With the semester coming to an end, Juan gets ready for a summer full of research! Although many current GRAB Lab members will be graduating and missed, the research must go on! There are many plans for the summer. Currently, experimental methods on decreasing the amount of collagen on the surface of the quartz crystal are being conducted in hopes of seeing a decrease in frequency, indicating an increase of mineral mass. Hopefully, a decrease in frequency will be seen this summer (fingers are crossed). The post Juan Alejandro ’25 – Say Less appeared first on Gerdon Research Group Blog ..read more

As the semester is wrapping up, Marissa is looking forward to new experiments to be conducted over the summer. As the place experiments are progressing and seem to be working, there are new ideas on how to characterize these nanoparticles. After discussing with several people during the ACS Conference, she plans to run the nanoparticles through a relatively high agarose gel to see how different charges and sizes separate. In the meantime, she is back to synthesize even more nanoparticles to continue the place exchanges. The post Marissa Diplacido ’25 – Taking Inspiration appeared first on Gerd ..read more

Congratulations to the whole group and particularly to Kassidy, Kristy, Amanda, and Marielle on their new publication, "Equilibrium interactions of biomimetic DNA aptamers produce intrafibrillar calcium phosphate mineralization of collagen" in Acta Biomaterialia! This has been a work in progress for a long while and is our first foray into collagen hydrogels, intrafibrillar mineralization, the PILP mechanism, and bone-like materials. This is a huge step for us! Thank you to Laurie Gower (U Florida) for providing some protocols and insight to get us on our way with. this. Marielle really began ..read more

With spring in the air and the end of the semester right around the corner, Sydney has been reminiscing about her work in synthesizing fluorescent solid-lipid nanoparticles. As she condenses and packs up her past experiments, she has been looking back at all the skills that GRAB lab has taught her. While she’s not eager to leave GRAB lab after only one year on the team, Sydney is excited to put her new skills to use as a chemist in the work force! The post Sydney Marshall ’24 – Spring Cleaning! appeared first on Gerdon Research Group Blog ..read more

On Saturday, the GRAB Lab arrived in NOLA! As it was the day before St. Patrick's Day, the French Quarter was a pretty wild scene but we were able to safely see some sights, eat some beignets, and hear some great music. The post ACS 2024 – Experiencing New Orleans! appeared first on Gerdon Research Group Blog ..read more

Donalissa has been keeping herself busy by preparing for the upcoming ACS conference (National Meeting of the American Chemical Society!) in March. After hours of creating graphs and designing schemes, she can finally see her poster coming together. Although Donalissa has enjoyed working on her poster, she is eager to get back in the lab and begin running more experiments. In the upcoming weeks, she has plans for more mineralization experiments as well as TEM (transmission electron microscopy) analysis. She is excited for her final semester and has plans to make the most of her research experi ..read more

Snow Day? Snow problem! After a not-so-snowy snow day last Tuesday, Hailey’s back in the lab running experiments for the week! She’s finishing up her work with DNA origami by testing different concentrations and types of cations in her annealing buffer to see how they interact with both the origami and the mineralization process. She’s excited to be in her final semester at Emmanuel, but it’s not over just yet! She and the GRAB Lab are getting ready for the ACS conference in March, and then she’ll be putting together her distinction in the field presentation! She’s made so many amazing memorie ..read more

Dr. Gerdon got to spend an awesome afternoon at Notre Dame Cristo Rey Academy with Dr. Gian Grant’s sophomore chemistry classes. It’s Science Fair time and these students had great projects on really interesting topics. All had clear testable questions and exceptional experimental design focusing on at least three parameters and each in triplicate. The students had awesome motivation, put together great looking posters, and learned some great chemistry through these projects with Dr. Grant, who we’re honored to call a GRAB Lab member. The post Dr. Gerdon and Science Fair Season appeared first ..read more

After the long December and January break, Kristy headed straight to the lab to get started on her next project. She started her Au NP mineralization project and is excited for the outcome, it was a shaky start but there are high hopes! She’s also excited for the upcoming ACS conference this year in New Orleans. New experiments, new data and same supporting GRAB Lab! A lot of mixed emotions for her final semester at Emmanuel but she’s ready to finish with a bang! The image shows two reactions that each contain a collagen hydrogel, which is the structural protein on which bones are built. The d ..read more

We have big goals for big experiments in 2024 but it's time for finals and then a break! The post Happy Holidays from the GRAB Lab! appeared first on Gerdon Research Group Blog ..read more