Several members of the Haas group, and our collaborator Dr. Dominic Babinni, traveled to Stanford, CA to spend five days at the Synchrotron. Our long-time collaborator, Dr. Jake Pushie, met us there where he organized and delivered a comprehensive workshop on X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The whole group took shifts on the beam line so that … Continue reading Bio-XAS at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL)
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The Haas and Corcelli groups are collaborating to tackle exciting problems in bioinorganic chemistry! This week, Dr. Steve Corcelli and his group held an intimate workshop to train Notre Dame and Saint Mary's researchers to use Amber16 to conduct Molecular Dynamics Simulations. Thank you, to Dr. Corcelli and graduate students Cory Ayres and Shelby Brantley … Continue reading Amber Boot Camp! Corcelli Group trains SMC researchers to use Molecular Dynamics (MD) Simulation
Students in CHEM 342 (Bioinorganic Chemistry and Material) learned fundamental concepts of inorganic and biological chemistry through a comprehensive project. Each student chose a bioinorganic system to study throughout the semester. Their task: apply fundamental inorganic and biological chemistry concepts to understand how their particular system works... then, teach their classmates and THE WORLD about … Continue reading Bioinorganic Chemistry in 3D!
The Department of Chemistry and Physics has broken new ground on campus by integrating undergraduate research fully into our Chemistry Majors' curriculum! The new "Pro-Lab" course for juniors and seniors now involves authentic, open-ended research projects! We've just finished this semester's first project after 8 weeks, and we've made exciting new discoveries about the human copper transporter! … Continue reading ProLab: Undergraduate Research in the Curriculum!
Saint Mary's student, Emma Bridgman, spent ten weeks exploring life as a chemistry researcher at Duke Univeristy. Emma is working in the Franz lab with graduate student, Steven Conklin to understand the antibiotic properties of human Histatin peptides. She is studying how copper works with Histatin to kill fungus. When Emma returns to us in … Continue reading Emma explores life as a Duke chemistry researcher!!
Scientific research is all about hard-working people, working together to solve really important problems! We've engaged in a new collaboration with the Bal Lab at the Polish Academy of Sciences. Dr. Haas spent 8 weeks in Warsaw, Poland this summer on a mini research sabbatical! It was a wonderful experience and together we made some important discoveries about extracellular Cu … Continue reading A scientist abroad!
Virtuoso Distillery in South Bend, IN is serious about their separation science! These two columns are fractional distillation columns, just like the ones we use in the chemistry lab at Saint Mary's College (except a tad bigger). When I arrived, Virtuoso was "rescuing" a bad batch of wine by isolating its ethanol to make vodka!
This one is for the smart, brave women in CHEM 342 who shared their experiences as women in STEM today in a class discussion. One of the places we landed was a discussion about imposter syndrome. What is it? Why does it exist? How do we overcome it? Here are some good places to start in answering these questions: … Continue reading What is Imposter Syndrome?
This was Christina's first day in lab! Christina comes to us from Marian High School in Mishawaka, IN. She is interested in understanding the relationship between copper and human disorders, like Alzheimer's Disease. Her first mission: regenerate the Coy anaerobic atmosphere. Mission Accomplished!
Alumni, Erin Reinhart, is interning at NEB this summer before she is off to Dartmouth College for her doctoral studies in Chemistry. I was invited to give a talk about our research and I got the opportunity to visit Erin and her research advisor, Lana Saleh. WOW! NEB is an amazing place with amazing people … Continue reading A visit to science utopia: New England Biolabs!
