News items about Faculty Members
High School Students Learn About X-Ray Crystallography
Professor Karen Allen and Dr. Jeff Bacon, staff crystallographer of the Chemical Instrumentation Center (CIC), demonstrated the power of X-ray crystallography to local area high school students as part of an American Crystallographic Association (ACA) outreach program. The scientists hosted two groups. In March, 12 students from Acton-Boxborough Regional High School and their teacher, Aaron […]
NSF Funds Ziegler to Continue Exploration of Ultrafast Dynamics of Supercritical Fluids
Professor Larry Ziegler and his group have received continued support from the NSF ($450K over 3 years) to use cutting edge spectroscopic techniques to advance understanding of supercritical fluids (SCFs) as a medium for chemical activity. Using ultrafast vibrational or rotational spectroscopic techniques, they will study the femtosecond to picosecond solvation dynamics of a range […]
Professor Emeritus Norman Lichtin, 1922-2012
In this tribute, Professor Scott Mohr remembers his colleague and friend, Norman Lichtin Norman N. Lichtin, longtime member of the faculty of Boston University’s Department of Chemistry and its fifth chairman, passed away on April 30, 2012, aged 89. Norman played a major role in building the department and had a distinguished research career spanning […]
Reinhard Research Provides Insights into HIV-1
Recently reported in PNAS, Bjoern Reinhard and his collaborator at the BU Medical School, Dr. Suryaram Gummuluru, have confirmed a unique HIV-1 DC attachment mechanism using lipoparticles with defined surface composition. The mechanism is dependent on a host-cell–derived ligand, GM3, and is a unique example of pathogen mimicry of host-cell recognition pathways that drive virus […]
Reinhard Article Among Ten Most Read in February
The article by Bjoern Reinhard, “Molding the flow of light on the nanoscale: from vortex nanogears to phase-operated plasmonic machinery” (Nanoscale, 2012, 4, 76-90; DOI: 10.1039/C1NR11406A), was amongst the top ten accessed articles from the online version of Nanoscale in February 2012. Launched in 2009, Nanoscale is a new peer reviewed journal publishing experimental and […]
Collaborative Research Discovers New Approach in the Treatment of Liver Cancer
Until now, there has been no effective, systemic treatment for liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma), the fifth most common cancer worldwide. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), Professor Scott Schaus (Chemistry) and Professor Ulla Hansen (Biology and Molecular Biology, Cell Biology & Biochemistry) have reported their discovery of a new protein […]
Karen Allen Advises on Publishing Ethics for Research
Professor Karen Allen, an Associate Editor of Biochemistry, has contributed to the fifth episode of the American Chemical Society’s series, ‘Publishing Your Research 101.” The episode addresses “Ethical Considerations for Authors and Reviewers.” This series interviews experts such as Professor Allen to obtain their insights on practical, real world questions and issues facing authors of […]
Renovation Inspires Technology Innovation in Undergrad Organic Lab
BU Chemistry has dramatically improved the undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory by giving students access to major research instrumentation and state-of-the-art technology. By enabling more modern experimentation, these resources foster critical thinking and problem solving skills that prepare undergraduates for graduate and pre-professional schools or for careers in industry. Advanced experimentation also enables more sophisticated student-designed […]
High School Researcher in Schaus Lab Wins SIEMENS Award
The Research Internship in Science & Engineering Program (RISE) provides academically motivated high school seniors the opportunity to conduct university-level research in state-of-the-art laboratories. In the summer of 2011, Joshua Kubiak, a senior from the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts (Natchitoches, LA), joined the laboratory of Professor Scott Schaus to conduct research for 3 months on Asymmetric Conjugate […]
NIH Funds Porco Group to Synthesize Bioactive Natural Products
The Porco Research Group has received a 4-year, $1.2 million award from the National Institutes of Health for their proposal, Chemical Synthesis of Bioactive Flavonoid and Xanthone-Derived Natural Products. Undertaken in conjunction with biological collaborators, including Professor Tom Gilmore (BU Biology) and Dr. John Beutler of the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research, the […]