Mar14

Rylie Bolarinho ’22 – One Year Away from the Lab

Posted on Mar 14 by

Rylie is very excited to finally come back to the research lab after being away for almost one year! When she left the lab, Rylie had just finished her first nanoparticle synthesis using mercaptobenzoic acid. Since she has come back to campus, Rylie has already completed two syntheses that are ready to be analyzed using NMR. She is hopeful that these new syntheses show the presence of nanoparticles, so she can use TEM to further analyze her samples. This semester Rylie is hopeful to perfect her nanoparticle synthesis and possibly begin a new affinity...

Feb25

Julia Japo ’23 – Gabby’s Shadow

Posted on Feb 25 by

It is Julia’s second week in the lab. She has been shadowing Gabby in regard to her work with QCM (Quartz Crystal Microbalance) measurements of collagen mineralization. Julia has worked on preparing calcium phosphate solutions necessary to mineralize collagen! She is excited to learn as much as she can and possibly start her own project in the...

Feb18

Gabby Zabala ’21 – Excited and Optimistic about Research

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

Amanda Gilbert ’22 – Planning a New Experiment

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

Social Justice and Chemistry

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

Amanda Gilbert ’22 – IR Analysis

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...