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posted Jul 24,2013Dr. Zeev Rosensweig has formally accepted UMBC's offer to become the Chairman of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, effective January 1st, 2014. On accepting his appointment as the chemistry and biochemistry chair, Rosenzweig said, "I am honored to have been selected Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UMBC. Rosenzweig’s appointment as chair brings to a conclusion a successful national search for a leader who will build upon, and enhance, the outstanding reputation of UMBC’s department of chemistry and biochemistry in teaching, research, outreach and service.[ Link] The Ruth Kirschstein Diversity in Science Award was established to honor an outstanding scientist who has shown a strong commitment to the encouragement of under-represented minorities to enter the scientific enterprise and/or to the effective mentorship of those within it. The award will consist of a plaque, a cash prize of $3,000, and travel expenses to present a lecture at the annual ASBMB meeting. The recipient will be chosen by the Minority Affairs Committee. Nominations must be originated by Society members however, the nominee need not be an ASBMB member.
posted Jul 01,2013 Dr Marie Christine Daniel Onuta was awarded a UMB-UMBC Research and Innovation Partnership Seed Grant. This program is designed to promote structured collaboration between UMBC and UMB and to advance the institutions’ joint goals in research and innovation.
Proposals submitted to the program were evaluated using a peer review process that included faculty from both the UMB and UMBC campuses. Each proposal was reviewed for: (1) how well the project meets the goals of the Seed Grant Program; (2) meeting criteria (e.g., relevance to future public health concerns, significance, innovation, approach and qualification of investigative team/environment to carry out the aims); and (3) likelihood of attracting outside funding in the future. The grant recipients were chosen based on merit as assessed by peer review.
The funded proposal was:
Comparative Studies of the Intracellular Trafficking of Several Classes of Dendronized Drug Nanocarriers
UMBC PI: Marie-Christine Daniel, Chemistry and Biochemistry
UMB PI: Peter Swaan, Pharmaceutical Sciences
Congratulations to you both.
posted Jun 05,2013
Jodian Brown and Brittny Davis have been awarded NIH's Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Predoctoral Fellowship Award to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research. The award consists of a stipend, partial tuition and an annual institutional allowance that can be used for scientific conferences and other expenses. Dr. Ruth L. Kirschstein, for whom the awards below were named, passed away on October 6, 2009. Aside from Dr. Kirschstein’s scientific accomplishments in polio vaccine development, and becoming the first woman director of an NIH Institute, she was a champion of research training and a strong advocate for the inclusion of underrepresented individuals in the scientific workforce.
Congratulations to both on a job well done!
[ Link] posted May 06,2013Congratulations to Dr. Marie-Christine Daniel Onuta on her promotion to associate professor and granting of tenure. We wish her all the very best.
posted Apr 16,2013Dr. Marcin Ptaszek has just received official notification that he is granted a regular NSF award for his research proposal: "Strongly conjugated bacteriochlorin arrays - new near-IR fluorophores and activatable singlet oxygen photsensitizers." This is from Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms B program of the Chemistry Division of the National Science Foundation. Great Job Marcin!![ Link] posted Apr 01,2013On March 18th 2013, Dr Chris D. Geddes, Professor of Chemistry and BioChemistry and Director of UMBC’s Institute of Fluorescence became FRSC, an elected fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a learned society and
professional association, which leads the world in advancing the chemical sciences.
The organization carries out research, publishes journals, books and databases, as well as hosting conferences, seminars and workshops. It is the professional body for chemistry in the UK, with the ability to award
the status of Chartered Chemist (CChem) and, through the Science Council the awards of Chartered Scientist (CSci), Registered Scientist (RSci) and Registered Science Technician (RScTech) to suitably qualified candidates.
The designation FRSC is given to a small group of elected Fellows who have made major contributions to chemistry. The names of Fellows are published each year in The Times (London).
Our congratulations to Professor Geddes
posted Mar 12,2013Uchenna Okoro has been chosen to receive a 2013 UNCF●Merck Undergraduate Science Research Scholarship Award for the 2013-2014 academic year. There were many outstanding applicants and the selection process this year was a highly competitive one. Only 15 students world wide were selected for this award.
