News

2024

   

Laila was recognized with a “Best Poster Award”. Congratulations, Laila!   

  • Our collaborative paper “Detection of Mtb and NTM: preclinical validation of a new asymmetric PCR-binary deoxyribozyme sensor assay” was published in Microbiology Spectrum.
  • We hosted a lab tour the Ying competition finalists (high school students). Thank you, Harun, Chris, Jiyeong and AnnaMarie, for your help in running the tour!
  • Christopher Linter and Jiyeong Hong were recognized with the UCF Chemistry Department awards for excellence in academic performance. Congratulations!

  • Timothy Asem joins the group as a Chemistry PhD student. Welcome, Timothy!

2023

  • Harun Kapidzic joins the group as a Chemistry MS student. Welcome, Harun!
  • Jaehyun Ahn has defended his Honors Undergraduate Thesis. Congratulations, Jaehyun!
  • Abryana Fergus has defended her Master Thesis and graduate from UCF with an MS in Chemistry. Congratulations, Abryana!
  • Pedro Madalozzo has defended his Honors Undergraduate Thesis. He has graduated from UCF with BS in Chemistry and been accepted into the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (Biochemistry, Quantitative Biology, Biophysics and Structural Biology track) PhD program at Yale University. Congratulations, Pedro!
  • We hosted a lab tour for students from Valencia College. Thank you, Jaehyun and Pedro, for your help in running the tour!
  • Jaehyun Ahn has been awarded an Honors Undergraduate Thesis scholarship. Congratulations, Jaehyun!
  • Pedro Madalozzo  and Nicolas Raddi  have been awarded a student research grant from the UCF office of Undergraduate Research. Congratulations, Pedro and Nicholas!
  • Jaehyun Ahn and Nicolas Raddi  presented their work at UCF Student Scholar Symposium.

  • Pedro Madalozzo presented a poster at Spring 2023 American Chemical Society National Meeting in Indianapolis, IN.
  • Pedro Madalozzo, Jaehyun Ahn and Nicolas Raddi  presented their work at Florida Undergraduate Research Conference in Miami, FL.

2022

  • Abryana Fergus was awarded a NOBCChE Advancing Science Conference Grant to give a talk at NOBCChE Conference in Orlando, FL.
  • Mark Reed published a paper as a first author: development of a single-tube isothermal label-free fluorescent sensor for pathogen detection based on genetic signatures, published in Frontiers in Chemistry as part of the Research topic “Nucleic Acid-Based Aptamers in Therapeutics and Diagnostics”. DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2022.951279
  • Jaehyun Ahn has received a student research grant from the UCF office of Undergraduate Research. Congratulations, Jaehyun!
  • Ryan Connelly has defended his Dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. Connelly!
  • Yulia Gerasimova has been promoted to an Associate Professor.
  • Abryana Fergus presented her work at Spring 2022 American Chemical Society National Meeting in San Diego, CA.

2021

  • Shannon Beaton has defended her Honors Undergraduate Thesis.
  • Jack Mordeson has defended his Honors in the Major Thesis.
  • Nolan Bennett and Hafsa Ali have received a student research grant from the UCF office of Undergraduate Research. Congratulations, Nolan and Hafsa!
  • Nolan Bennett was awarded a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the UCF Office of Undergraduate Research. Congratulations, Nolan!
  • Jack Mordeson has been awarded an Honors Undergraduate Thesis scholarship. Congratulations, Jack!
  • Ryan Sapia published his first paper as a first author: an investigation into the interaction between GelRed(TM) and single stranded oligonucleotides, published in Dyes and Pigments. DOI: 10.1016/j.dyepig.2021.109209
  • We published an investigation into the light-up properties of the dapoxyl aptamer with arylmethane dyes in Chemical Communications. DOI: 10.1039/D1CC00594D
  • Michael Greenberg received the January Distinguished Undergraduate Research Award.

2020

  • Pedro Madalozzo received a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the UCF Office of Undergraduate Research. Congratulations, Pedro!
  • We published our utilization of a deoxyribozyme cascade for Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug susceptibility testing with colorimetric readout in Biosensors and Bioelectronics. DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2020.112385
  • We published our successful interrogation of a highly structured RNA target at ambient temperatures using multicomponent probes in RNA. DOI: 10.1261/rna.074864.120
  • Ryan Connelly received the 2019-2020 award for Excellence by a Graduate Teaching Assistant.
  • Michael Greenberg has defended his Honors in the Major Thesis.
  • Charles Dowis has defended his Honors in the Major Thesis.
  • Ryan Connelly and Mark Reed presented their work at the 2020 Pittsburg Conference (PittCon) in Chicago, IL.

2019

  • Ryan Connelly presented his work at the 25th International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming in Seattle, WA.
  • We published our findings on Split-G-Quadruplex based sensor design in ACS Chemical Biology. DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.9b00634
  • Michael Greenberg has defended his Honors Undergraduate Thesis.
  • Rohit Karnati has defended his Honors in the Major Thesis.
  • Tamar Yishay has defended her Honors in the Major Thesis.
  • Adam Reed was awarded with the 2019 Chemistry Department Graduate Teaching Assistant Award.
  • Tamar Yishay was awarded Judges’ Choice distinction at the 2019 Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence (SURE).
  • Colin Campbell has been awarded a UCF Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) 2019.
  • Our lab members participated in the Spring 2019 American Chemical Society National Meeting and Expo in Orlando, FL. Adam Reed and Bidhan Dhar contributed with oral presentations, Ryan Connelly, Ryan Sapia, and Charles Dowis presented posters.

  • We participated in the UCF Chemistry ACS Open House.
  • Adam Reed has published his first paper as a first author: a deoxyribozyme cascade for label-free pathogen detection with visual readout, published in Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical. DOI: 10.1016/j.snb.2018.11.147

2018

  • Ryan Connelly presented his work at NanoFlorida 2018 in Melbourne, FL.
  • Charles Verduzco was awarded the Chemistry Department Graeme and Hazel Baker Award, which recognizes an outstanding chemistry or forensic science major who has graduated in the previous summer, fall or current spring semester.

  • Sheila Solarez has defended her Honors in the Major Thesis.
  • Ryan Connelly and Adam Reed presented their work at Biosensors 2018 in Miami, FL.
  • Ryan Connelly, Adam Reed, Maithi Tran, and Charles Verduzco presented their work at the Spring 2018 American Chemical Society National Meeting and Expo in New Orleans, LA.
  • Ryan Connelly published his first paper as a first author: turn-on and turn-off colorimetric sensors that combine to form an alphanumeric array for instrument-free readout, published in ChemBioChem. DOI: 10.1002/cbic.201700626

2017

  • Ryan Connelly, Nicole Abedrabbo, and Rebecca Basch presented their work at the 93rd Florida Annual Meeting and Expo (FAME) in Palm Harbor, FL.