Kasey Clear publishes third collaborative article

Professor Kasey Clear published his third article in two years as part of a multi-university team exploring the oxidation of naphthoquinones. The article is titled Redox and Nucleophilic Reactions of Naphthoquinones with Small Thiols and Their Effects on Oxidization of Hydrogen Sulfide to Inorganic and Organic Hydropolysulfides and Thiosulfate and was published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Click here for free access. Each year, research seems to get more interdisciplinary and this collaborative work is a good example of this: instead of being full of chemical structures, you'll find diagram after diagram of quantitative data; and instead of standard organic compounds, you'll find an amino acid (cysteine, the thiol), a small peptide (glutathione) - both from the domain of biochemistry - and even hydrogen sulfide which is an inorganic compound. But, don't worry, Clear is still our organic chemist as you can tell if you focus on this portion of the title "Nucleophilic Reactions of Naphthoquinones". Congratulations, Dr. Clear, on another interesting publication.

Biochemistry students present research at Notre Dame

On Monday April 24th, IU South Bend students visited the University of Notre Dame to present their research. The students included members of the Rizk research group and students from the research-based biochemistry laboratory course CHEM-C 486. The students' research is part of an NSF-funded collaboration with professors Dr. Holly Goodson (UND) and Dr. Brandy Fox (St. Martin's University). The work investigates the basis of protein polymerization in living systems with a focus on a viral protein known as PhuZ as a model to better understand how individual proteins come together to form long chains. This behavior is important for many biological processes such as cell division, muscle movement, and cellular transport that occur in higher organisms. The students will continue the collaboration over the summer of 2023 with funding from the Garber Fellowship and the LSAMP program. Our biochemistry majors gave an excellent presentation highlighting their contribution to the project. Pictured above (left to right) are Zahra Aljuboori, Rachel Hall, Dr. Rizk, Paige Engdahl, and Steven Frye. Biochemistry majors Shaun Calhoun and Ashlei Sonnenberg also contributed to the project but did not present that day.

LSAMP scholars present at national conference

Two LSAMP scholars attended the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) hosted this year by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire from April 13 to 15. Biochemistry major Emily Barrera (on the right) presented her work Electroanalytical Performance of Antimony Modified Glassy Carbon Electrode in Detecting Lead and Cadmium under the supervision of Professor Grace Muna while chemistry major Precious-Gold Akpadija (on the left) showcased her work on the Effect of Guanidinium Content on the Anion Binding Capacity of Polyallyamine-Based Polymer Networks in the lab of Professor Kasey Clear. Both undergraduates presented their work last fall at a state-wide conference so they were well prepared for this national conference last week. The skills that our students develop, and the experience they gain, from their research experience and subsequent presentations (and sometimes publications) will serve them well after graduation, whether that entails further education or employment. Great job!

Students present research at the URC

The annual Undergraduate Research Conference was held yesterday with posters and talks on a variety of subjects from science to literature. Our department was represented by three biochemistry majors: Shaun Calhoun (left), Rachel Hall (middle), and Ashlei Sonnenberg (right). They presented an exciting talk titled The Effect of Mutations on PhuZ Polymerization describing their work this semester in the capstone biochemistry lab course that continues research begun with other students, particularly biochemistry majors Paige Engdahl and Steven Frye, in Professor Shahir Rizk's research lab. [Engdahl and Frye also helped to prepare the presentation, but they did have talking roles that day.] PhuZ is a bacterial protein that polymerizes into long chains that mimics similar structures in our cells, but is much simpler to study. The students introduced mutations into the bacterial genes and measured the effect on the structure and properties of the protein such as the monomer concentration needed to start the polymerization process. The students did an outstanding job presenting their work and answering questions from the audience. In fact, it was later announced that this group of students won the award for the Best Natural Sciences Presentation.

Taylor Boyd-Becker, a chemistry major, had planned to present her poster on the Synthesis of Novel Imidazolium-Urethane Ionic Liquids last summer while supported by an internal SMART grant, but she was not feeling well. This research is a collaborative project between Professor Kasey Clear and Murray State University in Kentucky. We hope you are feeling better today, Taylor!

Faculty present research at two conferences

March was a busy month for the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.  Both Dr. Grace Muna (our resident analytical chemist) and Dr. Bonnie Huge (adjunct instructor) attended the annual Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy - commonly known as PittCon - during March 19-21. Muna present work done in collaboration with three undergraduate students on the electroanalytical performance of specially designed electrodes used to detect lead and cadmium in soils and water. Huge, who teaches our CHEM-C 121 lab in the evenings, presented some of her work from the University of Notre Dame - along with a graduate student in her group - where she works full time as a research scientist during the day.

Next was the spring American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting during March 26-30. Muna also attended this conference to present her efforts in merging research projects and coursework. Dr. Kasey Clear (our resident organic chemist) joined her there in Indianapolis to present his work on designing fluorescent molecular probes for a particular class of phospholipids with an inositol sugar attached to the phosphate group. Clear also served as the moderator/presider for the session on Molecular Recognition & Self-Assembly. Joining our two full-time faculty members was another adjunct instructor, Dr. Dave Alonso, who was there to advertise spectroscopy instruments from LECO Corporation and the outreach efforts of their mobile research lab.  Alonso brough the mobile research lab to our camps last semester.