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Analytical and Biomaterials Undergraduate Chemistry Research

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Aug02

Summer Research 2019 – Contemplation on the Water

Posted on Aug 2 by

Summer research for 2019 is coming to a close and student State of the Project Reports are on the immediate horizon. These reports and presentations are a great opportunity for student researchers, Alex, Stephanie, and Easwer, to dive into data analysis and to do their best to explain their results from the summer. This is not always an easy task, but some time for reflection on the Charles River always helps. The group encountered a significant obstacle this year known as cyanobacteria…. In hopes of avoiding a rash, we made the trek up-river to the Harvard neighborhood where the waters were cleaner. It was a beautiful day on the river. Now on to those...

Aug02

New microscopy – Chemistry contributes to NSF MRI award

Posted on Aug 2 by

A proposal to the National Science Foundation titled ” MRI: Acquisition of a High Resolution Scanning Electron Microscope to Enhance Research Collaborations and Educational Needs among Colleges and Universities in the New England Area” has been approved for funding! This grant brings over $425,000 to Colleges and Universities in the New England area for the purchase of a top of the line Scanning Electron Microscopy instrument. Chemists at Emmanuel College contributed to this proposal and Emmanuel College is listed as a major user of the new instrument. This means that undergraduate students at Emmanuel will have new access to amazing materials characterization tools useful in chemistry, biology, neuroscience, and more. The instrument will be hosted at UMass Boston. Congrats to the Primary Investigators and to all student researchers. See the award post here....

Jul10

Research Alumni and Students Nucleate in the Fenway

Posted on Jul 10 by

GRAB Lab research alumni and current research students met for an annual gathering (nucleation?) in the Fenway neighborhood. It is great to see some familiar faces and to hear about the progress and success that chemistry research alumni are making. Current students get to hear about what lies ahead in the “real world” and former researchers get to hear about what’s happening with mineralization and malaria research today. It is an annual event that everyone looks forward to and draws alumni from the past decade. Thank you all for coming out to catch up and to play a few games of ping-pong, pool, and shuffle board too. Best of luck to all on new adventures in the coming...

Jul09

Easwer Raman – Enamored by chromatography

Posted on Jul 9 by

Easwer is new to the team and has spent his summer synthesizing and experimenting with the conjugation of an antibody to a porphyrin nanoparticle. He has been learning how to use instruments such as Dynamic Light Scattering, Probe Sonication, and Anodic Stripping Voltammetry and is excited to learn more. He has been learning a new method for purification called Size Exclusion Chromatography, which will be helpful when differentiating and identifying different molecules involved in the experiment. Easwer is trying SEC for the first time and was enamored by the settling particles in the...

Jun17

Publication! Congrats to student authors

Posted on Jun 17 by

Selected DNA aptamers influence kinetics and morphology in calcium phosphate mineralization Congrats to Jake, Alex, Krista, and Jason on their recent publication in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering! This is exciting work that elucidates the structure-function relationship between DNA aptamers and calcium phosphate mineralization. Great work GRAB LAB, now let’s build on that to see what comes next! Check out the abstract here:...