Stachowski Research Group
Dr. Jessica Stachowski and four students, Blanca Hernandez Salazar (BMS), Kendall Liapis (BIO), Lana Pastirk (BMS), Tara Visca (CHM)
The group is investigating the use of engineered enzymes as a tool to make human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) in a more efficient manner.  Students are part of an interdisciplinary group working in the areas of biochemistry (DNA cloning and protein expression) and organic chemistry (carbohydrate substrate synthesis).

Ardon Research Group
Dr. Guillermo Ardon Munoz and four research students, Razey Baig (BMS), Giovanni Caricati (BCH), Nar Emanuel (BIO), and Jonathan Neu (BCH)

The goal is Dr. Ardon's project is to synthesize and evaluate heterocyclic compounds as potential bioactive molecules and drug candidates, while also exploring the repurposing potential of existing ones.

Fu Research Group
Dr. Franck Fu and two research students, Lauren Bachner (BIO) and Megan Zakes (BMS)
Dr. Fu and his research students used an interdisciplinary approach to analyze air pollution and weather data to explore environmental issues at both local and global scales.  Beyond air quality, students had the opportunity to investigate food safety, water quality, and soil pollution. 

Dr. Guillermo Ardon Munoz and his four research students worked on two projects.

• synthesis of Mebandazole, an FDA-approved drug for parasitic infections
• working towards the development of an efficient synthetic method for triazoles

Dr. Ardon Munoz research students for Summer 2024:
Jacob Alvira (BCH)
Olivia Dibble (PATH)
Emma Jacobs (CHM.ADOL)
Fadhl Salen (BMS)

Newby Research Group
Students in the Newby Group used spectroscopic and computational methods to determine the molecular structure and quantify noncovalent interactions.

sample

FTIR

NCI

Dr. Newby's research students for Summer 2024:
Joseph Nettles (BCH), Jeremy Swartz (CHM), Aaron Uzelmeier (CHM, MUS) 

How does a molecule get solvated?
Dr. Josh Newby with students Kone Mamourou, Anna Dubany, Jeremy Swartz, Isiah McMurray, and Aaron Uzelmeier



The goal of this work is to better understand  the process of solvation. Our research will focus on how the first water molecule attaches to another molecule. Students learned how to use computational chemistry to complete a structural analysis of a molecular complex. This was done using computing resources remotely accessed at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. Students also performed FTIR studies of simple to experimentally verify computational results. These studies make use of a matrix isolation cell that operates at 15 K (-420 F). Student projects have focused on the microsolvation of petroleum impurities, drug precursors, and flavoring agents. 

Using Enzymes to Make Human Milk Sugars
Dr. Jessica Stachowski with students Kyra Couglin, Reece Wieder, Sandra Perkins, Lydia Coombs, and Bianca Hernandez Salazar

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are a family of sugars that are a major component in human milk and impart many immediate and long-term health benefits to breastfed infants. Although there is a large demand for HMOs for clinical research studies, chemical synthesis of these molecules is too complex for large-scale production. Our group is investigating the use of engineered enzymes as a tool to make HMOs more efficiently.  Students had the opportunity to be a part of an interdisciplinary research group working in the areas of biochemistry (DNA cloning and protein expression), organic chemistry (carbohydrate synthesis), and computational chemistry (molecular docking simulations).

A variety of research projects took place during the summer of 2022.

Story: "Invaluable" experiences for Naz students immersed in research

More Summer 2022
During summer 2022, Annabelle and Emily continued their work to better understand the interactions of lactones (a common drug precursor) with water; Brian, Hallie, Jacob explored isomers of methoxystyrene (used as a fragrance and flavoring); and Joey continued his work on oxazole complexes (found in biologic antimicrobials).

The Newby Research Group, summer 2022. (Left to right:) Jacob Alvira, Brian Chong, Emily Weaver, Joey Nettles, Anabelle Carney, and Hallie Todd.

The group also learned to use the matrix isolation system so that they record spectra of their complexes at 15 K. This low temperature is needed to stabilize the complexes long enough to study them using FTIR spectroscopy. Spectra and analyses of Annabelle and Emily’s lactone complexes were presented at the 2022 International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy held at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to significant interest.

The matrix isolation chamber operating at 14.7 K!

Spring 2022
The Newby Research Group always has something exciting going on!

In the spring of 2022, Annabelle, Emily and Xavier traveled to the national ACS meeting in San Diego to present their work on weakly bound complexes as studied using computational chemistry.

(L to R) Annabelle, Xavier, and Emily at their posters at ACS San Diego

While in San Diego, we also visited UC San Diego where the San Diego Supercomputing Center (SDSC) is located. SDSC is where many of our calculations are run, as they are too complex for a basic lab computer.