Bringing you the latest news from the Gerdon Research Group
Congrats to Dr. Jason Miech ’18 once again for the successful defense of PhD thesis in Chemistry in the School of Molecular Sciences at Arizona State University. Now there’s more exciting news that Jason will be starting a Post-doctoral Fellow program at NASA to continue his work in air quality assessment. Congrats...
Hailey’s been hard at work this semester trying to assemble larger structures from the six-helix bundle DNA origami. It can get a bit chilly when performing gel electrophoresis in the cold room, but at least the weather’s still warm! After a string of inconclusive attempts during the summer, she’s excited that she has finally has proof of attachment for one of the structures and hopefully will be seeing more soon! It may be her last year with the GRAB Lab but there’s still so much to look forward to for research, including the ACS conference and distinction in the field! Outside of research, she is aiming to explore more of Boston before she graduates, and is currently taking restaurant...
Welcome to campus! I’m working with a great group of first year students from the Class of 2027 in Principles of Chemistry I this semester and it has been wonderful to see them on their first few days on the Emmanuel College campus. I have a great group of upper level students the Chemistry of Brewing class and we have four senior research students in the lab this year – Hailey, Kristy, Donalissa, and Sydney. This kind of leadership in the research group is amazing and I’m expecting big things from them in their final year of research. We’re already planning for the Summer Research Poster Session and we’re busy writing abstracts for the Spring 2024 ACS Conference taking place in New Orleans. We’re off to a fast start. The lab has missed us over the past month, so back to the lab! Interested in getting involved in research? Let’s talk! ~Dr....
Summer research for 2023 is almost at its end! It has been a great summer and Hailey, Kristy, Donalissa, Juan, Marissa, and Gian have done a tremendous job collecting a ton of amazing data and finding a way through the challenging experiments and moments. We celebrated yesterday by taking the afternoon off to enjoy all that Boston has to offer and our afternoon experience was much like a summer of research. It began with a beautiful group picture in blue skies in sunshine. We enjoyed the Aquarium crowds while waiting for our Duck Boat ride. We enjoyed the sights and sounds of the city while being tourists on a crazy Duck Boat. Then came the storm. Sadly, we could not traverse the Charles River in the Duck Boat for fear of lightening. Dark days akin to challenging experiments. We sought shelter under the awnings of the Aquarium to watch the rain pour down over the Boston Harbor to the sounds of trumpeting seals. It was quite peaceful. Then came the mad dash through the rain to get to our...
The July tradition continued in the Fenway neighborhood this week. With the towers of Emmanuel keeping watch, research alumni from across New England (and across the country in spirit) gathered to meet the current research students, to share updates on life and chemistry, and to catch up with old friends. The alumni network feels more and more like an extended family as the years go by and it is wonderful to see such successful individuals and chemists. These students and former students have moved forward a vague research idea concocted years ago into a successful and fun research adventure – our own corner of the scientific endeavor. It was really great to see everyone and to toast your success. Please stay in...
A few weeks ago, Marissa had the pleasure of joining Dr. Gerdon at Harvard Medical School for some transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging of her gold nanoparticle samples. The TEM instrument is so tall that it could not fit into a single picture. She was able to observe how the samples were prepared and how to observe them to find the size of her samples. Though the instrument is a bit complicated to navigate, Marissa is hopeful to be able to use it more in the future for her upcoming mineralization...