Undergraduate Research in Chemistry & Biochemistry

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Undergraduate :: Research

What type of research have other undergraduates done?

• Conor Cox is a junior in Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University, as well as a National Merit Scholar, who is majoring in Biochemistry. He has been volunteering in the laboratory of Professor Neal Woodbury for approximately two years, working with a graduate student on a project that involves creating and analyzing diverse chemical libraries (screening large numbers of possible peptides for function). Part of this work has involved the development of a diagnostic screening technology that may in the future be applied for presymptomatic detection of disease as well as the creation of artificial antibodies to replace natural monoclonal antibodies for therapeutic use. Conor chose biochemistry due to his high school biology class, where his teacher required all students to participate in an internship. "I interned with a virologist microbiologist," said Cox. "This piqued my interest in molecular biology. And after completing two semesters at ASU, I knew that I had made the right decision." When asked how he came to participate in undergraduate research at ASU, Cox mentioned that he had heard a lecture concerning evolution at a meeting of the ASU Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society (SAACS). After talking to some professors, he learned that Neal Woodbury was doing research in this area. "I jumped right in," said Cox, "and it has worked well."
  
  
• Kwan David Lui is a junior in the BS chemistry program who has been working in the laboratory of Professor Hilairy Hartnett lab for approximately one year. David is an active participant in the research group and he has made significant contributions to ongoing research on dissolved organic carbon in urban aquatic systems. He is responsible for the laboratory's semi-weekly sampling program and he has begun his own research project using electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy to assess how the composition of dissolved organic carbon changes in response to climatological (rain, streamflow) and biogeochemical (photooxidation, microbial degradation) processes.
  
  
• Chris Johnson is approaching his last year as a BS Chemistry major. Chris has been doing undergraduate research with Professor Devens Gust for over a year, and has impressed Professor Gust with his enthusiasm and professionalism in the laboratory. Initially, Chris has worked mainly under the supervision of a graduate student. Recently, he was assigned an essentially independent project concerning a new porphyrin polymer that was prepared in the laboratory, with the hope that it will prove useful for solar energy conversion. Chris has jumped right into this, setting up equipment, designing experiments, and carrying them out.
  
  
• Andrew Brown has worked in the laboratory of Professor Giovanna Ghirlanda for approximately one year. His project focuses on the design of catalytic membrane proteins. Specifically, Andrew has assisted a graduate student in synthesizing, purifying and characterizing a number of mutants to our initial prototype. Andrew started out as assistant to the graduate student, but quite rapidly became an equal partner in planning the experiments and analyzing the data. His foundation in chemistry and biochemistry proved to be very strong and he was able to apply concepts learned in class to his research.

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