Department of Chemistry Undergraduate News

Congratulations to Biochemistry major Kenji Fujitani who has been chosen to receive  a Timeless Future Award from the UW College of Arts & Sciences.

As part of the UW 150^th celebration, the College of Arts & Sciences is recognizing outstanding undergraduate and graduate students with Timeless “Future” Awards.  The Timeless “Future” Awards are designed to honor graduating A&S students who have made outstanding contributions to society through their academic achievements, leadership, excellence in the arts, and service to the greater community.

Congratulations to Michael Bocek who has has won the prestigious Goldwater scholarship.  Michael is a Biochemistry major at the University of Washington. He has done research in the department of Bioengineering  involving the design and evaluation of  polymer-based vectors to deliver therapeutic genes to neurons.  After graduation Michael plans to pursue a Ph.D in bioengineering, focusing on engineering bio-materials.  Afterwards, he hopes to go on to a scientific research career, either in academia or industry.

We are also happy to announce that Evan Boyle has been named as an honorable mention for the Goldwater Scholarship.  Evan is a Biochemistry and Microbiology double major, and works in the Gelb lab.  His lab work is aimed at characterizing a class of enzymes implicated in asthma and rheumatoid arthritis.  Evan wishes to counter the burgeoning wave of chronic conditions by pinpointing promising therapeutic targets in genetic technology.  After his undergraduate career, Evan will pursue a Ph.D in Genetics, and aspires to make a difference in medical outcomes for patients worldwide and to enhance the impact that biomedical research has on people’s lives.

Congratulation also go to Derek Nhan who has also been named an honorable mention for the Goldwater Scholarship.  Derek  is a junior majoring in Neurobiology and Biochemistry. He is currently performing research in Dr. Kyra Becker’s neurology lab focused on understanding the molecular and behavioral basis behind the systemic immune response to stroke. Currently, his project involves monitoring the consequences of post-stroke infection in an animal model and its impact on neurological outcome. After graduation, Derek plans to pursue a career in medical research and become involved in the development of targeted approaches for treatment of neurological disorders.

The Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry are pleased to announce our annual Graduation and Awards Recognition Celebration will be held Friday, June 8, 2012 from 6:00-7:30 pm at Daniels Recital Hall in downtown Seattle.

Daniels Recital Hall is located at the intersection of 5th Avenue and Marion Street.  Students and their guests need to arrange for their own parking.  A search for parking and restaurants near Daniels Recital Hall can be found at Google maps (simply type in “parking near Daniels Recital Hall” in the space provided at the website)

Graduating students that wish to participate in the ceremony must RSVP to our our catalyst website by May 31, 2012.

Questions (including disability accommodation requests) may be sent to advisers@chem.washington.edu

Congratulations Graduates!

Michael Choi, Benjamin Horst, and Kwang Kim have each won a Washington Research Foundation Fellowship.

Michael Choi has been investigating embryonic stem cells and stem cell maintenance in the Ruohola-Baker laboratory, focusing on the metabolism of embryonic stem cells and how it relates to their function. Stem cells play a critical role in development and disease; by better understanding how these cells function in both normal and pathological conditions, scientists can learn how to control, treat, and cure disorders that arise.

Benjamin Horst works in the Keller Chemistry group where he has worked on refining a new fabrication technique for the formation of vesicles. He will be starting a new project aimed at determining how the miscibility temperature of lipid membranes varies with the composition as the surface pressure is held constant.

Kwang Seob Kim’s project with Dr. Ludo Max aims to better understand the central nervous system functioning in speech and non-speech movements, as well as the neural mechanisms underlying stuttering in particular.  The goal of his project is to design a protocol/procedure to quantify the ability of the speech sensorimotor systems to learn a completely novel sensorimotor mapping. This protocol has the potential to not only enhance our knowledge of motor learning, but to also improve the rehabilitation of individuals with movement disorders.

Congratulations Michael, Benjamin and Kwang Seob!

http://www.washington.edu/research/urp/wrff/awardees.html

Cameron Turtle, who has conducted research in the Keller Chemistry group and in Bioengineering, has been selected for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. The scholarship provides full financial support for scholars to study at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Cameron is majoring in Bioengineering. His research in the Keller Chemistry group involved studying the 2-dimensional phase separation in lipid membranes. Cameron’s project was to incorporate charged lipids into the membranes and study the membranes’ miscibility transition temperatures.
Among his various accolades, Cameron is a Mary Gates scholar as well as a Goldwater scholar. He co-founded Bioengineers Without Borders and is also founder and CEO of Point of Care Technologies.

Congratulations Cameron!

A team of 23 UW undergraduates science majors has won the prestigious iGEM genetic engineering competition. The UW undergrad members came from the departments of biochemistry, microbiology, bioengineering, materials science, and computer science. The team did months of lab work to genetically engineer microbes that could either produce diesel fuel or help treat the difficult digestion problems for people with gluten intolerance.

Team members from Biochemistry and Chemistry include:
Casey Ager, Juhye An,Sydney Gordon, Elaine Lai, Austin Moon, Seth Sagulo, Sarah Wolf, Sean Wu, and Lei Zheng.

This year’s faculty advisers were David Baker, a UW biochemistry professor who predicts proteins’ 3-D structures in order to design new proteins; Eric Klavins, whose research investigates how bacteria and other systems can self-organize and Herbert Sauro, a UW bioengineering associate professor who does computer-aided design of biochemical interactions.

The research done by these students will likely be published in a peer-reviewed science journal. Congratulations!

Robert Johns, a UW undergraduate Chemistry major, was awarded a national nanotechnology research award for his work using nanowires and nanocrystals to improve solar energy conversion.

Congratulations Rob!