2020 MCS Capstones

Biological Chemistry Graduates

Joo Hyung Park, MCS ‘20

Joo Hyung Park, MCS ‘20

Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry, Denison University—Granville, Ohio
Future plans: Pursue a PhD in biological chemistry

Capstone: 4-Hydroxy-2-onenal (HNE) modification of histidine 50 affects the biophysical properties of α-Synuclein: implications for Parkinson's disease

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease that degenerates dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra and is characterized by the accumulation of α-synuclein (αS) in Lewy bodies. 4-Hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE) is known to be a lipid peroxidation product that can posttranslationally modify αS, especially histidine 50 (H50). The purpose of this study is to identify how the site-specific modification of H50-HNE contributes to the pathogenesis of αS.

Shitian Wei, MCS ‘20

Shitian Wei, MCS ‘20

Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, Nanjing University—Jiangsu, China
Future plans: Pursue a career in industry

Capstone: Understanding the role of three specific amino acid residues on capsid assembly and interaction with core protein allosteric modulators (CpAMs)

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) chronically infects more than 250 million people worldwide and causes 680,000 deaths annually due to liver failure and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This project intended to establish an in vivo capsid assembly assay to further understand the mechanism of HBV capsid assembly through interaction between CpAMs and Cp dimer.

Download Shitian’s capstone poster

Materials Inorganic Chemistry Graduates

Di An, MCS ‘20

Di An, MCS ‘20

Bachelor of Science in Material Chemistry, Harbin Institute of Technology—Harbin, China
Future plans: Structure and materials engineer, Consumer Business—Huawei, Shanghai

Capstone: Monolayer self-assembly of monodisperse nanocrystals at the liquid-air interface

This capstone project focuses on the synthesis of monodisperse nanocrystals using LAISA technique in order to build a library of building blocks for self-assembly studies. Significant variables including evaporation rate, morphology, and ambient environment were studied to determine their influences on the self-assembly quality of the monolayers.

Download Di’s capstone poster

Xiang Zhou, MCS ‘20

Xiang Zhou, MCS ‘20

Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, University of Sheffield—Sheffield, England
Future plans: Career in industry in the energy sector

Capstone: Tunable plasmonic behavior of dendrimer-NP hybrid materials

The optical properties of nanoparticles composed of Au-Ag alloys with an anthracene ligand grafter to their surfaces was studied. The plasmonic enhancement of the fluorescence was found to be varied among different compositions of the alloy nanoparticles.

Download Xiang’s capstone poster

Organic Chemistry Graduates

Hung-Ching Chen, MCS ‘20

Hung-Ching Chen, MCS ‘20

Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, National Tsing Hua University—Hsinchu City, Taiwan
MCS Capstone Award recipient
Future plans: PhD program at Penn Chemistry

Capstone: Optimization of the synthesis of BNM-III-170 bis-TFA salt

Hung-Ching developed an effective “process synthesis” of a potential inhibitor of HIV-I viral infection and obtained multi-gram quantities (45 grams) in high yield.

Download Hung-Ching’s capstone poster

Changfeng Deng, MCS ‘20

Changfeng Deng, MCS ‘20

Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, Sichuan University—Chengdu, China
MCS Capstone Award Recipient
Future plans: PhD Program at Penn Chemistry

Capstone: Synthesis and photochemical studies of two pHP derived photocages

This project laid the groundwork for a new area of research in Professor Chenoweth’s lab. Changfeng developed a synthetic pathway of a new class of p-hydroxyphenacyl (pHP) photocages that represent a new set of chemical tools for controlling live cell protein localization.

Download Changfeng’s capstone poster

Jing Zhi (Kenny) Lo, MCS ‘20

Jing Zhi (Kenny) Lo, MCS ‘20

Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University—State College, PA
MCS Capstone Award Recipient
Future plans: Pursue a career in pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry

Capstone: Formation of nanoparticles for the oral delivery of small molecules and targeted nanoparticles for parenteral delivery of cyclic peptides by flash nanoprecipitation

This study provided insight in nanoparticle formation from a small molecule drug through the FNP process.

Download Kenny’s capstone poster

Devendra Maurya, MCS ‘20

Devendra Maurya, MCS ‘20

Bachelor of Technology in Surface Coating Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT)—Mumbai India
MCS Capstone Award Recipient
Future plans: Pursue a PhD in organic or polymer chemistry

Capstone: Mixed-ligand effect in biphasic single electron transfer-living radical polymerization

Devendra expanded the concept of mixed ligand effect to other metal catalyzed polymerization, identified conditions that are more cost effective, and expanded the library of solvents that can be used with TREN.

Download Devendra’s capstone poster

 

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