Departmental Events Coming Up!

Hello Students, Alumni, Faculty, Staff, and Friends!

WQ2019 is now in full swing (week 2 already!) and things are busy as always here at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

-Students, remember that the last day to drop a course without it staying on your transcript is this Friday.

-We are having the Chemistry and Biochemistry Research Lab Open House on Jan 24th from 12-2. Come by and check out the research that goes on here!

-The chem club has some events planned for February that we will announce soon. If you want to join the chem club, or learn about what they are doing, shoot them an email at dpuchemclub@gmail.com

-The due date for submissions to DePaul Discoveries, the CSH undergraduate research journal is Feb 1st, and we know that chemistry and biochemistry researchers are working on papers for submission.

-We had a great seminar last week from Prof. Allen from Wayne State, and this week we are having a seminar Thursday (the 17th) from a Professor from Brazil:

Leonardo Fernandes Fraceto

Laboratory of Environmental Nanotechnology, Institute of Science and Technology of Sorocaba, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Av. Três de março, 511, Sorocaba, São Paulo State, Brazil

January Seminar with Dr. Matthew Allen

Matthew Allen | Wayne State University

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Lanthanide Chemistry in Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Catalysis

Research in the Allen laboratory is focused on the lanthanide chemistry of contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging and catalysts for bond-forming reactions. Our studies involve the use coordination chemistry to influence the properties of the metals. I will present our studies of the chemistry of divalent europium. This relatively uncommon oxidation state of the lanthanides leads to interesting magnetic and luminescence properties as well as useful reactivity. Through ligand design, we have tuned the electrochemical potential of divalent europium complexes over a range that spans over two volts. We have studied the complexes with more positive potentials in the frame of oxygen-responsive contrast agents for MRI and have demonstrated the first use of divalent lanthanides in vivo. Additionally, we have studied the complexes with more negative potentials with respect to serving as promoters for photoredox catalysis. I will present our findings from these two areas of research as well as discuss the graduate program as Wayne State University.

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Friday, January 11, 2019 | McGowan South 105

CSH Showcase and DePaul Chem Club Event tomorrow!

Hi Students, Faculty, Staff, Alumni, and Friends!

Tomorrow is a big day, it’s both the CSH Research showcase from noon-5 and a Chem Club event at 1.

Both events are in McGowan South and so you can go to both in the same building.

We hope you can come by and see the great research the CSH students have been doing and also check out some fun chemistry activities with Chem Club.

 

DePaul Chem Club Events!

A message from the DePaul Student-run Chemistry Club:

“Hello all,

DePaul Chemistry Club is back for the 2018-2019 school year! We hope the beginning of your Autumn Quarter has gone smoothly thus far. On Friday November 2 at 1 pm in McGowan South 405, we will be hosting Chemistry Club’s first ever Halloween Party, where we will have Halloween-themed chemistry demos, games, and free food.

Our goal as a club is to bring awareness of and a greater appreciation for the wonders of chemistry, as well as encourage and support those who wish to broaden their knowledge in chemistry and its applications to the world. All are welcome, no matter your major or grade level! This year, we plan to host resume, curriculum vitae, and cover letter building, trivia night, and movie night, among other meetings. We’re very excited to see what this year has in store and we hope to see you all!

Best,
DePaul Chemistry Club Executive Board”

If you want to get on the mailing list for the chem club, email dpuchemclub@gmail.com 

October Seminar with Dr. Cologna of UIC

Stephanie Cologna
Assistant Professor at UIC

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Integrating Proteomics and Lipidomics to Understand Niemann-Pick Disease, Type C

 

ABSTRACT:

Mass spectrometry has emerged as a leading technology for biomarker discovery and to identify altered pathways in human diseases. Our laboratory studies Niemann-Pick Disease, Type C (NPC), a fatal, genetic, neurodegenerative disorders. Using combined approaches including mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomics, lipidomics and lipid imaging, we have identified new markers of NPC and mapped altered lipids in brain tissue from the NPC mouse models. These markers provide insight into the biochemical alterations occurring following the primary genetic defect and can be used in future drug discovery studies.

Friday, October 5 at 1PM in McGowan South 103

Interested in presenting at the Science & Research Showcase?

