Natalie Foster

Professor Emeritus
(610) 758-3646
Seeley G. Mudd, Room 697
Research Interests: 
intermolecular interactions of porphyrins
conformational change in the polymers
guest-host complexes
Teaching Interests: 
technology assisted learning
spectral analysis

We have a long-standing interest in the behavior of porphyrins as potential diagnostic and therapeutic agents for the detection and treatment of malignancy. Currently we are studying the intermolecular interactions of porphyrins: their self-aggregation in aqueous media that leads to chiral arrays; their association with polymeric co-solutes in a manner that leads to template assisted conformational change in the polymers; the stoichiometry of their association with b -cyclodextrins and the structure and dynamics of the resultant guest-host complexes.

I'm interested in using the available technology to change the way students receive and respond to information. In the large introductory course for freshmen, we're using Blackboard heavily to manage class notes, laboratory exercises for the studio, and weekly quizzes. We've changed the format of the class to incorporate a studio that is a combination of laboratory and recitation and gives the students in the class more direct experience than they had in the previous class with translating observations and theories into chemical statements describing the behavior of matter. Within the confines of the Clipper Project on campus, we have also produced a version of introductory chemistry built around modules containing, text, audio and video materials as well as embedded quizzes, that can be used asynchronously over the web by students on or off campus. At the graduate level, I teach a class in spectral analysis in which we have been experimenting with combinations of satellite TV, streaming video and web-mounted materials to deliver graduate level education to students on and off campus.

Selected Publications:

K.A. Fliszar, B.T. Hill, N.Foster: 2007. Predicting Human Drug Pharmacokinetics from In Vitro Permeability Using an Absorption–Disposition Model.Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2007, 1. 

C. Z. Matthews, R. Subramanian, E. J. Woolf, N. Foster, B. K. Matuszewski: (submitted 2004 ) Study of the Photolysis Products of Etoricoxib Using HPLC-UV-Fluorescence, HPLC-MS/MS, NMR and HPLC-NMR. Die Pharmazia.

J. Waller and N. Foster: 2000 . Training via the Web: A Virtual Instrument. Computers and Education, (35), 161-167.

L. Stephans, N. Foster. 1998 . Magnetization Transfer NMR Analysis of Aqueous Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) Gels: Effect of Hydrolysis and Storage Temperature on Network Formation. Macromolecules 31 (5), 1644-1651.