students in the Holman research group have employed X-ray absorption spectroscopy in past years. That work was carried out at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource at the SLAC National Accelerator Center (beamlines 6-2, 4-3, 10-1 and 7-3) and at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (beamline 9.3.1). Dr. Holman served a three-year elected term on the Executive Committee of the SSRL Users’ Organization (2006-09).

Dr. Karen McFarlane Holman is one of three faculty members from the Willamette Chemistry Department to be named Oregon Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Read more about her and other Willamette professors who have earned this award.

Personal Interests

Dr. Holman enjoys spending time with her kids and playing punk rock on her 1971 Gibson Les Paul (check out her current bands City of Pieces and Hot Sheets). She is a DJ on the local community radio station KMUZ, and a podcaster for the show Cool Sheets. She loves traveling, wild water swimming, scuba diving, kayaking, hiking, and she practices meditation and yoga.

You might recognize her sweet Corgi, Griffin, as he visits the Willamette campus regularly.