Associate Professor Grace Muna (second from the left) has three students working in her laboratory this summer on different projects. Brianna Jones (far left) and Andrew Vila (far right) will both be juniors next year. Jones is a chemistry major and plans to go to pharmacy school when she graduates. Vila is a biology major and is considering to pursue an MD-PhD degree. Chris Mochel (second from the right) is a rising senior in chemistry who plans to attend graduate school. Jones, Mochel, and Vila have been working hard all summer and are currently preparing posters to present the results of their fruitful labor for all to see on the walls of the chemistry hall (and possibly a conference next semester). The students describe their individual research projects as follows:
Brianna Jones (funded by an LSAMP grant)
My research project is aimed at developing analytical methods that will be used to analyze the nutritional value of conventional and organic blueberries and compare them. To do this end, I have been working on developing a calorimetric method to determine phenolic compounds in the blueberries, as well as a microwave plasma atomic emission spectroscopy method to determine mineral content in the blueberries. The question we are trying to answer is whether there is any difference in nutritional values between conventional and organic blueberries. The developed analytical methods are being used to analyze and compare organic and conventional blueberries for their phenolic and mineral content.
Christopher Mochel (funded by a SMART grant)The goal of my research, “Detecting Aminothiols in Biological Samples”, is to develop methods that can measure the concentrations of cysteine, homocysteine, and glutathione. These aminothiols are important biomarkers found in the human body and having too much or too little of any or all of these aminothiols can indicate vulnerability to a wide range of diseases. We are working on developing a colorimetric method to measure total aminothiols in urine by utilizing the ability of aminothiols to reduce iron(III) to iron(II) which complexes with o-phenathroline to form a colored complex. To selectively measure aminothiols in urine and plasma we are developing a method that combines HPLC with electrochemical methods using glassy carbon electrodes modified with gold nanoparticles.
Andrew Vila (funded by an LSAMP grant)
We are currently working on a project to compare different methods of depositing bismuth nanoparticle films on glassy carbon electrodes to be used to detect lead in water and soil. Although the government guidelines allow up to 15 ppb in public water supply, we have been working to detect the lowest concentration possible in order to avoid any lead contamination. The methods that are being used to deposit bismuth naoparticles on glassy carbon electrodes are cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. These techniques will be tested for their performance in lead detection. The analytical methods will be compared in terms of sensitivity, linear dynamic range and limit of detection to conclude which is the best method to determine lead in water and soil samples.
