Please join me welcoming Hannah Rydman to Clemson!
Hannah has recently accepted our offer to become a Lab Specialist in our Department and will help us preparing for the General Chemistry and Organic labs. Hannah graduated from Bob Jones University with a BS in Cell Biology and a Chemistry minor. Since 2016 she was a lab assistant at Bob Jones and has also worked for Cayman Chemical doing organic synthesis.
To limit the spread of the virus in our department and in line with the current recommendation from the CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html), starting May 6, everyone coming to Hunter Chemistry Lab will be required to wear a face mask and exercise strict social distancing measures. Everyone is also strongly encouraged to follow established prevention measures (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html). People working in other buildings (BRC, AMRL, etc) should contact the corresponding building managers.
We understand the hassle of having to make your own masks to work but please keep in mind that these masks need to be frequently washed so it is a lot simpler/safer to do it this way. If you bring a couple of those masks, you may swap them and take them home in a Ziplock bag for washing. If you need help, the following link contains instructions on how to make face masks either with or without sawing (https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-make-a-cloth-face-mask/). Many other tutorials are available. To help with this issue, the department has already purchased a small batch of masks from Fisher that can be used as last resource. This link that describes HOW to wear/discard face masks. The link also has a number of infographics that can be also used https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/when-and-how-to-use-masks
Additional information, including plans to return to campus, can be found at https://www.clemson.edu/coronavirus/
The Nature Index 2020 Annual Tables highlight the institutions and countries that dominated high quality research in the natural sciences in 2019 as tracked by Nature Index. The rankings are based on an institution’s or country’s share of articles published in the 82 prestigious scientific journals selected by an independent panel of experts and tracked by the Nature Index database.
The table includes counts of all research outputs for Clemson University published between 1 December 2018 – 30 November 2019 which are tracked by the Nature Index. Each year, the Nature Index publishes tables based on counts of high-quality research outputs in the previous calendar year. Read more
Users please note:
Proclamation Suspending Entry of Immigrants Who Present Risk to the U.S. Labor Market During the Economic Recovery Following the COVID-19 Outbreak
On Wednesday, April 22, President Trump signed a proclamation suspending entry into the United States of certain immigrants who present risk to the U.S. labor market during the economic recovery following the COVID-19 outbreak. The proclamation is effective at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 23 and expires in 60 days, unless continued by the President.
U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and those holding valid immigrant visas on the effective date of the Proclamation, are not subject to the proclamation. The Proclamation is not retroactive. No valid visas will be revoked under this Proclamation. The proclamation provides exceptions to its restrictions for certain categories of immigrants, including: certain healthcare professionals, aliens seeking to enter the United States pursuant to an EB-5 investor visa, spouses and children (categories IR2, CR2, IR3, IH3, IR4, IH4) of U.S. citizens, members of the United States Armed Forces and any spouse and children of a member of the United States Armed Forces, and aliens seeking to enter the United States pursuant to an Afghan and Iraqi Special Immigrant Visa. Please refer to the proclamation for a full list of exceptions. Routine visas services have been suspended at U.S. posts worldwide, but as resources allow, embassies and consulates will continue to provide emergency and mission critical visa services for applicants who are not subject to this presidential proclamation.
The full text of the presidential proclamation is available on the White House website at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-suspending-entry-immigrants-present-risk-u-s-labor-market-economic-recovery-following-covid-19-outbreak/
Although we are very excited about the upcoming events university, recent developments related to the coronavirus have prompted the decision to cancel the visitation weekend and our research symposium. It is important to mention that Clemson remains free of confirmed cases, but we are very sensitive about potential concerns related to the travel to Clemson and do not want participants to be exposed to any additional risk. We apologize for the cancellation and we hope to be able to organize it at a later time.
Following a tradition started in 2016, The Department of Chemistry is organizing the 5th Annual Chemistry Department Research Symposium, to be held on Saturday March 14 2020, from 9:00 AM to noon on the Clemson University campus. The purpose of this event is to share the research and accomplishments of the last year with each other and the larger Clemson community that we are a part of. Perspective graduate students are also invited to the event as a means for them to learn about the research in the department and to interact with our graduate students. Alumni, representatives from local industry and students from local public schools are also encouraged to come. Coffee and refreshments will also be served at the event.
This year’s speaker is Dr. Suzanne Bell, a Professor Emeritus at West Virginia University. Dr. Bell retired last year but was the Chair of the Forensic and Investigative Science Department while at WVU.
