Jul23
Posted on Jul 23 by
Another summer of research is coming to a close, but not before we reach some important milestones. Our team of high school student researchers from Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School – Donnie, Melannie, Isabela, and Lee – did amazing work last week and shared their successes, challenges, and fun in their end-of-week presentations. Congrats and thank you to Moji, Zahra, Maddie, Ava, and all the undergraduate research students for being great mentors and for welcoming our friends at NDCR. To cap off the summer, the three research groups working with Dr. Ahmad, Dr. Lau, and Dr. Gerdon headed into Boston for a summer adventure. There were plenty of shenanigans at Putt Shack in Seaport and then lunch in the Seaport area. It was a great afternoon for a walk, so we trekked along the Greenway up to the North End for gelato and espresso before returning to campus. Now the students are knee-deep in data, preparing for their State of the Project reports on Friday. What a great...
Jul15
Posted on Jul 15 by
It has been an exciting week in the GRAB Lab! On Monday, we welcomed new friends to the group – a fantastic group of four high school students from Notre Dame Cristo Rey high school, led by Dr. Gian Grant. Melannie, Donnie, Isabella, and Lee are learning about chemistry research with Dr. Ahmad, Dr. Lau, and Dr. Gerdon and are especially working with the undergraduate research students. They are here for the week and we are excited for new experiments with them in the lab. Yesterday was the GRAB Lab alumni gathering and it was so great to see so many familiar faces back on campus and back in the neighborhood. Catching up with Chris, Sarah, Val, Vera, Keith, Jack, Kat, Krista, Bobby, Jake, Stephanie, Alex, Easwer, Rylie, Amanda, Grace, Dianna, Donalissa, Hailey, and the current research students was awesome. There were great stories from days past, updates on new chemistry, new jobs, and new awesome life events. Katerina brought me cookies from Arlington. What could be better? It was really great to see everyone and I very much...
Jul08
Posted on Jul 8 by
Who are these amazing research students who are in the lab this summer, doing awesome chemistry research, writing fun and engaging blog posts? Good question! It is time to get to know our Summer 2026 researchers, members of the GRAB Lab team, a little better. Describe your research project in 10 words. Georgia – Using DNA origami as a scaffold to make synthetic bone Moji – Isolate carbon dots and characterize them with dialysis/analytical methods Ann-Lee – Gold Nanoparticles with DNA effect on hydroxyapatite growth and structure Rob – Synthesizing and modifying gold nanoparticles to make them positively charged One word that describes you as a researcher. Georgia – Persistent Moji – Explorer Ann-Lee – Thorough Rob – Developing Favorite instrument or an instrument you use often. Georgia – TEM Moji – LC-MS Ann-Lee – Absorbance/Fluorescence Plate Reader Rob – Absorbance/Fluorescence Plate Reader Stay tuned for more questions and answers coming next...
Jul08
Posted on Jul 8 by
Congrats to Georgia Kazis and Hailey Young and the entire GRAB Lab research team on our new publication in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering! It was a lot of fun to return to work with DNA origami and to make practical use of it in preparing heirarchical structures for calcium phosphate mineralization. Great work by two exceptional researchers. Check out the article...
Jun26
Posted on Jun 26 by
This is Moji’s first summer research and she is investigating the fluorescence in polymeric carbon dots. After synthesizing PCDs from citric acid and urea, she made an unexpected discovery during the purification process of dialysis. The dialysis solution was supposed to be only waste products but turned out to be also fluorescent like the original crude synthesis sample. The surprising find raised a central question: is the glow now really coming from the carbon dots particles themselves, or from small molecule byproducts that slipped through the membrane? To find out, she is comparing three samples from crude PCDs, dialyzed PCDs, and the dialysis solution. She using various methods to characterize the three. Initial results suggest that maybe the small molecular fluorophores formed during the synthesis are responsible for some of the fluorescence that is typically attributed to PCDs. With new approaches and data still to come, she is excited to see where the glow...
Jun17
Posted on Jun 17 by
Ann-Lee has now entered her second year of research. This past month has gone smoothly, and she has definitely enhanced her analytical chemistry skills. From calibration curves to DNA attachment, you can say her results have an R^2 value of 0.999! She’s excited to wrap up this summer with getting final IR results to determine how certain factors can affect hydroxyapatite crystallinity. She is also getting the hang of ICP-AES to use for measuring the amount of gold in these mineral samples. She can’t wait for what comes next...
