Regina Stevens-Truss, the Kurt D. Kaufman Associate Professor of Chemistry has written an article updating an idea of hers and the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: the HOPES Initiative. HOPES pairs teachers with working scientists so that together they could provide hands-on opportunities to students. “We didn’t anticipate the sweeping impact the program would have across the nation,” wrote Stevens-Truss in the update. The HOPES initiative has resulted in 27 partnerships in 22 cities across the U.S. and has affected the education of more than 3,600 fourth- through 12th-graders.
research
Seniors Present Chemistry Research
Three Kalamazoo College seniors presented their Senior Individualized Project (SIP) research at the Midwest Symposium on Undergraduate Research. The event took place at Michigan State University on Saturday, October 5. The students, their presentation titles, and where they did their SIP:
Sara Adelman’s poster (see photo) won the Outstanding Poster Award for Biochemistry. It was titled “Effects of Copper Bipyridine Catalysed Alkaline Hydrogen Peroxide Pretreatment on Lignocellulostic Biomass in the Ethanol Production Process.” Adelman did her research with Professor Eric Hegg ’91 at Michigan State University.
Geneci Marroquin presented a poster titled “Reactions of Cobalt(II) and Nickel(II) Complexes Containing Binucleating Macrocyclic and Pyridine Ligands with Carboxylic Acids: Formation of Binuclear Co(II), Co(II)Co(III), and Ni(II) and Tetranuclear Co(II) and Ni(II) Complexes.” Her research was done in the laboratory of Professor Thomas J. Smith at Kalamazoo College.
Kendrith Rowland conducted his research in the laboratory of Professor Catherine Murphy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Rowland’s poster was titled “High Sensitivity Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) Nanoplatform Based on Gold Nanoparticle Aggregates.”
Kalamazoo College Professor of Chemistry Jeffrey Bartz gave an invited talk at the symposium. That talk, “Detecting Cartwheels and Propellers by Velocity-Mapped Ion Imaging,” highlighted the SIP work of Ryan Kieda ’09, Masroor Hossain ’12, and Nic West ’12, as well as the research of Amber Peden ’11, Aidan Klobuchar ’12, Kelly Usakoski ’14, Braeden Rodriguez ’16, and Myles Truss ’17.
Transition Fan
Professor of Physics Jan Tobochnik is a self-described “big fan” of phase transitions–solids to liquids; liquids to gas; magnetic to non-magnetic; the fall of the Soviet Union. Just a few examples of spectacular phase transitions, and phase transitions are “always interesting,” says Tobochnik. Also, some systems act like they are at a phase transition, such as perhaps the neural firings of the brain. In particular, he’s intrigued by the physics associated with the very moment of change–a period of “criticality” at which all scales of behavior are important.
So it’s no surprise that for the next three years his research (supported by a grant from the Petroleum Research Fund) will involve reproducing experimental data and generation of new data through computer models of melting. Wait…melting? Surely a phenomenon as long observed as this (just set an ice cube on the counter) is thoroughly known to science. Not so, says Tobochnik. “Science has no comprehensive theory for three-dimensional melting,” he says. “Consider that ice cube on the counter–we know it melts from the outside in, but we only know the mechanisms for melting related to surfaces or defects. Absent a surface or a defect, we don’t know how a material melts. We have no general theory, which, in the case of new materials, makes the prediction of melting points and other properties unreliable.”
Two very recent–and painstaking–experiments (one at Harvard, the other in China) managed to explore the phenomenon of melting when there are no surfaces or defects by using colloidal spheres suspended in a fluid. The result was some fascinating new data. But the experiment is extremely difficult to set up, making replication, confirmation, and extension of the data a problem. Tobochnik’s grant will enable his lab to work with the Harvard group to set up a computer modeling simulation of the experiment. That modeling will confirm and, hopefully, provide new knowledge of melting in three dimensional substances.
The grant will fund two students in Tobochnik’s lab for three consecutive summers. They may, or MAY NOT, be physics majors doing SIP work. “Many times I prefer to provide significant research experiences to younger students, including first-years,” Tobochnik says.
