We grew a little bit…

Our research group has grown somewhat this semester! In addition to Jessica McFarland remaining with us- she completed an Introduction to Research (CHEM-291) course last semester and has now moved to Research/Independent Work (CHEM-491W) this semester- four new students have joined our group.

Brandon Greyson (Neuroscience), Tyler Lashley (Biology) and Will Loy (Biology) are all sophomores at Ursinus College. They will be studying the mechanisms by which anitmicrobial silver nanoparticles (the kind that are found in garments like socks and gloves, medical dressings like bandages, and appliances like refrigerators) can potentially impact the binding of ligands to serum albumin, a prominent plasma protein in animal blood (including humans). While the three of them will be working on parallel projects that involve the same proteins, ligands, and overall techniques, each will be assigned a unique silver nanosphere (e.g. citrate-functionalized, branched polyethylenimine (BPEI)-functionalized, lipoic acid-functionalized) that grants them some measure of independence- thanks to our friends at nanoComposix who were happy to provide us with custom quantities at affordable pricing to a new lab in a small college.

Andrew Murphy is a junior in Biology. He will be studying how glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH)- an enzyme integral to antioxidant defence- is impacted by contact with single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT), a broad category of engineered nanomaterials now found in carbon fibers, capacitors, fertilizers, and many other nanotechnologies.

You can catch a glimpse of their week-to-week research on our Facebook page.