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 […]
Teaching in the Time of COVID-19
Classrooms and teaching labs were emptied in late Spring 2020 because of public health measures to counter COVID-19. In response to a call for papers in April by the leading journal in chemical education, the ACS Journal of Chemical Education, chemistry educators from around the world chronicled their response to rapid changes in teaching modalities […]
A Tale of Two Lab Courses
A recent article in ACS Publications, from Prof. Kiet Tran, Prof. Anwar Beshir, and Prof. Abhay Vaze, demonstrates a comparison of the experiences of both organic and analytical lab faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic distance learning initiative is described here. Faculty of both lab courses experienced four shared challenges in the transition to the online […]
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 […]
A Day in the Life of an Analytical Scientist
In a recent podcast with OnePointe Solutions, Curtis Guild ’17 Ph.D. describes his journey in inorganic and analytical chemistry. Originally an undergraduate English major, Curtis became passionate about chemistry when he was offered a research opportunity during his sophomore year. Choosing between industry and graduate school, Curtis credits an undergraduate mentor with recommending graduate school. Ultimately, […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]