The National Science Foundation has awarded a new grant to Drs. David Heidary and Edith Glazer for the development of chemical tools to study RNA. The project, titled “Inorganic-aptamer hybrids for live cell imaging”, leverages the complementary expertise of the investigators in the development of optical cellular assays and the creation of photoactive inorganic molecules.
RNAs are functionally and structurally diverse molecules that play a role in the encoding, transmission, and regulation of genetic information, as well as catalysis. The ability to accurately track and quantify RNA levels or localization, either on the subcellular or tissue levels, is important to understanding the role of RNA in the regulation of biological processes. Given the dynamic nature of RNA, the information should be obtained in real time and in living cells. However, there are
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LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 3, 2020) — The University of Kentucky recently was awarded a Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant to study translational chemical biology from the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health. The $11.2 million grant will fund UK's Center of Biomedical Research Excellence in Pharmaceutical Research and Innovation (CPRI).
This COBRE Phase 1 funding will provide campuswide junior faculty research and career development support, core infrastructure and pilot grants in the translational chemical biology research space. Critical infrastructure, in the form of cores, will support advanced research across UK campus: Chang-Guo Zhan directs
By J. Susan Griffith, M.D.
My dad, Charles Herschel Holmes Griffith, was a devoted son, Marine, husband, father of two, grandfather of four, chemist and teacher. He gave his full devotion to the things he loved most – his family and education. Dad always said teaching Chemistry at UK was his “dream job” and from 1964-1991 he loved every minute of working with students and supervising TA’s in his General Chemistry labs. At his funeral in 2013, the Chair of the department told me that my dad undoubtedly had more direct contact with UK college students than anyone else in the history of UK’s Chemistry department.
As I was putting together Dad’s biography in 2011, I found this in a letter he wrote - “I was born in Huntington, IN into a family of educators.” Both of his parents were college graduates, each with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree. His mom was an English teacher
LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 21, 2020) — Transportation is the world's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Automakers are challenged to meet higher standards designed to reduce vehic,le pollution. This pollution contributes to climate change and can be detrimental to human health.
Adhering to the new standards requires removing pollutants, specifically poisonous and highly reactive nitrogen oxides (NOx) from exhaust gas when a vehicle is started and the gas is still cold. The device that does this removal — a catalytic converter — needs to be warm to efficiently remove NOx, however.
Mark Crocker, professor of chemistry in the University of Kentucky
By Whitney Hale
LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 13, 2020) — The University of Kentucky Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has announced that five students and alumnae have been selected to receive government-funded National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships. In addition, six other UK students received honorable mention recognition from the foundation. Included among the recipients are College of Arts & Sciences alumni and current undergraduates.
NSF Fellows receive a three-year annual stipend of $34,000 along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees for a research-based master's or doctoral degree in a STEM (science, technology,
Congratulations to Dr. Sean Parkin, named
Section Editor of Acta Crystallographica E!
Read the full story here.
By Richard LeComte
The College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding TA Awards recognize excellence in undergraduate instruction by teaching assistants. Fifteen teaching assistants were recognized for the 2019-2020 academic year .
Eligible students are current A&S graduate student teaching assistants in at least their second year of graduate work and must be responsible for instruction in some or all of a course offered by the College. The TAs recognized this year taught in courses offered through A & S departments and interdisciplinary programs.
“Graduate Teaching Assistants are fundamental to the high-quality education that the College of Arts & Sciences provides to undergraduate students,” said Sarah M. Lyon, A&S associate dean for graduate studies. “I am routinely impressed with their hard work and the contributions they make to
Dibakar Bhattacharyya has been a fixture in the University of Kentucky’s College of Engineering for more than 50 years and is renowned for his research, which focuses on incorporating life sciences materials with synthetic membranes for filtering and producing clean water.
Today, the director of UK’s Center of Membrane Sciences, known to friends and colleagues as “DB,” is contributing his decades of membrane expertise to help address the spread of the novel coronavirus. He has the concept and the means to develop a medical face mask that would capture and deactivate the COVID-19 virus on contact.
“We have the capability to create a membrane that would not only effectively filter out the novel coronavirus like the N95
The COVID-19 pandemic is creating shortages of sanitizing products in hospitals. Across the nation, spirits distillers are stepping up to help and using their products and equipment to make hand sanitizer for health care workers. At the University of Kentucky, The James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits is making sanitizer and going a step further by creating an instructional video for distillers who want to do the same.
“There is a method that has evolved over the past few weeks using high-proof ethanol and glycerin,” said Seth DeBolt, director of the Beam Institute and horticulture professor in the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. “We have had requests for sanitizer just within the
By Ryan Girves
Before the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 50 outstanding University of Kentucky undergraduate research students learned they were selected to present their faculty-mentored research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. The event was canceled, but UK's Office of Undergraduate Research is noting the achievement. Among them are more than a dozen students in the College of Arts & Sciences.
The student conference, which would have been held this past weekend at Montana State University, is dedicated to promoting undergraduate research, scholarship and creative activity in all fields of study. It provides models of exemplary research and scholarship and strives to improve the state of
By Richard LeComte
Started in 2015, the STEMCats Living Learning Program has helped students majoring within the many and varied areas of the sciences or mathematics find their way to success at UK. And STEMCats peer mentors are a big part of that effort.
“I have a group chat with my mentees about how things are going,” said Keanu Exum, a STEMCats peer mentor majoring in biology and neuroscience. “I want to make myself known to my mentees — that I am a resource for them.”
