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...
Mar05
Posted on Mar 5 by
Gabby has made her way into the lab this semester! She became involved in Dr. Gerdon’s research team last semester and has finally started working on some QCM analysis. So far Gabby has measured the change in frequency compared to the change in resistance for several QCM crystals in a non-mass loading system. Once this initial experiment is done, Gabby will be moving on to some experiments that will involve mass loading which will require the analysis from this initial experiment. Gabby is looking forward to the rest of the semester and everything the lab has in store for her and the research...
Mar05
Posted on Mar 5 by
Rylie is very excited to start working in the lab this semester! In the fall, Rylie joined Dr. Gerdon’s research group after reading several literature papers and coming to group meetings. Now, she is working on gold nanoparticle synthesis using a new molecule, 3-mercaptobenzoic acid, as the organic group. Using the Azubel method, she hopes to be able to select for uniform nanoparticles of different sizes and eventually helping to build a library of nanoparticles. Rylie is looking forward to starting the research process and learning more about nanoparticle synthesis this...
Feb20
Posted on Feb 20 by
This semester, Logan is looking forward to expanding his technique in microfluidics by adding QCM (quartz crystal microbalance) into the mix. Adding QCM allows Logan to measure and calculate the amount of solid formed in the device during the experiment of calcium carbonate or calcium phosphate mineralization. However, Logan first needs to work with Dr. Gerdon on creating new QCM microfluidics devices in order to guarantee accurate readings and more reliable results. Logan looks forward to finishing the devices and running QCM microfluidics experiments with...
Feb13
Posted on Feb 13 by
After making progress last semester with intrafibrillar mineralization in the collagen hydrogels using Poly-Aspartic acid and DNA aptamers, Amanda is going to continue to make more hydrogels. This time, she will be mineralizing the gels with a lower concentration of poly-aspartic acid and two different DNA aptamers. Then, she will lyophilize the gels and take IR. Amanda is excited to see how these results compare to the data and SEM images from last...
