A new paper from the Mani Group appeared in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Jason Buck, a 4th year graduate student, and Dr. Tomoyasu Mani demonstrated a new type of magnetic control of molecular emission. They take advantage of the quantum mechanical nature of radical pairs (pairs of radical anion and cation or molecular qubits) to control fluorescence by […]
Research News
“Hot Paper” Published in Angewandte Chemie
Assistant Research Professor Sergey Dergunov and Associate Professor Eugene Pinkhassik published a “Hot Paper” in Angewandte Chemie. “Hot Papers” are chosen by the Editors for their importance in a rapidly evolving field of high current interest. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/anie.202006793 Dergunov and Pinkhassik used organized environment of self-assembled bilayers to perform two-dimensional RAFT polymerization and uncovered substantial differences in reactivity of building blocks between […]
UConn Funds Five COVID-19 Research Projects, Announces Additional Funding
The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) recently announced a new internal funding program to support researchers at all of UConn’s campuses who are using their expertise in fields as diverse as wastewater and chemosensory testing to find novel solutions to help the nation and the world address this crisis. The program will […]
Welcome to Fall 2020
A Message from the Department Head Dear All, Welcome to a new semester! The campus and building have come alive once again. We are welcoming new faculty and graduate students to the Department, we have awards and a retirement to celebrate, and we have a large group of students eagerly lining up for general or […]
Mercury Remains a Persistent Poison in Connecticut’s Still River
Western Connecticut is known for rolling hills, rich history, and industry, such as hat making. Once called the “Hat City of the World,” Danbury thrived. Anyone familiar with Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter may also be aware of the dangers of hat making, due to the industry’s use of the potent toxin mercury. Starting in the late […]
Bird Eggshells Just Became More Colorful
For well over 100 years, only two pigments have been identified in avian eggshells: rusty-brown protoporphyrin (e.g., brown chicken eggs) and blue-green biliverdin (e.g., turquois eggs of robins). However, tinamou (chicken-like forest dwellers of South America) eggshells display unusually colored eggshells, suggesting the presence of other pigments. The Brückner Group, in collaboration with the ornithologists […]
Atomwise Partnership Enables UConn Researcher to Investigate COVID-19 Drug Target
University of Connecticut professor of molecular and cell biology James Cole* is working on identifying new therapeutics for COVID-19. Through a collaboration with Atomwise, a California-based company which uses artificial intelligence to advance small molecule drug discovery, Cole is one of the 15 researchers looking at different coronavirus protein targets for COVID-19 treatment. Cole is […]
UConn Researcher Invents Nanoparticle for Overcoming Leukemia Treatment Resistance
UConn associate professor of pharmaceutics Xiuling Lu, along with professor of chemistry Rajeswari M. Kasi, was part of a team that recently published a paper in Nature Cell Biology finding a commonly used chemotherapy drug may be repurposed as a treatment for resurgent or chemotherapy-resistant leukemia. One of the largest problems with cancer treatment is the development […]
IMS Researchers Make Cover of Advanced Materials
A molecular engineering principle in which repeat units of fairly rigid fused bicyclic structure and alkenes, separated by freely rotating single bonds, is proposed by Gregory A. Sotzing, Yang Cao, and published as a cover highlight of the May 26th Issue of Advanced Materials in article number 2000499, led by Dr. Chao Wu, a PDF at EIRC, […]
LambdaVision Receives $5 Million from NASA
LambdaVision, an innovative biotech founded on UConn technology, along with implementation partner, Space Tango, has been selected by NASA for a $5 million award. This new funding will support LambdaVision’s development of the first protein-based artificial retina to restore meaningful vision for patients who are blind or have lost significant sight due to advanced retinitis pigmentosa (RP), with […]