Adjunct professors honored for 10 years of service

 

Adjunct professors George Nazaroff and Rita Harnish were honored this afternoon for 10 years of service to the university as instructors in our department. Nazaroff teaches the introduction  to chemistry lecture course for health science majors (CHEM-C 101), while Harnish typically teaches the accompanying laboratory class (CHEM-C 121). Adjunct faculty are vital to the operation of our department as they teach approximately half of our classes at the freshman level.  We are extremely grateful to all of our adjunct faculty for their excellent instruction of our students. Special thanks to Nazaroff and Harnish for laboring 10 years with us - and we hope that they will continue to teach at IU for many years to come.

Nanotechnology Track

Nanotechnology tracks are now available for both the biochemistry and chemistry majors at IU South Bend.  The tracks consists of the following three courses. The first two courses are offered this Fall 2018 semester with limited enrollment, so register now to ensure you get a spot in the class.

 

      CHEM-C 208 Problems and Reports (3 credits)
 

      CHEM-N 390 Nanotechnology (3 credits; this is an online course)
 

      BIOL-L 355 Introduction to Nanomedicine (3 credits)

 

The image above is taken from Ocsial's webpage.  Oscial (O C Si Al) is a chemical products company that produces nanomaterials for commercial applications. Single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) are just one of their products. Atoms have diameters of 1-5 angstroms but a carbon atom's diameter is about 1.5 angstroms or 0.15 nm so the SWCNT specified above has a diameter of about 10 atoms.  This doesn't look right based on the artist's drawing, so you should imagine that each carbon atom depicted is actually expanded in size until they touch each other in the chicken-wire hexagonal framework of the tube. Then it seems reasonable that about 10 atoms would span the diameter of the tube.

Consider a Ph.D. and learn about graduate school

 

Come learn about graduate school from the perspective of a current graduate student, an IU South Bend professor, and a director of graduate studies. Unlike your undergraduate education, a graduate school will typically pay for your studies in exchange for your efforts to help the department by teaching a few laboratory classes during the first few years before you engage in full-time research with your faculty mentor. The stipend can't compete with the salary of an industry job, but the experience and Ph.D. degree can make up for the difference in the long run.  The photograph below was taken during the presentation and shows biochemistry professor Shahir Rizk moderating the discussion.

Professor Rizk Publishes Research

Earlier this month, the Journal of Biological Chemistry published work done by biochemistry professor Shahir Rizk as part of team investigating ways to force proteins to adopt particular configurations. The two pictures shown above (click on image to enlarge) illustrate two different synthetic antibodies (blue) attaching themselves to the maltose-binding protein, MBP, (teal).  Because the antibodies are different, they bind to MBP in different spots and affect MBP in different ways. On the left we see the antibody holding MBP in its closed state after it has captured a molecule of maltose (red), while on the right the antibody is holding MBP in its open state.  Rizk continues to research interactions like this and has had many students help with this endeavor.  Some of these students have been supported by summer SMART grants. Congratulations to Rizk and his colleagues on their publication. You can read the abstract and access the full paper from this link using a university computer.

Student Outreach at the Public Library

Over the weekend the Biology-Chemistry Club conducted another outreach event at the River Park Library from 11:00 in the morning to 1:00 in the afternoon on Saturday. Our students led children through short and fun hands-on experiments to get the kids excited about science. The Biology-Chemistry Club has been very active over the years in this type of outreach and their efforts are sure to have lasting positive effects on the young future scientists that participate. Thanks to everyone who dedicate their time on the weekend to interact with the students - and their time prior to that to organize and prepare the event.

Research Experience for Undergraduates

 

Learning science is one thing, but actively doing science is another.  Would you like an experience beyond homework problems and routine laboratory experiments? Would you like to have a hand in scientific discoveries and advances? Would you like to get an edge over other students appling for graduate school or a job? Would you like to get paid for all of this?  If so, then an REU - or Research Experience for Undergraduates - may be for you. But these paid opportunities are competitive, so find out what they are, and what you need to do to apply, ASAP. Contact your favorite professor to learn more, watch out for announcements from the biology-chemistry club, and view this video from biochemistry professor Shahir Rizk.

We Have A Winner!

 

Congratulations to Alysha Muhleisen who won $100 for her video on why she loves biochemistry. Not surprisingly, Muhleisen is a biochemistry major, but a love for biochemistry is shared by faculty and students on our campus outside of the major: some of the contest videos were submitted by biology students and chemistry professor Matt Marmorino majored in biochemistry as an undergraduate.  To learn more about Muhleisen and why she loves biochemistry, please see her video on Facebook.