Feb18
Posted on Feb 18 by
It’s Gabby’s first week back in the lab since winter break and she is ready to get back to work on her QCM collagen project! With help, Gabby has finally managed to attach and form a collagen hydrogel on a QCM crystal. It was tricky getting that collagen to form and stick on the crystal, but we found that using a 37 ℃ water bath really helps! Now she is working on mineralizing the collagen with calcium phosphate. The first run of a new experiment always has some unexpected challenges but as you can see Gabby is excited and optimistic about the experiments...
Feb18
Posted on Feb 18 by
Experiment Prep! To start off this semester of research, Amanda has been planning an affinity experiment with Dr. Gerdon! She will be working with DNA aptamers and will be making more collagen hydrogels. Amanda has also been organizing data from the IR spectra that she collected last semester. She is preparing to get into the lab next week to get trained on the plate reader and to start the affinity experiment. Amanda can’t wait to get back into lab and do her first experiment of the...
Dec03
Posted on Dec 3 by
Dr. Gerdon is excited to share his recent work on the connections between chemistry and social justice with the research group and with educators across the world. Check out this post on the Department of Chemistry and Physics blog and check out the abstract...
Nov05
Posted on Nov 5 by
Since Amanda has returned to the lab a few weeks ago, she has been working on mineralizing collagen hydrogels. These are the first hydrogels she has made since last spring! She made four hydrogels and mineralized them in different solutions using poly-aspartic acid and DNA aptamers. Once she finishes her experiment, she will take IR of the hydrogels and will analyze the data. She’s excited to see her results, and she is so grateful to have the opportunity to be doing research in...
Oct29
Posted on Oct 29 by
Dianna has been working to optimize her gold nanoparticle synthesis process using three conditions: acidic (1), basic (2), and neutral (3). The samples all had different visual appearances: the acidic sample being the darkest brown color, the basic sample appearing super concentrated, and the neutral sample appearing yellow/green with some undissolved deposits. Using absorbance, DLS, and NMR, Dianna will get to further analyze these samples and determine where their differences stem...
Oct29
Posted on Oct 29 by
Since Gabby’s return to the lab she has been hard at work, developing a new experiment using collagen and QCM crystals! Gabby has come a long way in just four short weeks. As you can see, the left picture was Gabby’s first try making collagen ever, testing out different amounts to put on the collagen. The two right pictures are the collagen Gabby produced this week. Gabby’s experimentation with collagen has brought some challenges just like any new experiment would but we know that research is a steady climb. There may be fumbles along the way, but we are still moving...
