Aug04
Posted on Aug 4 by
Each year Emmanuel College GRAB Lab research alumni from across Boston return to the Fenway neighborhood to gather together. We get to hear about new chemistry and career successes and new life adventures. With 12 years of research alumni gathering together, it is also a great networking event. We all share a common enterprise and experience in analytical, materials, biomineralization, microfluidics, DNA aptamer, and sensor development and we like to help each other out. Every year it is a wonderful time to reconnect and this year was no different, except that it was very different! The Zoom Edition of this gathering was a huge success for all the same reasons as in previous years. An added bonus this year is that it was easy for alumni from across Boston and from across the country to join in. We heard from alumni in Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, and New England. It was great to see...
Jul21
Posted on Jul 21 by
Members of the research team have, sadly, not been in the lab this summer, but we have continued to meet and work on literature over the summer via Zoom. These meetings have gotten a little more exciting due to visits from two distinguished alumni. In June, Aimee Sanford ’16, graduate student in chemistry at Emory University, joined our meeting to talk about her path from Emmanuel through the CDC and into graduate school. Her work on DNA aptamers was great to hear about in comparison to our own work. In July, Krista Meserve ’18, graduate student in chemistry at University of Michigan, joined to talk about her path from Emmanuel through industry and into graduate school. Krista’s new projects in bioanalytical sensor development sound amazing! We really appreciate the time that Aimee and Krista put into preparing their presentations and sharing with us. You’re both awesome chemists and amazing Emmanuel alumni! Here are some throwback pictures from old blog posts – thanks Aimee and...
Jul07
Posted on Jul 7 by
The GRAB Lab and Dr. Gerdon would like to say a huge congratulations to Dr. Kayla Vasconcellos, D.M.D.! Kayla graduated summa cum laude from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine this year and is now a general practice resident at the Weill Cornell Campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital. Kayla has come a long way from nanoparticle synthesis, taking NMRs, and running mineralization experiments. Her work in the lab is still amazing and we took a look at her publication in group meeting today. Congrats Dr....
May18
Posted on May 18 by
A historic semester has come to a close! We are very proud of all the hard work that students did in a remote setting in the second half of the semester. That did put a damper on research progress, but we have been able to stay in touch as a research group and help each other along the way. We will pick things back up this summer and fall as soon as allowed. We will miss our senior researchers and want to say a very big thank you to Steph, Alex, and Kassidy for all of their hard work in research. They’ve moved the calcium carbonate and collage research forward tremendously. The three graduates have now joined an elite group of GRAB Lab research alumni! Congratulations Class of...
Apr21
Posted on Apr 21 by
What does a scientist without a lab do? Undergraduate researchers at Emmanuel College are no different than any other chemist out there. We miss the lab! This can be difficult to deal with, for sure. Here’s some great advice from Dr. Zoe Ayres: https://twitter.com/ZJAyres/status/1242088285217972225/photo/1 So, we stay connected with an occasional Zoom group meeting, work on writing up methods sections, plan for future experiments for when we’re back in the lab, and read some of that literature that’s been stacking up. It is not the same as lab time, but we will get through this together! Thank you to the GRAB Lab for being such a great team....
Mar21
Posted on Mar 21 by
Congratulations to undergraduate students and chemistry alumni on their recent article published in Analytica Chimica Acta titled “Selected DNA aptamers as hydroxyapatite affinity reagents“. This work has been a long time in the making beginning with the origins of our SELEX work by Hillary Butts and Samantha Watson. This particular selection was initiated by Jack Florek, carried forward by Emma Duffy, and validated by Stephanie Colon – all authors on the paper. It is a true “bright spot” (because of fluorescence) for the GRAB Lab and for Emmanuel College. This work was supported by Emmanuel College and by the National Science Foundation, Division of Materials Research (DMR...
