Almuna Returns to Address Graduating Students

Our graduating chemistry and biochemistry seniors will soon be submitting reports and giving presentations over recent scientific research of their choice. To help prepare them with the presentation experience and to offer perspective about life after graduation, Professor Rizk invited alumna Hannah MacLeod to talk to them today. MacLeod is a 2017 biochemistry IU South Bend graduate and 2016 winner of the George V. Nazaroff Scholarship. She spoke to our senior seminar class about her job at Lebermuth where she started out as a quality control analyst but is now a regulatory specialist. MacLeod discussed her transition from schooling to work, how she got her job, what she does on the job, and even gave tips on writing a resume and cover letter for a job application.

Publication in the Journal of Chemical Education

Theoretical chemist Matt Marmorino published a letter in the Journal of Chemical Education this month concerning the tendency of a pair of electrons to get close or stay distant from each other. This short note concerns merely the angular correlation of an electron pair for the singlet (spin paired) and triplet (same spin) states of an atom like carbon with two electrons in its p-subshell. Although behavior was covered in a previous article in the journal, Marmorino expanded the analysis in order to provide a slightly more general and simpler description of the electron behavior. You can view the article HERE from our university subscription. Marmorino was very excited to work on this short project because he was able to generate some interesting pictures - which is not something he typically does in his routine computational attack of eigenvalue problems.

 

 

End of semester club activities

The Biology-Chemistry Club ended the Fall semester with an outreach event followed by a party. On Saturday (Dec 8), the weekend before final exams, club members met at the LaSalle branch of the public library for two hours to make slime and snow with children and their families to get them ready for the winter break and holidays. Once final exams were over on Thursday (Dec 13) evening, the club held a party at Langlab with free pizza and scientific trivia games as students rejoiced in their triumphs over the first semester of classes for the 2018-2019 academic year. We wish them all a restful break and an even better Spring semester in 2019.

Student Places in IU Undergraduate Research Conference

On the Friday before Thanksgiving, IUPUI hosted the 24th annual IU Undergraduate Research Conference. Biology major Pierre-Emmanuel N'Guetta travelled downstate to present his work over the past several years under his mentor and biochemistry professor Shahir Rizk. N'Guetta represented IU South Bend amazingly well and came in 3rd place for best poster from the entire IU system. He was first selected as one of the finalists and then was required to give an impromptu presentation in front of a panel of judges.  The title and abstract of his presentation are given below. Congratulations on a wonder performance!

Engineering a Fluorescent Biosensor for the Detection of Herbicide Glyphosate

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup and is used to kill weeds. Nowadays, glyphosate is the most popular herbicide used around the globe. It has been classified as a probable carcinogen. Several states are planning to restrict its use. Hence, there is a need for the development of detection methods for GP. The E. coli phosphonate binding protein naturally binds to GP, making it a good candidate for the development of a glyphosate fluorescent biosensor. This happens with a very low affinity limiting PhnD ability to detect low concentrations of GP. Our goal is to increase the affinity of PhnD for glyphosate. PhnD undergoes a conformational change upon binding to its ligand. We can take advantage of this conformational hange to develop PhnD into a fluorescent sensor for lyphosate, where a fluorescent reporter group is attached o PhnD. In this work, we introduced a mutation in the inding pocket of PhnD (E177N) that improved affinity by 100-fold. We also sought to take advantage of the equilibrium property by engineering antibody fragments that bind specifically to the closed form of PhnD. We utilized engineered antibody fragments (Fabs) to improve the affinity for GP. The Fabs were designed to stabilize the bound form of PhnD. Five Fabs were tested, one was found to increase affinity of GP to PND by an additional 10-fold. The combined effect of the mutation and the Fab result in a 1000-fold affinity enhancement, allowing the development of sensitive biosensors for GP pollution.

Two more events from the Biology-Chemistry Club

Our campus club continues in October with two more events. This Monday evening at 5:00 in room 125 of Northside Hall the club has arranged for biochemist Shahir Rizk to give a talk about graduate school - one possible avenue to consider after graduation. His talk is directed to sophomores and juniors to discuss what students can do to gain experiences that will give them an advantage over other applicants.  Undergraduate research, tutoring, and club membership are just some activities to consider. 

This weekend the club has another community outreach event planned - again at the River Park branch of the public library. This time they celebrate National Chemistry Week with the theme of "Stellar Science". National Chemistry Week is held each October during the week of the 23rd because the date 10/23 symbolizes the "power" of one of the most important constants in chemistry: Avogadros' number, 6.022´10^23. The fun starts at 11:00 AM, so please stop by with a younger family member and let them see just how exciting science can be.

Addendum:  Here are a few photos of our students just after setup, waiting for the kids to arrive. This is a great experience for the kids and also our students.

 

Students present summer research in Indianapolis

This Friday morning, students and faculty boarded a bus early in the morning to take them to the 2018 Indiana LSAMP Annual Research Conference. The one-day event was held in Indianapolis at the Ivy Tech Community College Culinary and Conference Center. While chemistry professor Grace Muna participated in a panel discussion on serving as a faculty mentor for the LSAMP program and biology professor Andy Schnabel served as a faculty facilitator, the real stars were the summer research students who showcased the work they had completed as LSAMP scholars. Presenting research at a conference to faculty and peers is a valuable experience and is a great way to celebrate and formally conclude one's research project.  Congratulations to all the students who attended.

Giovanna Gorski - Computer Science Major

vCARE: Application of Geotagging to Improve Delivery of Public Health Services

Winnie Ihano - Biochemistry Major (with Dr. Rizk)
Characterization of Adenosine Deaminase (ADA) Mutants in Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID)

Stacey Jean-Baptiste - Biological Sciences Major (with Dr. Muna)
Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Aminothiols Using Modified Electrodes with Gold Nanoparticles

Jessica Jones - Biological Sciences Major
Effects of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi on Plant Grown and Survival

Jones, Keon - Biological Sciences Major
The Effect of EF-P Post-translational Modifications on Cell Physiology in E. coli
Jones also participated in a panel discussion about the student perspective of undergraduate research.

David Mitchell - Biological Sciences Major
Pollinator Diversity and Abundance in Neighboring Urban Wetlands2

Christian Moreno - Chemistry Major (with Dr. Marmorino)
Development of a Tool to Operate on Periodic Trends

Pierre-Emmanuel N’Guetta - Biological Sciences Major (with Dr. Rizk)
Engineering a FABulous Fluorescent Glyphosate Biosensor Using Phosphate-binding Protein (PhnD)

Library display

The Schurz library has chosen to highlight chemistry this year for the month of October - so no, that's not a Halloween ghost in the right side of the display cabinet, but rather a chemistry lab coat.  But just like Halloween, chemistry is "out of this world", which is the theme this year set by the American Chemical Society for National Chemistry Week of October 21-27. Keep a lookout for a future post in which students from the Biology-Chemistry Club hold an outreach event at the local public library for kids.  Thanks to Assistant Dean (and inorganic chemist) Bill Feighery and Vice Chancellor (and organic chemist) Doug McMillen for setting up the library display.