Each UNCF● Merck Undergraduate Fellow will be paired with a mentor/s and will be eligible for an Internship at a Merck Facility (applied for separately). They will also attend a fellowship retreat planned for June 16-17, 2013, and will be held at a location that will be announced shortly. During Fellows Day, you will meet the other award recipients at the undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral levels and be formally recognized for your achievements. The recipient’s department may apply for a Department Grant of up to $10,000.
Congratulations Uchenna on this outstanding award!!
[ Link] posted Mar 04,2013Brian Brown, a student in Dr. Seley's lab has been selected to participate in the 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, held from 30 June to 5 July 2013, in Lindau (Germany). Only the 550 most qualified young researchers can be given the opportunity to enrich and share the unique atmosphere of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings.
The scientific program, dedicated to the Nobel Prize discipline of chemistry, will comprise lectures, discussion sessions, master classes and panel discussions.
Among the main topics are Green Chemistry as well as biochemical processes and structures . Among the invited Laureates arwe friends of the Department, Dr. Peter Agre and Dr. Martin Chalfie.
Congratulations Brian!
[ Link] posted Feb 07,2013Congratulations to Kathie Seley-Radtke, who was elected Vice President of the International Society of Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids (IS3NA) for 2013-2014 (and President-elect for 2015-16). The IS3NA attempts to bring together scientists in areas as diverse as chemistry, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, synthetic biology, biochemistry, molecular and structural biology, virology, pharmacology, pharmacy and medicine, all interested in working in the field of nucleic acid chemistry, encompassing the individual units, nucleosides and nucleotides, as well as the important biopolymers of life: RNA and DNA.
Congratulations Kathie!
posted Feb 07,2013Once again the Chemistry Tutorial Center drew a crowd as hundreds of student lined up to sign up for tutoring services provided by advanced undergraduate peers. [ Down the Hall and Around the Corner] We have just completed a significant upgrade of the 500 MHz NMR. This system was running an ancient (in computer years) and obsolete SGI computer which could not be easily replaced if it failed. The user software was old and could not be upgraded and the RF hardware was not amenable to the latest experiments. We now have a state-of-the-art console, with a new computer running the latest Bruker TopSpin software.
We are still using the same magnet and cryoprobe, which is optimized for proton detected experiments. Because of the higher magnet field and especially because the inner RF coil (used for protons) and the proton preamplifier are cooled to around 20 K we get excellent sensitivity in comparison to the Jeol 400 MHz. Proton sensitivity on the Jeol is approximately 300:1. During the upgrade of the 500 we obtained a proton sensitivity over 3500:1. Yes, that's at least 10x higher and since the required experiment time goes down as the square root of the sensitivity that's a very dramatic difference.
With the new console it is easier to do direct carbon detection (no cable changes required), but the cryoprobe is not at all optimal for this. Because of the great proton sensitivity and much higher information content of indirect detection experiments (HSQC, HMQC, HMBC, HSQC-Tocsy etc.) it makes a lot of sense to get your carbon information through these 2D experiments instead of doing direct 13C detection.
Improvements after the upgrade:
- Latest Bruker TopSpin software is more user friendly and capable.
- New computer with recent Linux operating system
- The latest state-of-the-art pulse sequences will run and are pre-installed to let you get very high information content from your experiments.
- RF hardware is more stable, clean and able to do sophisticated experiments
- Gradient shimming (TopShim) is much improved and easier to run to give excellent line shapes with minimal user effort
- Easier setup of experiments
The system, as before, does require a higher-level of care in operation than the Jeol. For example, the probe must be manually tuned for different solvents and this requires some attention to detail and the cryoprobe is an expensive and complex component of the instrument. For these reasons, please consider the experience level of your students before recommending they use the 500. UMBC Graduate Isaac Kinde is part of a Johns Hopkins medical team that discovered that routine PAP smears can be used to screen for both ovarian and endometrial cancers. This discovery they hope eventually could reduce the number of deaths caused by the deadly malignancies. Their work made the cover of January 10th's issue of Science Translational Medicine and it has also attracted some attention from the general press. Congratulations to Isaac! [ Link] |
