In Print

Christina J. Welch, Priyanka D. Kadav, Jared L. Edwards, Jessica Krycia, Melanie L. Talaga, Purnima Bandyopadhyay, and Tarun K. Dam were published on September 3rd, 2020. Their paper, “A Rapid and Facile Purification Method for Glycan‐Binding Proteins and Glycoproteins” was funded by the National Science Foundation. Grant Number: 1608537. It was published on the cover of the September issue of Current Protocols in Protein Science.

Fellows

Dr. Rudy Luck

Professor Rudy Luck has been selected as a 2020 VIPEr (Virtual Inorganic Pedagogical Electronic Resource) Fellow.

The VIPEr Fellows are made up of 20 inorganic chemistry faculty from across the United States. This project is part of a 5-year grant from the National Science Foundation’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) program. Its purpose is to develop, test, and refine a flexible, foundation-level inorganic chemistry course.

Visit https://www.ionicviper.org/ to learn more.

Congratulations Dr. Luck!

In Print

Researchers from the Department of Chemistry have revealed the catalytic strategy of a key enzyme for epigenetic regulation. Rajeev Ramanan, a postdoctoral scholar (Chem), currently an assistant professor at NIT Rourkela (India), Shobhit Chaturvedi, a Ph.D. candidate (Chem), Chris Schofield, University of Oxford (UK), Nicolai Lehnert, the University of Michigan, led by Christo Z. Christov (Chem) and Tatyana Karabencheva-Christova (Chem) published an article entitled: “Catalysis By the JmjC Histone Demethylase KDM4A Integrates Substrate Dynamics, Correlated Motions and Molecular Orbital Control” in Chemical Science, the flagship journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The study focuses on a key enzyme for epigenetic regulation — non-heme Fe (II) Histone Demethylase KDM4A and reveals the important catalytic interactions that distinguish KDM4A from other KDMs and its catalytic mechanism with natural and alternative substrates. The research is supported by NSF grant 1904215.

New Funding

shiyue-fang-personnel

Shiyue Fang is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $490,000 research and development grant from the National Science Foundation.

The project is entitled, “CAS: Long Oligodeoxynucleotides Directly from Automated De Novo Synthesis.” Yinan Yuan (CFRES) is a Co-PI on this three-year project.

In Print

Ph.D. candidate Sodiq Waheed (Chem), postdoctoral scholar Rajeev Ramanan (Chem), Ph.D. candidate Shobhit Chaturvedi (Chem), Tatyana Karabencheva-Christova (Chem) and Christo Christov (Chem) were listed as co-authors in an article titled “Role of Structural Dynamics in Selectivity and Mechanism of Non-heme Fe(II) and 2-Oxoglutarate-Dependent Oxygenases Involved in DNA Repair” published in ACS Central Science.

Chris Schofield of the University of Oxford and Nicolai Lehnert of the University of Michigan were also listed as co-authors on the article.

Led by Karabencheva-Christova and Christov, the research group revealed the vital effect of DNA conformational dynamics on the catalytic mechanism of the bacterial non-heme Fe(II)- and 2-Oxoglutarate-Dependent DNA Demetylase AlkB and the human homolog AlkBH2. The article was also selected for a supplementary cover

In Print

Haiying Liu (Chem), Rudy Luck (Chem), Thomas Werner (BioSci) and their research scientists, Ph.D. candidates and undergraduate students published a paper titled “Cell Membrane-Specific Fluorescent Probe Featuring Dual and Aggregation-Induced Emissions” in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

This research is supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers R15GM114751 and 2R15GM114751-02 (for Haiying Liu).

2020 Chemistry Awards

Even during the very unusual circumstances that all of us are facing, the Chemistry Department wanted to celebrate its students in their accomplishments and contributions over the past year.

It was with honor and pride that the department virtually gathered on April 22 to celebrate its students’ achievements, as we continue to see ourselves as a community of scholars.

Outstanding Student in First Year Chemistry: Vincent Pellizzon.
Doc Berry Award: Abby Schwartz.
Leslie Leifer Award in Physical Chemistry: Collette Sarver.
Undergraduate Award in Organic Chemistry: Henry Roell.
Undergraduate Award in Inorganic Chemistry: Logan Mikesell.
Undergraduate Award in Analytical Chemistry: Peyton Bainbridge.
Honorable Mentions: Collette Sarver, Abby Schwartz.
Undergraduate Award in Biochemistry: Jessica Krycia.
Outstanding Senior Award: Peyton Bainbridge, Jessica Krycia.
Honorable Mentions: Logan Mikesell, Sarah Montgomery.
Outstanding Senior Research Award: Michael Hromada, Sarah Montgomery.
Departmental Scholar: Collette Sarver.
Rebecca Sandretto/Susan Stackhouse Summer Fellowship: Steve Beuther.
Outstanding Lower-Division Chemistry Teaching Assistant: Priyanka Kadav (GTA), Jessica Krycia (UTA), Nazanin Nahrjou (GTA).
Outstanding Upper-Division Chemistry Teaching Assistant: Mikhail Trought.
Graduate Student Leadership Award: Mikhail Trought.
Outstanding Graduate Student Summer Fellowship: Shobhit Chaturvedi.
Honorable Mention: Chathura de Alwis.

Congratulations!