Dr. Bell obtained a BS (Chemistry and Criminal Justice majors) from Northern Arizona University and an MS in Forensic Science from the University of New Haven. She joined the New Mexico State Police in 1983 and worked as a forensic chemist and crime scene processor. Next she ventured to Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1985 as a technical staff member. During this time, she obtained a PhD from New Mexico State University. She made the leap to academia in 1994, first at Eastern Washington University where she taught undergraduate chemistry courses and assisted the university and the Washington State Patrol in developing a forensic chemistry major. In 2003, she joined the Chemistry Department at West Virginia University. Currently she imposes her will on the next generation by mentoring chemistry and forensic chemistry students from the BS to post-doctoral level. Her group is active in many forensic and analytical chemistry research areas. She is a member of the Scientific Working Group for Seized Drug Analysis, a commissioner on the Forensic Education Program Accreditation Commission (FEPAC), and was recently appointed to the new National Commission on Forensic Science. In addition to numerous research articles, she has authored and edited many text and reference books including Forensic Chemistry and the 4th edition of Forensic Science: An Introduction to Scientific and Investigative Techniques. The lecture will take place in the main Auditorium of the Watt Center and we are currently working to finalize the details.
The symposium is open to the general public and will feature posters presented by graduate students from each research group in the department as well as undergraduate students and student from surrounding schools.
Congratulations to Jacob Bills, who received a Poster Award at the 2020 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, in Tucson, Arizona. Jacob presented the poster entitled “Pb Isotope Ratio Analysis in Complex Samples Using the Liquid Sampling – Atmospheric Pressure Glow Discharge Ion Source”. You may read more at the group’s web site.
Katja Hall won a student poster award at the 2020 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, held in Tucson, AZ. The award was sponsored by the RSC Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry. TheThe work, co authored by Ashli Polanco, George Liang, Ryan Graham, Shaun Galbraith, Seongkyu Yoon, and Ken Marcus was titled: “Utilizing the Liquid Sampling – Atmospheric Pressure Glow Discharge for At-Bioreactor Quantification of Trace Metals in Cell Culture Media via Mass Spectrometry” Congrats Katja!
You may read more about the work performed by Dr. Marcus’ Research Group or check the abstract of the presentation.
Abstract: The growth characteristics of cell culture are often affected by the metal ions present in the feed media. Since even trace amounts of certain metals affect production, controlling both the metal composition and concentrations is a crucial component of cell growth processes. As such, a growing area of bioanalytical chemistry research is the development of methods and instruments capable of continuous, real-time at-bioreactor metal concentration monitoring. Instruments capable of performing these analyses would be incredibly valuable as they could be employed as a production control factor. Currently, few procedures for this application are available, relying on ICP-MS instrumentation. Due to the large size as well as the consumable and utility support requirements of ICP-MS, these instruments are incapable of at-reactor monitoring so discrete samples must be taken on the factory floor and transported to the instrument laboratory. In order to address the shortcomings of ICP-MS instrumentation towards at-bioreactor trace metal analysis, the liquid sampling – atmospheric pressure glow discharge (LS-APGD) has been employed. The LS-APGD is inexpensive to manufacture, cheaper to maintain than an ICP, and has been previously demonstrated to pair well with reduced-format mass spectrometers for elemental analysis. When paired with MS, the LS-APGD is capable of low-ppb level limits of detection for a wide array of metals. Described here is the pairing of the LS-APGD with an Advion compact mass spectrometer (CMS) for the quantification of trace metals in cell culture media. Using the Advion CMS for this application provides the potential to minimize production delays by allowing trace metals analysis to be performed at-reactor instead of transporting samples to an ICP-MS. Described here are the experiments relevant to the initial pairing of the LS-APGD to the Advion CMS towards the bioreactor monitoring application. Parametric optimizations of mass spectrometer operating conditions as well as the LS-APGD operating conditions are described. Figures of merit for key metals relevant to bioreactor analysis are reported and preliminary work with CHO media is discussed.
The Department of Chemistry would like to announce the recipients of the recipients of the 2019 Mandel Fellowships, an award made possible by a gift established in honor of Dr. Frederick Mandel. This year’s recipients are:
Join me in congratulating the awardees, who have achieved an outstanding level of productivity since their arrival to our program. We are thankful for their contribution and we expect that this award contributes to their professional development and success. Also join me in thanking the selection committee (Leah, Boni, Ken, and Bill) for their work.
Ebube Oyeka has been awarded the COSSAB GIAR grant for the 2019-2020 academic year. He joined the department this semester and is already assisting with Dr. Tran with her new lab. His research will focus on designing new materials exhibiting topological magnetic spin textures with potential applications in spintronics technology.
Congratulations!!!
