News

Professor Christopher Bejger has received an NSF CAREER Award from the Solid State and Materials Chemistry program in the Division of Materials Research to develop a new class of redox-active metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) comprising transition metal chalcogenide (TMC) molecular clusters. TMC clusters exhibit rich electrochemical behavior and have a propensity to undergo reversible, multi-electron transfer […]

“The goal of this NIH-funded project is the development of highly fluorescent thiazolothiazole (TTz) materials as molecular sensors for tracking cell membrane potentials. Tracking the changes in cell membrane potential offers the potential to gain a deep understanding of complex and rapidly changing cellular physiology. Fluorescent, small molecule voltage sensitive dyes (VSDs) have greatly impacted […]

Margaret Kocherga, a fourth-year student in the Nanoscale Science Ph.D. program in the Schmedake Research Lab and a UNC Charlotte alum (B.S. Chemistry) recently won First Place in the Innovate Carolina 2020 Student Innovation Competition sponsored by the Product Development and Management Association. Conratulations Margaret!

Margaret Kocherga, a fourth-year student in the Nanoscale Science Ph.D. program in the Schmedake Research Lab and a UNC Charlotte alum (B.S. Chemistry) was named as one of six new innovators selected to join Chain Reaction Innovations (CRI), the entrepreneurship program at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Argonne National Laboratory, as part of the […]

The NSF Chemical Structure, Dynamics & Mechanisms-B Program of the Chemistry Division has awarded a grant (#1955619) to Professor Christopher Bejger at UNC Charlotte to develop hexasubstituted [3]radialene molecules for use in organic aqueous redox-flow batteries. This project is important for developing low cost and environmentally friendly energy storage devices. The Bejger Lab will collaborate […]

The Bejger lab has recently published an article title “Desymmetrized hexasubstituted [3]radialene anions as aqueous organic catholytes for redox flow batteries” in the Journal of Chemical Communications. The article may be found here. Here is an abstract of the published work: “Negatively substituted trimethylenecyclopropane dianions, a subclass of hexasubstituted [3]radialenes, are candidates for use as […]

Congratulations to Abhsipa Sahu for recieving an EPA P3 Phase 1 fundding for her grant “Green & Sustainable Water Purification Membranes”! Abhispa is a Ph.D. student in Dr. Jordan Polers lab. To read more about the awarded grant, click here. To read more about Dr. Poler’s lab, click here.

Congratulations to Margaret Kocherga and Morgan Chandler for tying for first place at the Poster 2.0 Competition! This competition is inspired by the #betterposter revolution that is drastically changing the way scientific research is presented at conferences. Morgan works in the Afonin lab. Margaret works in the Schmedake lab. Congratulations Morgan and Margaret!

Chronic liver dysfunction often begins with hepatic fibrosis. A pivotal event in the progression of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis is hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation and secretion of extracellular matrix proteins, including tenascin-C (TnC). TnC is often chosen as a therapeutic target for treatment of liver disease. TnC is minimally detected in healthy tissue, but […]

Abhishek Shibu of the Walter lab won both first place and the people’s choice award at the 3MT with his “Let There Be ‘BLUE’ Light” presentation. Abhishek will now go on to compete in the 3MT regionals and represent UNC Charlotte. For information, click here. Congratulations Abhishek! Margaret Kocherga of the Schmedake lab was also […]

The Walter lab recently published a paper in the Journal American Chemical Society (JACS). Here is a brief description of the paper. Donor-acceptor, small molecule fluorophores are attractive tools for both environmental and biological sensing applications due to their high sensitivity, selectivity, and spatial/temporal resolution. In our recent paper, we report on a new molecular […]

Dr. Cooper recently published an article in Analytical Chemistry: Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) can be used to identify metabolites in biological samples by searching against a library of spectra obtained from known compounds. But the best match from a library search is guaranteed to be incorrect if the unknown is not (yet) in any library. […]

Congratulations to Dr. Kirill Afonin (Chemistry) for receiving a UNC System Inter-Institutional Planning Grant (IPG) together with UNCG, NCCU, and NCSU. Dr. Afonin is a lead PI on the project that aims to establish a strong research team that will rely on continuous collaboration among diverse institutions and disciplines to address fundamental design aspects of […]

The Carolina Piedmont local ACS section, chaired by Dr. Jordan Poler, has won the ACS ChemLuminary Award for best regional meeting in 2017. Many of UNC Charlott’s chemistry faculty contributed to this meeting as symposium chairs, LOC members, and volunteers during the meeting. A great team effort recognized by our professional organization!

Congratulations to the cohort of students who successfully completed a two-week workshop on “Molecular and Cellular Immunology: from Basics to Applications in Preclinical Development of Nanotechnology-Formulated Drugs.” This workshop organized by the Afonin Lab in the Department of Chemistry covered topics including an in-depth review of cellular and molecular immunology, basic principles of immunotoxicology and […]

Nanoscale Science PhD student Margaret Kocherga was recently featured in CLAS magazine Exchange. The article highlights some of Margaret’s achievements including receiving the award for best oral presentation by a student at the 50th North American Silicon Symposium, completing UNC Charlotte’s Ventureprise Launch NSF I-Corps program, and earning the Younger Chemists Committee Leadership Development Award […]

Dr. Michael Walter and recent Nanoscale Science PhD student Meesha Kaushal completed the Ventureprise Launch NSF I-Corps program at UNC Charlotte, participating in over six weeks of entrepreneurial seminars and programming. After determining the kits could be commercially viable, they successfully competed for a national I-Corps Team Award. A $50,000 grant has provided financial support […]

Dr. Kirill Afonin was a finalist for the Integration of Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award. Chemistry Department Chair Bernadette Donovan-Merkert describes Afonin as one of UNC Charlotte’s top researchers. “He is also an effective mentor for students in his research group, and he has developed an innovative course that truly engages students in research and […]