CHY 116 Research Projects and Student Presentations
After the brief description of each project you will find links to representative student work.
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Ongoing projects
- Fabrication of Electro-optic Devices (Tracy, Ford): We are using a homemade
spin coater to construct LEDs made of novel electroluminescent materials.
Final project report: 2007
- Energy transfer in lanthanide/mixed d10 metal dicyanides (Ford): The tunable
fluorescence of mixed metal dicyanides makes them good candidates for donors in energy transfer studies
with lanthanide acceptor ions. Students have prepared and studied a number of these compounds.
Student poster: 2008
Student presentation: 2007
- Designing antibody-based diagnostic tools to detect environmental mercury Professor
Prudenté is working with CHY 116 students modifying proteins and other biomolecules to develop
immunoassays.
- Nutrient cycling in the Presumpscot River Basin:
Professor Benedict's research group is studying nutrient cycling, and the
impacts of agricultural and urban nutrient loading on local tributaries.
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) levels and distribution in cigarette wastes:
PAHs are a group of ubiquitous environmental contaminants that originate from petrogenic and
pyrogenic sources. This project found that cigarette butts and ash contain high
levels of several PAH compounds that are considered to be carcinogenic. These
levels were related to the number of cigarette butts littered in specific areas
on campus over one day. The students were then able to estimate the levels of
PAHs that were exposed to the environment from improper disposal of cigarette
waste.
- Immunoassays (Prudente)
- The Effect of Oxyglutaramate on Arabiodopsis Plants: Oxyglutaramate is a signaling
molecule which increases nitrogen metabolism. Working with Professor Knight (USM Biology), CHY 116
students investigated the effect of oxyglutaramate on Arabidopsis plants.
- Cytotoxicity Studies in Microgravity Environments: As part of the Wise Lab's participation
in NASA's Microgravity University, general chemistry students developed a protocol to study the
change in effects of known human carcinogens and genetic toxicants due to hypergravity and microgravity
on human lung epithelial cells. Existing protocols were modified to incorporate new materials (including
Teflon Cell Culture bags, threaded lock cannulas and syringes, and Cytodex 3 Microcarrier Beads) and to
provide a procedure suitable to conducting experiments onboard a plane with limited ability to handle
and manipulate the experimental apparatus.
Student poster: 2008
Past projects
- Determination of nitrate flux in transgenic tobacco plants (Knight, Biology):
Professor Knight's research is aimed at increasing the efficiency of nitrogen use in plants.
Student presentation: 2006
- Hazardous particulate matter and asthma (Langley-Turnbaugh, ESP): Small atmospheric
particulate matter (PM-10) is suspected of being an environmental trigger for asthma. Students used ICP
to measure levels of heavy metals in PM-10 samples and examined the toxicity of soluble metals on lung
fibroblasts.
Student presentation: 2005
- Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (Markowski, Psychology; Ford):
CHY 116 students used GC-MS and HPLC techniques to detect polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE)
in mouse tissue.
Student presentations: 2007
2006
- Determining arsenic levels in mouse tissue (Markowski, Ford):
Professor Markowski is interested in the effects of prenatal exposure to heavy metals including arsenic.
Students in CHY 116 used atomic absorption spectroscopy to measure arsenic levels in drinking water.
Student presentations: 2006
2005
- Phosphate levels in seawater (Moore, Biology): Using a colorimetric anaylysis, levels of
phosphate in seawater and artificial nutrient solution were determined. This is part of a project studying
the nutrient dependent physiology of Prochlorococcus phytoplankton.
Student presentations: 2006
2005
- TKN: Copper as a viable alternative to mercury (Katahdin Labs): Working with scientists
at Katahdin Analytical Laboratories, students demonstrated the feasibility of a copper-based protocol for
the determination of nitrogen.
Student presentation: 2006