Getting Crafty!
Dr. Gerdon’s been hanging out in the Emmanuel College Discovery Lab to craft up some great gear for the seniors! Who needs a beaker mug? Every chemist! Who needs a beaker mug with the GRAB Lab logo? These amazing graduating...
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Recent news More posts »Seniors, Seniors, Seniors – May 2025
There’s just so much to say about the Seniors! Graduation is just a few steps away, but we’ve been over-busy for the past month finishing up experiments, preparing for final presentations, and passing on knowledge to new researchers. Congrats to… Dennis Nguyen ’25 for his amazing work with gold nanoparticles, size-selective synthesis, and aptamer attachment! Mia Mullen ’25 for her impressive work with formulations to make lipid nanoparticles “less sticky” – it worked! Marissa Diplacido ’25 for her engaging, fun, and funny Distinction in the Field talk on “Zwitterionic Ligand Gold Nanoparticle Synthesis Produces Biomimetic Templates to Control Calcium Phosphate Mineralization” Juan Alejandro ’25 for exceptional work as a QCM expert and Distinction in the Field talk on “Quartz crystal microbalance analysis of collagen mineralization demonstrates reaction kinetics, mass deposition, and hydrogel rigidity” On a beautiful spring day the group came together for a picture under the blooming trees of Emmanuel College, then retired to Time Out for ice cream and the sharing of wisdom. The seniors had great advice and encouragement for our researchers moving into the lab...
ACS Spring 2025 – San Diego Sunshine, Tacos, and Proud Chemists
Congratulations to the entire GRAB Lab team on a very successful, enlightening, and inspiring trip to San Diego for the ACS National Conference. The impressive amount of chemistry can be overwhelming at times but this group of undergraduate researchers did an amazing job sharing their hard work with the chemistry community and the world. We made some fantastic connections and got some great new ideas. These students are professionals who are learning and contributing all at the same time. We also enjoyed the sunshine, cherry blossoms, botanical gardens, tacos, more tacos, and more chemistry. Congrats to these researchers and their awesome presentations: Juan Alejandro ’25 – Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) analysis of collagen mineralization demonstrates reaction kinetics, mass deposition, and hydrogel rigidity Marissa Diplacido ’25 – Zwitterionic Ligand Gold Nanoparticle Synthesis Produce Biomimetic Templates to Control Calcium Phosphate Mineralization (you had me at “zwitterion”…) Dennis Nguyen ’25 – Mineralization of Calcium Phosphate with Different-Sized and Aptamer-Attached Gold Nanoparticles Georgia Kazis ’27 – Assembly and analysis of DNA origami arrays as biomimetic scaffolds for calcium phosphate mineralization Dr. Gerdon joined the...
Marissa Diplacido ’25 – Finally at mineralization (only took 2 years!)
After returning from spring break, Marissa finished up the poster she is presenting at the ACS Conference in San Diego. She also wrapped up her final mineralization experiment on her current place exchanged nanoparticles so she can shift her complete focus into completing her Distinction in the Field paper and presentation. As graduation approaches, she has started the job search and planning for what comes when she unfortunately departs from GRAB Lab. She is hopeful that she will find employment somewhere exciting! As she reminisces on her research, she is excited for what the future holds beyond her undergraduate...
Aren Gerdon – Pittcon 2025!
Dr. Gerdon had a great day at Pittcon Conference + Exposition in Boston last week! Thanks to Dr. Michelle Kovarik for the invitation to present in the Future of Analytical Chemistry Education session. It was great to share our work at Emmanuel College (Boston) on social justice in the chemistry...
Mia Mullen ’25 – A Sticky Situation
After making it through half the spring semester, Mia is making progress with her research. The lipid nanoparticle powder proved to be difficult to work with at first, but after identifying the usefulness of sucrose, the process is slowly coming along. Originally the pure and dry lipid nanoparticles were too sticky and did not grind well into a powder. Upon the addition of sucrose before the freezing and drying process, the powder became finer and more crystalline allowing for a more identifiable fingerprint under fluorescence. Mia hopes that she will find the ideal amount of sucrose to be added to the lipid nanoparticles for effective and clear application to fingerprints. With the end of the spring semester quickly approaching, Mia looks forward to job searching and hopefully securing a job soon after...