CCHF Monthly Newsletter 03
April 2016
CCHF Monthly Newsletters
These Newsletters will be sent out on the last Friday of every month. If you have any announcements that you would like included please contact Center management.
CCHF Announcements
Congratulations to Dr. Eric Moschetta!
Dr. Eric Moschetta will join AbbVie, Inc. in June to work in flow chemistry. Eric has been a member of the CCHF since 2013 when he joined the Jones group at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has been a collaborator with the Davies group at Emory University to develop composite polymer/oxide hollow fibers as flow reactors for using immobilized dirhodium catalysts in C-H functionalizations.
Eric has participated in a number of CCHF outreach events, including the Atlanta Science Festival, Science at Hand Day at the Fernbank Museum, and the Graduate Student Prep Club.
Congratulations to CCHF NSF-GRFP Recipients!
The NSF recognizes the need for diversity of science, innovation, and individuals in the U.S. The NSF supports this initiative through the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP), which supports graduate students pursuing Master’s and Doctoral-level degrees in STEM disciplines. The CCHF would like to congratulate the current NSF-GRFP fellows, who have received the award over the past few years:
Robert Kubiak Jr. (2016)
Elizabeth Goldstein (2015)
Bret McLarney (2015)
Tyler St. Denis (2015)
Julian West (2015)
CCHF Member Profile | Robert Kubiak II
If you spent your time studying subjects like anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry what type of career would you be preparing for? Most likely one in the medical field; maybe as a pharmacist, doctor, or nurse. However, Robert Kubiak II had other ideas.
It was during Robert’s time preparing to become an EMT paramedic in the Army, that his interest in biochemistry developed and evolved. Rather than looking solely at how the body functioned, he became curious about how drugs interacted with the body and how their design affected these interactions. This lead him to pursue studies in the area organic synthesis at D’Youville College (Buffalo, NY). Here, under the advisement of Dominic Ventura - an alum of the Huw Davies - he would begin to investigate the fundamental properties of the reaction pathways for organic molecule synthesis. Not surprisingly he decided to continue his studies at Emory University with Prof. Huw Davies.*
If you ask Robert about choosing chemistry over medicine, his answer speaks to a long forgotten perspective. While doctors can affect the lives of thousands of people during their careers, the drugs developed by scientists in laboratories all over the world can affect the lives of tens and hundreds of thousands of people, even millions. In this regard scientists can have a very large and positive impact not often recognized.
In fact, if you speak to Robert, many of his goals center around making an impact. Whether it is seeking global research collaborations by participating in the VICHF International Workshop this June or being actively involved in CCHF outreach activities (i.e. Atlanta Science Festival), Robert is continuously working to bring science to the masses. As a newly minted NSF GRFP fellow, this is reflected well in one of the many goals outlined by the NSF that “…values the advancement of scientific knowledge and activities that contribute to achievement of societally relevant outcomes”. It is clear that wherever the road takes him, Robert plans to leave his mark in graduate school and beyond.
*Robert Kubiak, Jr. is currently a first-year graduate student in the Davies Lab.
Three Minute Thesis Competition at Caltech
Author: Anton Toutov
From a pool of nine finalists, the winner of Caltech Library’s 3MT® competition was Anton Toutov, PhD candidate in Organic Chemistry. His talk was entitled “Breaking Society’s Dependence on Precious Metals: Green Chemical Manufacturing Using Potassium"
Recent CCHF Publications
Preparation of an Aurylated Alkylthiophene Monomer via C–H Activation for Use in Pd-PEPPSI-iPr Catalyzed-Controlled Chain Growth Polymerization
ACS Macro Letters., 2016, 5, (4), 533-536
Date Published: 04/08/2016
Rhodium(II)-Catalyzed C–H Functionalization of Electron-Deficient Methyl Groups
Authors: Liangbing Fu, David M. Guptill, and Huw M. L. Davies
Date Published: 04/11/2016
The first bismuth(II)–rhodium(II) oxypyridinate paddlewheel complexes: Synthesis and structural characterization
Authors: Travis Lee Sunderlanda & John F. Berry
Date Published: 04/12/2016
CCHF Integrative Activities
CCHF at the 2016 Cambridge Science Festival
04/16/2016
On April 16th members of the Movassaghi group from MIT and scientists from our industrial partners at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research joined forces to teach participants of the 2016 Cambridge Science Festival how we make organic molecules, why we make organic molecules and the impact that particular organic molecules has on biological organisms.
Students from the Movassaghi group created a booth in the main expo area where kids could come and make their own candy molecules and learn about synthetic organic chemistry and how scientists put organic molecules together.
Scientists from Novartis hosted an adventure through biological organisms and how interactions between small molecule pharmaceuticals and the molecular machinery of cells can impact and treat diseases. This was done all in glorious 3D, with a 3D presentation in one of the class rooms.
Thanks to everyone involved for representing the CCHF!