DePaul Chemistry Father and Son at the ACS Meeting in August 2018

On Tuesday, August 21 DePaul University Chemistry Department alumnus Dr. Michael Kharas met with his father, our very own Professor Gregory Kharas at the 256th ACS National Meeting & Exposition in Boston. Michael gave an invited talk entitled “Towards therapeutic targeting of the MUSASHI RNA binding protein network” in the morning at a Biology Division. His father’s work was presented by two posters on “Synthesis and styrene copolymerization of novel trisubstituted ethylenes” at the ACS Polymer Chemistry Division session in the evening. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Employees Bill and Sara also presented the posters. Both received their MS degrees from working in Dr. Greg Kharas’s lab at DePaul and currently coordinate lab preparation, safety, instrumentation maintenance, and TA hiring and management for our Department.

Dr. Michael Kharas is an Associate Member of Molecular Pharmacology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Associate Professor Weill Cornell Pharmacology Graduate Program, New York. If you are curious about his research, here is a link to his lab. We are proud to have him an as Alumnus and we hope that our current students look to him and our other alumni as resources when they consider the next steps in their careers.

Also, if you are a student researcher, you should definitely consider going to a conference! There will be several upcoming opportunities, including CAURS the the Great Lakes Regional ACS Meeting. Talk to your research adviser about it well in advance to start planning.

Join us for the first seminar of the year with Martin Conda-Sheridan of the University of Nebraska Medical Center

Martin Conda-Sheridan
Assistant Professor
Pharmaceutical Sciences
University of Nebraska Medical Center

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Friday, September 14 at 1PM in McGowan South 103

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Synthesis and antimicrobial evaluation of the Endophenazines and their analogues

ABSTRACT:

Hospital- and community-associated bacterial infections caused by pathogens such as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and escherichia coli (E. coli) are a reason of concern to people in the USA and around the world. These infections have become increasingly difficult to treat due to the tendency of bacteria to develop resistance and to form biofilms. Our lab is developing an antibacterial program using the phenazine natural products as active scaffolds. In this talk, we will introduce the total synthesis of two members of the endophenazine family. We will also present their biological activity against MRSA, E.coli and their toxicity towards human cells. In addition, we will present preliminary studies to unravel the mechanism of action of the molecules and the ability of bacteria to develop resistance to the molecules. Finally, we will present data regarding their metabolic stability.

DePaul Faculty Go to #ACSNOLA

Part of doing science is communicating your results in both written and oral form. Towards this end, DePaul faculty travel to conferences to present the work they’ve done with students here in the department of chemistry and biochemistry.

This spring break, The American Chemical Society has it’s 255th National Meeting and Exposition in New Orleans.

Both Dr. Grice and Dr. Vadola will be presenting, and a poster by one of Dr. Griffin’s Collaborators is also being presented.

Dr. Grice is giving a talk on carbon dioxide reduction research performed with DePaul undergraduates. Here’s the abstract. 

Dr. Vadola is giving a talk on gold-catalyzed C-C coupling reaction research he has been performing with DePaul undergraduates. Here’s the abstract. 

Here’s the abstract to the poster by Dr. Griffin’s collaborators. Dr. Grice’s collaborator at RFUMS is also giving a poster based on the DePaul-RFUMS collaborative work, see here.

If you want to hear about what happens at the ACS meeting, you can follow the hashtag #ACSNOLA on twitter.

Also, if you are a student researcher and want to go to a conference, you should definitely find a way to do so! They are great experiences for learning about science, practicing science communication, networking with peers, and learning about potential career information. Talk to your research advisor well in advance and you might be able to find a way to fund the trip. The ACS Great Lakes Regional Meeting 2019 will be in Lisle, IL, and will be much cheaper than a ACS National meeting, so it should be fairly easy to attend. There are also many other options out there, so keep your eyes out and talk to your research advisor!

Undergrads, Present your Research at CAURS!

 

Every spring, the Chicago Area Undergraduate Research Symposium (CAURS) is held at a location in Chicago and undergraduates from DePaul, IIT, U of Chicago, Northwestern, Loyola, and Roosevelt Universities present posters and talks.

Here’s the website for CAURS.

This year, we are delighted that CAURS will be held at DePaul in our student center. The event is all day April 15th, 2018. Put it on your calendar!

It’s free and everyone is welcome, but registration is required for all attendees. Undergraduates, if you would like to present, talk to your research advisor and then submit your information by March 31. If you would like to go and see the posters and talks but do not want to present, register as an observer. Faculty and graduate students can register to be judges if they would like to get involved beyond just being an observer.

Students get valuable experience presenting their work, networking with peers, and seeing what kinds of research is being done by undergraduates around the Chicagoland area. In addition, several awards are given out for the best posters and talks.

We hope to see you all there!