Healthy Body May Mean Healthy Bacteria
Rob Dunn ’97 is extensively quoted (and his best-selling book cited, The Wild Life of Our Bodies: Predators, Parasites, and Partners That Shape Who We Are Today) in an article by Nancy Churnin that appeared in the Dallas Morning News’ “Dallas News Life.” The article, “Be nice to your bacteria and they’ll be nice to you, doctors say,” notes a growing belief among experts that good health is strongly influenced by the ecology of the multitudes of bacteria that reside in our bodies and in our natural environment. It cites examples of probiotic treatment, or the introduction of bacteria as a therapeutic measure to restore the balance of bacterial populations in the body. It is a fascinating read, and Dunn is at his curious K best, equating excitement with the new found extent of all we don’t know. Dunn is a scientist and professor at North Carolina State.
Psych of Music
A book co-edited and co-authored by Associate Professor of Psychology Siu-Lan Tan was published this summer by Oxford University Press (United Kingdom). The Psychology of Music in Multimedia (edited by Siu-Lan Tan, Annabel J. Cohen, Scott D. Lipscomb, and Roger A. Kendall) is the first book to consolidate the scientific research on how we integrate sound and image when engaging with film, television, video, interactive games, and computer interfaces. Tan served as primary editor of this edited volume, which includes the work of 20 contributors representing seven countries and a wide range of disciplines including psychology, musicology, neuroscience, media studies, film, and communication. She also contributed three chapters, including one on the role of sound and music in video games. Research studies co-authored by Tan and Kalamazoo College alumni Matthew Bezdek ’07, John Baxa ’09, and Elizabeth Wakefield ’08 are also discussed in the book.
Conference Call
The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College will hold its first conference to question–and complicate–the notion of borders. Called WITH/OUT – ¿BORDERS?, the gathering will use a “(un)conference” structure, says Lisa Brock, academic director of ACSJL. “We welcome proposals for papers, roundtables,think tanks, and workshops.” The deadline for proposals is January 15, 2014. “We are interested in creating conversations on emerging epistemologies, radical geographies, critical solidarities, and transgressive practices that transcend and theorize across disciplinary and academic /activist borders,” says Brock. Topics include (but are not limited to) the following:
The seemingly fixed and immutable character of national-state borders (often writ in blood based on conquest and war) that, in truth, are actually unsettled and contestable. How might we map this?
Globalization’s increasing commodification of ever more forms of human and natural activity and the concomitant rise of “new” borders (fences, checkpoints, restrictions, gates, walls, prisons, and policies and laws that put greed before need). Where are the critical solidarities being developed?
The challenges to gender borders and the re-inscription of race and class divides. Where are the radical transgressions today?
The effect two changes–old borders under review and new borders in flux–on pedagogy, disciplines, nationalist paradigms, and social justice in education. What are the emergent 21st century epistemologies?
The conference will take place September 25 through September 28, 2014, at the ACSJL on the K campus. Proposals should be sent (by January 15) to Karla.Aguilar@kzoo.edu. Address queries to Arcus.Center@kzoo.edu.
Prep and Patience
Myles Truss ’17 and Braeden Rodriguez ’16 are learning a great deal about chemistry during their summer internships in the laboratory of Associate Professor of Chemistry Jeffrey Bartz. Among the lessons is the extraordinary patience and preparation required to run an experiment that shoots lasers at chemical compounds in order to watch how they behave. According to Truss, it’s “a way of seeing” a chemical component “that combines chemistry and physics.” But things don’t always go as planned. Lasers need fixing, problems arise in the “beam machine,” sample preparation may go awry. According to Bartz, when a high tech piece of lab equipment breaks down his response often aligns with the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance). And who would have thought chemistry taught that? Rodriguez and Truss are completing data from a Senior Individualized Project begun several years ago, which shows another key element of science–how it builds over time and through collaborations. Part of what they seek through laser “sight” is nitric oxide (NO) released from interesting compounds. Nitric oxide happens to be central to the chemistry research of someone quite close to Truss—his mother, Associate Professor of Chemistry Regina Stevens-Truss, whose research has found nitric oxide to be of great interest in several cascades of chemical events associated with neurodegenerative diseases. Truss and Rodriguez are testing theory, says Bartz, more “pure” science than applied—with two key products nevertheless, Bartz adds: “the research itself, and aspiring scientists like these two young men.” Rodriguez intends to declare chemistry as his major winter quarter of his sophomore year. Truss begins his first year this fall and is leaning toward chemistry as a possible major.
