Blake hard at work running the HPLC.
Ben hard at work at the UV-Vis.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Stefan visits...
On Friday, June 19th we had a visit from my collaborator, Stefan Franzen from North Carolina State University, Dept of Chem. While our discussion was interrupted by the potential of a tornado, we were able to spend a few hours discussing TCP/DCQ and DHP/HRP. The visit did prompt a publication idea, but we are not really lacking data, only the time to organize and write it up! Blake is in line to put together a nice little paper...
The weather has been terribly hot in Monmouth...as well as the majority of the Midwest. We have managed to keep cool in HT with our new window unit in our lab, but we had to postpone some ether experiments until we could cool down the lab a bit more. We also had to move an analytical balance into our lab since TFP get quite sticky when massing...at ~80 deg C.
The weather has been terribly hot in Monmouth...as well as the majority of the Midwest. We have managed to keep cool in HT with our new window unit in our lab, but we had to postpone some ether experiments until we could cool down the lab a bit more. We also had to move an analytical balance into our lab since TFP get quite sticky when massing...at ~80 deg C.
Friday, June 19, 2009
back from U of Iowa
I should have shared our plans to go to U of Iowa before we left, but in the flurry of activities to prepare, i failed to do so...so here is an update...
B3 needed to collect some ESR (electron spin resonance) data to finish up the "story" on trihalophenoxyl radicals. We left Monmouth at 7 am...stopping at the worlds finest truck stop, "Iowa 80" for a coffee and morning snack. We arrived at the Medical Center in Iowa City at about 9:15 am...chatted with our host Garry Buettner...and got to work. The morning was productive. We confirmed that our immobilized enzymes can be packaged in 100 ul pipets and loaded into the ESR...and an IE-ESR experiment can be carried out. This is important since the usual sample holders ("flatcells") for ESR are $400 each...they are fragile...and do get broken. The 100 ul pipets are about $20 for 100 and are disposable. This will be very important advancement to allow for screening for enzyme stability. Having said that, the 100 ul pipets gave a signal that was ~5x less than the more expensive flatcells...so this is not a replacement, but rather a complement.
After a bit more "capillary" ESR work, we ended our day early (3:30 pm) so we could go visit Bio-Research Products in Coralville, IA. This is a small biochemical company that provides some very nice, high quality products. Brian Mundell gave us a tour of their facility. We discussed potential opportunities for Monmouth College and Bio-Research Products to establish a mutually beneficial relationship..connecting science with small business.
After a great visit to Bio-Research Products we checked into our hotel and headed out for a Mongolian grill dinner...we eat (and drank - water) TOO MUCH!
We returned to the ESR facility at 9 am Thursday to start our ESR data collection. It was a busy morning...not totally productive... lots of good science discussions with the medical student (Jason) the PhD student (Joast), researcher (Brett) and of course our host (Garry). Our efforts paid off and at about 3 pm, we were able to to collect the "money spectrum"...a clear assignment can be made to the TCP radical...chlorine hyperfine observed in the ESR spectrum!!!!
On Thursday we had lunch with Matt Faron. Matt is a PhD student at U of Iowa in genetics; a graduate of Monmouth College; a chemistry major. He seems to be enjoying his research.
After one last ESR data collection adventure, we packed up and left town at about 7 pm...happy with the collected data. We stopped at the Iowa 80 for dinner, got back to lab to drop off supplies at ~9:45pm and called it a night! B2 did a great job assisting in the data collection...they are very patient!
B3 needed to collect some ESR (electron spin resonance) data to finish up the "story" on trihalophenoxyl radicals. We left Monmouth at 7 am...stopping at the worlds finest truck stop, "Iowa 80" for a coffee and morning snack. We arrived at the Medical Center in Iowa City at about 9:15 am...chatted with our host Garry Buettner...and got to work. The morning was productive. We confirmed that our immobilized enzymes can be packaged in 100 ul pipets and loaded into the ESR...and an IE-ESR experiment can be carried out. This is important since the usual sample holders ("flatcells") for ESR are $400 each...they are fragile...and do get broken. The 100 ul pipets are about $20 for 100 and are disposable. This will be very important advancement to allow for screening for enzyme stability. Having said that, the 100 ul pipets gave a signal that was ~5x less than the more expensive flatcells...so this is not a replacement, but rather a complement.
After a bit more "capillary" ESR work, we ended our day early (3:30 pm) so we could go visit Bio-Research Products in Coralville, IA. This is a small biochemical company that provides some very nice, high quality products. Brian Mundell gave us a tour of their facility. We discussed potential opportunities for Monmouth College and Bio-Research Products to establish a mutually beneficial relationship..connecting science with small business.
After a great visit to Bio-Research Products we checked into our hotel and headed out for a Mongolian grill dinner...we eat (and drank - water) TOO MUCH!
We returned to the ESR facility at 9 am Thursday to start our ESR data collection. It was a busy morning...not totally productive... lots of good science discussions with the medical student (Jason) the PhD student (Joast), researcher (Brett) and of course our host (Garry). Our efforts paid off and at about 3 pm, we were able to to collect the "money spectrum"...a clear assignment can be made to the TCP radical...chlorine hyperfine observed in the ESR spectrum!!!!
On Thursday we had lunch with Matt Faron. Matt is a PhD student at U of Iowa in genetics; a graduate of Monmouth College; a chemistry major. He seems to be enjoying his research.
After one last ESR data collection adventure, we packed up and left town at about 7 pm...happy with the collected data. We stopped at the Iowa 80 for dinner, got back to lab to drop off supplies at ~9:45pm and called it a night! B2 did a great job assisting in the data collection...they are very patient!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
change in direction...
