Xiaoli Liang, a PhD student in our group, successfully defended her dissertation today! Xiaoli also recently accepted a position as a postdoctoral researcher in the Gillies research group at the University of Western Ontario. Congratulations Dr. Liang, and best wishes for your future career!
Carbohydrate sensing in water is very challenging. In collaboration with the Kharlampieva group at UAB, Xiaoli Liang in our group was recently able to improve the solubility of boronic acds in water and the affinity of their interaction with carbohydrates, by connecting phenylboronic acid moieties to a hydrophilic poly(methacrylic acid) polymer to generate a water-soluble copolymer that can be used as a supramolecular receptor. Coupled with an indicator displacement assay, this polymer was able to differentiate both monosaccharides and disaccharides in neutral aqueous solution. This work was recently published in ACS Applied Polymer Materials where it was featured on the cover (left). Michael Ihde, a fourth-year student in our group, was notified today that he was selected to give an oral presentation on his research at the 2019 Physical Organic Gordon Research Seminar, taking place right before the corresponding GRC on June 22-23. Congratulations Michael!
Flor Lozada Santiago is a first year graduate student in our group. She was previously an REU researcher with us in Summer 2017. Flor was recently recognized with the Outstanding First-Year Graduate Student award from our Department. This award recognizes excellence and dedication in teaching among our first-year graduate students. Congratulations Flor!
Yifei, a graduate student in the group, successfully passed her oral candidacy exam at the end of March, presenting an original proposal on the use of modified mesoporous silica nanoparticles for photo-controlled guest molecule storage and release. Yifei is now a Ph.D. candidate: congratulations!
Prof. Bruce Gibb from Tulane University is visiting the Department to give a seminar as our guest. Dr. Gibb, a household name in the supramolecular field and the co-editor of Supramolecular Chemistry, has greatly contributed to our understanding of supramolecular hosts with a well-defined cavity in water media, both through elegant host design (the "Gibb octa-anion"), and through careful thermodynamic studies.
Gabrielle Covey, an experienced undergraduate researcher in our group, presented a talk at the ACS Southeastern Undergraduate Research Conference (SURC 2019) held this year at the University of Tennessee - Martin. She spoke on her research on metal complexation by modified rhodamine dyes carried out in collaboration with the Wallace Group at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Just like past years, many of us participated in the presentations at the 2018 Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society (SERMACS 2018, Augusta, GA).
Nick defended his dissertation today! Congratulations Nick!
Here's a picture of his graduation ceremony at Fall Commencement in December 2018: Michael, Xiaoli, and Yifei, three graduate students in the group, organized a student-led symposium at the Fall ACS meeting in Boston (August 2018). The speaker lineup was stellar! Michael successfully defended his original research proposal today and is officially a Ph.D. candidate. Congratulations Michael!
The new Bruker rapiflex MALDI-TOF/TOF has been installed! Thanks to the NSF MRI program for funding, and Dr. Carolyn Cassady for heading the MRI proposal that got us this shiny new toy!
Flor Lozada Santiago from the Universidad Interamericana in Puerto Rico was an REU student in our group in summer 2017. Flor then went back to PR to finish her degree, and graduated this May 2018 summa cum laude. She was also selected to receive the John Will Harris Medal, her alma mater's highest academic recognition. Flor will start her graduate studies at UA this summer. Congratulations Flor!
Gabrielle Covey, a student from UA, returned to our labs today for a ten-week REU summer research experience, during which she will continue her studies on the metal binding properties of a series of novel rhodamine dyes capable of fluorescence turn-on signaling.
Dr. Bonizzoni participated in the three-day PI workshop for the Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems (INFEWS) program at the NSF headquarters in Alexandria, VA. The workshop aims at bringing together principal investigators from funded INFEWS proposals to swap ideas, enhance collaborations, and plan for the program's future.
Xiaoli Liang, a graduate student in our group, was recognized with the third prize for her oral presentation at the 2018 Lester Andrews Graduate Research Symposium organized by Mississippi State University. Congratulation Xiaoli!
Addison Iszler, a senior at UA and an undergraduate researcher in our group for close to two years, has recently won the Randall Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award, the topmost UA award for undergraduate research. Addie's and the other awardees' accomplishments were recognized today at a luncheon hosted by UA President Stuart Bell. Addison Iszler, an undergraduate researcher in our group working on the characterization of "knockout" analogues of PAMAM dendrimers who was recently recognized with the Randall research award, presented a poster at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities conference today on the UA campus. Good job Addie!
Today we learned that Addison Iszler, an undergraduate researcher that has been working in our group since last Spring, will be recognized by UA with the Randall Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award, the premier undergraduate research award on our campus, awarded annually to selected nominees across all disciplines on campus. This is an impressive recognition of her outstanding accomplishments, less than a year after she started her undergraduate research journey. Congratulations Addie!
Our paper on the thermodynamic origin of the selectivity (or lack thereof) of a transition metal based receptor to a series of anions, stemming from work done by Michele Invernici, a visiting graduate student from Italy who spent six months in our group, has been accepted for publication in Chemistry - a European Journal! Here is a link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.201800067
Two new graduate students, Rezoanul Islam and Xiyuan Yao, joined the group this fall! Welcome Rezouan and Xiyuan!
Congratulations to Dr. Marco Bonizzoni, who was named a Distinguished Teaching Fellow in the College of Arts and Sciences for his innovative contributions to the integration of technology in teaching large-enrollment classes.
Dr. Bonizzoni is once more part of a UA delegation that will visit multiple graduate recruiting fairs in Mumbai, Anand, Vadodara, Indore to increase UA's visibility in the growing Indian basin.
Dr. Bonizzoni was awarded tenure and promototed to the rank of Associate Professor. Congratulations to him and to the whole group, especially to his past and present graduate students that advanced the Bonizzoni Group research goals throughout the years!
We officially received word from NSF that the MRI proposal for the acquisition of a MALDI/TOF-TOF mass spectrometer has been awarded! Dr. Bonizzoni serves as one of the co-PIs on this proposal, together with Dr. Carolyn Cassady (PI), Dr. Paul Rupar (coPI), and Dr. Yuping Bao (coPI, Dept. of Chemical Engineering). The new instrument will replace our aging MALDI/TOF to provide extremely high resolution and novel MS imaging capabilities that were previously not available. Our group will use the instrument to study the non-covalent complexation of organics to polyelectrolytes (e.g. PAMAM dendrimers). We are extremely excited to acquire this new capability, which is projected to come online in mid-2018.
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