From Chem Lab to Gridiron
Three student scientists/athletes transitioned from the laboratory to the gridiron on August 16, the first day for Hornet football practice. Jake Lenning ’15 (chemistry major, health studies concentration), Joe Widmer ’14 (chemistry major, biochemistry concentration), and Jake Hillenberg ’14 (chemistry and psychology major, neurosciences concentration) spent the summer doing chemistry research–Lenning in the lab of Professor of Chemistry Greg Slough; Widmer and Hillenberg in the lab of Associate Professor of Chemistry Jennifer Furchak. Lenning’s research involves testing for differences in two variations of a resin known as the Wang Resin. Widmer and Hillenberg were working outside the laboratory on the day I visited. Lenning plays wide receiver for the Hornets, Widmer and Hillenberg are defensive linemen. The 2013 season will be the team’s second on the new Angell Field, and Lenning is excited. “We had a good season last year,” he said, “and that success will be a good foundation to build a great season this year.”
Liver Chemists
Because its name sounds like a vintage fighter plane, one might think the “Heme Team” that works with this enzyme is a group of pilots or aviation mechanics. But P450 (short for Cytochrome P450) refers to a family of enzymes that do vital work in the human body such as clearance and transformation of pharmaceutical drugs in the liver. And the “Heme Team” (named for heme, an iron-containing chemical component in all members of the P450 family) are four student research assistants working this summer in the chemistry lab of Professor Laura Furge. The team includes Rina Fujiwara ’15 (pictured at left), Amanda Bolles ’14, Mara Livezey ’13, and Parker De Waal ’13.
According to Fujiwara, Cytochrome P450 2D6—one member of the enzyme family—is responsible for the metabolism (think: conversion into a useful form) of some 20 percent of the medicines we take. So it’s definitely a P450 worthy of study—which, of course, means nature made it difficult to grow in a laboratory setting (as sure as the vegetables your mother said were good for you always tasted terrible). In fact, a great many P450 enzymes are intriguing, and the chemical modification of them and their mutations could one day have significant application in making medicines more effective.
Enter the Heme Team. Part of its summer work, says Fujiwara, has been to use recombinant bacteria (bacteria modified to include the DNA of P450 2D6) to grow the enzyme. Then team members try to separate the purified enzyme from the bacterial culture. Last year, they came close to achieving the goal. This year they developed a new protocol in which the bacteria cells (think: P450 factories) grow more slowly. Fujiwara is also doing work to obtain an even more difficult to express mutant version of 2D6, and that work might become the basis of her Senior Individualized Project next year.
On the threshold of her third year at K, the international student from Japan (chemistry major and thinking about a second major in biology) has always loved science, particularly the area of nutrition. This is her first year in the Furge lab, and she loves working with Dr. Furge and her fellow research assistants. “They are great mentors,” says Fujiwara, “and always help me with my many questions, no matter how elementary those questions may seem.” One exciting side effect of her work this summer, she adds, is the enthusiasm it has sparked for cell biology and biochemistry, two courses she is eager to take during her junior year.
Another great side effect is Dr. Furge’s expertise in another kind of chemistry—baking! “She makes delicious carrot cake and blueberry pies and brings them in for her research students,” says Fujiwara. “I love this lab!”
Psychology Major’s Research Accepted for Publication
Psychology major Mara Richman ’15 is second author on a paper selected for publication. The paper is titled “Neurocognitive Functioning in Patients with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome: A Meta-Analytic Review,” and it will be featured in an upcoming issue in the Journal of the Academy of Adolescent and Child Psychiatry. Co-authors include Paul Moberg, Ph.D.; Chelsea Morse, M.S.; Vidyaluta Kamath, Ph.D.; Ruben Gur, Ph.D.; and Racquel Gur, M.D., Ph.D. Last fall Richman studied and worked under the research supervision of Moberg at the University Of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) Perelman School Of Medicine’s Schizophrenia Research Center.
Richman’s research has prompted her to become further involved in mental health and psychology research. This summer she is doing work at a summer research institute at the University of South Florida (Tampa). She was selected from a field of 200 people to attend the institute. Her research there (under the mentorship of Kathleen Moore, Ph.D., and Blake Barrett, M.S.P.H.) focuses on co-occurring mental health disorders in the drug court system. Titled “Findings from a drug court program of female offenders with co-occurring disorders,” her work has been presented twice this summer at conferences and will be revised for publication this fall.