Getting students situated in STEMCats is having a positive effect on the academic careers of the participants, says a study conducted by Carol D. Hanley of International Programs in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. STEMCats is
By Ryan Girves
Allison Soult, senior lecturer in the Department of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences, will address the University of Kentucky community at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27, in the Gatton Student Center as the next speaker in the iPad Initiative Speaker Series.
Soult will discuss how she and her students use the iPad before, during and after class to enhance learning. She will also share some examples of digital in-class activities and her favorite apps to use in teaching.
Soult’s main interests are in the areas of chemistry specifically relating to issues with student engagement in large lectures and using technology to enhance student learning. Soult, who came to UK in 2002, was the recipient of the Arts and Sciences Outstanding Staff Award
Next week, the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and the Department of Chemistry in the UK College of Arts and Sciences will host renowned biochemist Rafael Radi for two special events on campus.
Radi will serve as the College of Medicine's Dean's Distinguished Lecturer at noon Monday, March 2, in Room HG611, the Chandler Hospital auditorium in Pavilion H. The following day, he will present a seminar for the chemistry department at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 3, in the William T. Young Library's UK Athletics Auditorium. The events will highlight both clinical and basic science aspects of his research on nitric oxide and its
It was 1949, World War II had ended and twice as many students were enrolled in universities across the country compared to pre-war enrollment, many were on the GI Bill. I was one of those June 1949 GI Bill seniors, graduating from UK with a BS degree in physical chemistry. My name is Alan Veith.
My days at Kastle Hall, the chemistry building at that time, were coming to an end. I was a lucky senior ; the only BS graduate in chemistry, not planning on postgraduate work, that had an industry job offer at the time of graduation. After a campus interview BF Goodrich (BFG) had offered me employment in Akron OH. A 3.44 grade average probably helped.
I had two careers in my professional life - one in industrial research with BF Goodrich and one in industrial standardization development, with the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and also with
By Madison Dyment
In higher education, the value of following your passion, meeting challenges head-on and working toward something bigger than yourself are all promoted to students by their professors. Sometimes, students are lucky enough to have a teacher who not only encourages this, but lives it too. Mark Lovell, Jack and Linda Gill Professor of Chemistry in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, is one of those teachers.
Growing up in Mount Vernon, Kentucky, Lovell stayed close to home and attended Berea College for his undergraduate degree. Post-graduation, Lovell tried his hand at medical school, but found himself ultimately drawn to graduate school at UK. He received his doctorate here in 1992, working with William Ehmann, a
By Jenny Wells-Hosley
Manufacturing has fueled the economic success of Kentucky for over two centuries, and a new collaborative partnership will help position the Commonwealth for even more success in the years to come.
The Kentucky National Science Foundation's (NSF) EPSCoR, or Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, has awarded the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville and six other institutions across the state a five-year, $24 million grant to support the fundamental science needed to advance next generation manufacturing technologies, flexible electronics and robotics. The grant will also support the development of a greater STEM-literate workforce.
"This cooperative project will help bolster Kentucky's economy, create jobs and put the Commonwealth at the
By Madison Brown and Jenny Wells-Hosley
Susan Odom, an associate professor of chemistry in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, is the recipient of the Women Chemists Committee's (WCC) "Rising Star" award. Odom is one of only 10 scientists to receive this honor.
Rising Star awards are given to women scientists approaching mid-level careers across all areas, including academic, industrial, government and nonprofit, who demonstrate dedication and promise in their prospective fields.
"I am proud to be a part of a lineage of amazing chemists who I admire, including the chemists who nominated me for this award: Jodie Lutkenhaus at Texas A&M University and Jeffrey Moore at the University of Illinois," Odom said. "Both have served as mentors and
By Whitney Hale
Angela Jones and her fellow Astronaut Scholars were recognized at ASF's Innovators Gala Aug. 24, in Washington, D.C. Photo by Emily Jourdan, courtesy of ASF.
University of Kentucky Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has announced biology and chemistry senior Angela Jones is one of 2019’s 52 recipients to be awarded a $10,000 scholarship from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF). The ASF Scholarship is presented annually to outstanding college students majoring in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM).
A nonprofit organization, ASF was established by the Mercury Astronauts in 1984. Its goal is
By Ryan Girves
(Left to right) Shashika Bandara, Samantha Wylie, David Atwood and Anna Soriano. Pete Comparoni | UK Photo
Behind many a success story is a fantastic mentor. That was the case for David Atwood, a chemistry professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky.
"In my first year in college I was interested in physics and chemistry. However, at the time, I didn't have a clear understanding of either major, certainly not with regards to future careers," Atwood said. "In my second year, I took an undergraduate research class that changed the trajectory of my future."
It was because of his mentor that Atwood was able to achieve such success in his career field. Atwood's mentor inspired him to dream big. That very same mentor also helped him
By Jenny Wells-Hosley
Lipscomb, who graduated from UK in 1941, is one of five Nobel Laureates who grew up in Kentucky. Harvard University photo file.
This Thursday the University of Kentucky Department of Chemistry and the College of Arts and Sciences will celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of one of UK’s most illustrious graduates, William Nunn Lipscomb Jr.
Lipscomb, who graduated from UK in 1941, was a world-famous chemist who received the 1976 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Lipscomb’s lifelong interest was the detailed 3D structures of molecules large and small and the nature of their chemical bonds. Several of his discoveries are discussed in first-year chemistry courses.
"Lipscomb is one of five Nobel