As is often the case, B3 has shifted our attention to a "different" problem while we await the arrival of our supplies from Sigma, BioRad, and Wilmad. We are working on finishing the data collection for the TCP (trichlorophenol) radical paper. I have been working on this paper for over 5 years and have finally honed it down to a nice story. Ben is working on collecting some UV-Vis data, Blake is working on HPLC data, and B3 will collect the final set of ESR data next week at U of Iowa. While we are at U of Iowa, we are also going to take a side trip to visit Bio-Research Products Inc., a small company that specializes in bio-products. We are setting up an informal collaboration to explore the stability of one of their peroxidase products using the IE-ESR technique.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
two weeks in...
The first week of our research experience was filled with some challenging activities; our second week extended the research experience by focusing on specific "projects." Blake shared a quote...something along the lines of, "...you know when you are doing research, when you don't know what you are doing;" he has obviously caught on! Even Ben has gotten to the point where he will sheepishly smile and say, "i have no idea what you are talking about." We are moving in the right direction!!!
While at the CUR Dialogs meeting in April (2009), we heard a talk from the Dean of Arts and Sciences at William and Mary and he pointed out the book by Ron Gross, The Independent Scholar's Handbook. In this book he states,
"Established researchers rarely portray the faltering steps by which they came to pinpoint their purposes, chose their subject, sharpen their skills. By the time the work of the scholar or scientist comes to our attention, it is usually well packaged as a finished monograph, a carefully-crafted article, a well-honed paper, a polished book, a museum worthy collection or display, a documentary on film or videotape, or as some other finished work. This final project seems to have sprung full-grown from the author’s head. So we get a misleading picture of how intellectual and creative projects get started."
I love this statement...it essentially tells us, that as researchers, it is okay to be confused...and more importantly...if you are NOT confused, you may not actually be doing research!!! Rest assured B2...your projects are a result of a "well packaged" grant that resulted from many hours of confusion.
Another excerpt from Gross' book states,
"Rarely do researchers or writers “let their hair down,” revealing that they started where each of us must start — with mere infatuation for a subject."
This statement may be less relevant in the context of working on other's projects...like in this case of B2 working with me on the grant objectives, but it is critical to understand that when one engages in a project as a result of "mere infatuation" then you have launched your research career...it is my hope that your infatuation is of interest to others as well...it is hard to get funding otherwise.
Curiosity goes hand and hand with infatuation. I was reading this morning a book by Tom Shachtman, titled, "Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold"...there is a NOVA program based on this book called, Chasing the Ultimate Freezing Point: Absolute Zero"...and on page 11, it is discussing that in the early 1600s that there was a "lack of curiosity that ran throughout society at that time"...they go on to say that, "Today we believe that curiosity is central to science and perhaps to all human progress; curiosity is the engine that drives the intellect to seek the causes of things." Samuel Johnson is then quoted (1751);
"Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind."
While at the CUR Dialogs meeting in April (2009), we heard a talk from the Dean of Arts and Sciences at William and Mary and he pointed out the book by Ron Gross, The Independent Scholar's Handbook. In this book he states,
"Established researchers rarely portray the faltering steps by which they came to pinpoint their purposes, chose their subject, sharpen their skills. By the time the work of the scholar or scientist comes to our attention, it is usually well packaged as a finished monograph, a carefully-crafted article, a well-honed paper, a polished book, a museum worthy collection or display, a documentary on film or videotape, or as some other finished work. This final project seems to have sprung full-grown from the author’s head. So we get a misleading picture of how intellectual and creative projects get started."
I love this statement...it essentially tells us, that as researchers, it is okay to be confused...and more importantly...if you are NOT confused, you may not actually be doing research!!! Rest assured B2...your projects are a result of a "well packaged" grant that resulted from many hours of confusion.
Another excerpt from Gross' book states,
"Rarely do researchers or writers “let their hair down,” revealing that they started where each of us must start — with mere infatuation for a subject."
This statement may be less relevant in the context of working on other's projects...like in this case of B2 working with me on the grant objectives, but it is critical to understand that when one engages in a project as a result of "mere infatuation" then you have launched your research career...it is my hope that your infatuation is of interest to others as well...it is hard to get funding otherwise.
Curiosity goes hand and hand with infatuation. I was reading this morning a book by Tom Shachtman, titled, "Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold"...there is a NOVA program based on this book called, Chasing the Ultimate Freezing Point: Absolute Zero"...and on page 11, it is discussing that in the early 1600s that there was a "lack of curiosity that ran throughout society at that time"...they go on to say that, "Today we believe that curiosity is central to science and perhaps to all human progress; curiosity is the engine that drives the intellect to seek the causes of things." Samuel Johnson is then quoted (1751);
"Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind."
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
A great start...
It was a busy first week. I am excited to say that i have 100% confidence in B2 (Ben and Blake) in terms of: 1) proper pipet usage, 2) buffer prep, 3) making enzyme solutions and corresponding calculations, 4) using the nanodrop to determine concentrations, AND 5) immobilizing HRP. We also spent some time using the amperometric H2O2 sensor and amazingly it worked perfect (sorry Josh G and Matt F)! B2 also survived the following: 1) 3 hour mega-lecture on peroxidases, oxidative phosphoryation, apoptosis, hemes, O2, superoxide, peroxide, cyt c, microperoxidases...to name a few, 2) an interactive (WinSim) ESR discussion, and 3) a 1.5 hr webinar discussing the NSF-MRI and NSF-ARI programs.
This week is also off to a great start. General projects goals have been outlined and we should be ordering enzymes and lipids by the end of the week. B2 will also be leading an informal discussion of their project on Friday at noon.
This week is also off to a great start. General projects goals have been outlined and we should be ordering enzymes and lipids by the end of the week. B2 will also be leading an informal discussion of their project on Friday at noon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)