结合经验

澳门金沙线上赌博官网库利实验室的化学反应很难复制.

在任何一天, 这里住着七名澳门金沙线上赌博官网的本科生, 由化学教授克里斯蒂娜·库利领导, all using organic chemistry to solve biological problems related to human health 和 disease. 但你马上注意到的是实验室人员之间的化学反应.

“One thing I love to do in our lab is really, really celebrate when good things happen,库利说. “我在系里以上蹿下跳著称, 尖叫, 拥抱每一个我能找到的有用的人.”

This type of bonding experience makes the Cooley lab a perfect example of how 澳门金沙线上赌博官网 does undergraduate research differently. It’s not just that the lab ran two major projects this summer—one centered around using light to detect disease, 另一种在体内激活的前药. 这项研究的方式是有区别的.

这项研究的影响很大, 高科技, 所有这些都是由本科生完成的——而且最重要的是, 这只是纯粹的乐趣. 在库利实验室, 学生们总是在笑, Alexa’s speakers are constantly running a music playlist with some absolute bops, 还有一个巨人, growing wall of memes 和 inside jokes plastered across Cooley’s office walls.

“这是我想在任何地方进行的研究, 和研究生一起, 博士后, 专业的科学家,库利说. “但是在澳门金沙线上赌博官网的化学系, we’re really invested in doing the best science that we possibly could do anywhere, 我们正在和本科生一起做这个实验.”

现实世界的影响

库利实验室的气氛可能是轻松愉快的, but don’t let that fool you: Cooley’s student researchers have taken on a pair of projects with major implications for the future of human health.

第一个项目与荧光聚合有关. 在这里, the Cooley lab is working to develop methods for marking the presence of a disease through a specific polymer that exhibits fluorescence. In simple terms, scientists will be able to to use light to detect disease by seeing it glow.

The lab has spent their summer working on getting the brightest possible signal combined with the lowest possible reaction time. This science will eventually have a real-world application for developing countries or places that might not have access to expensive medical equipment. “Hopefully, we can take the special equipment out of detecting diseases,库利说. 

第二个项目涉及前药, or medication that is metabolized (converted within the body) into a pharmacologically active drug. Basically, it’s medicine that remains inactive until it encounters a diseased segment of the body.

Cooley’s team has worked to different ways to “cage 和 uncage” these molecules.

“We think these types of projects are a great way to train undergraduates to become great scientists,库利说. “他们可以学到很多技术，成长为科学家, while working on problems that could actually meaningfully impact human health 和 disease.”

尖端的科技

这门影响深远的科学是由一套令人印象深刻的工具赋予的, 20岁的约瑟夫·安德森说, 来自阿塔斯科西塔的化学专业, 德州. 安德森走过实验室, 他滔滔不绝地说出一连串令人眼花缭乱的技术术语和实验室设备, almost the way a host on MTV’s Cribs would describe a tricked-out living space.

这是旋转蒸发器(rotovap), a device used in chemical laboratories for the efficient 和 gentle removal of solvents from samples by evaporation. 该组织还使用通风柜, or transparent enclosures that allow students to work with reactions that cause vapors, 粉尘, 气体, 和烟雾, 然后通过实验室的排气系统将它们排出体外. The mass spectrometer (mass spec) measures the characteristics of individual molecules by converting them to ions so that they can be moved about 和 manipulated by external electric 和 magnetic fields.

但 perhaps the two coolest pieces of tech are the sonicator (which uses sound waves to dissolve reagents in a solution) 和 the Cooley Lab light box, 由该组织的Madeline Hopps ' 20用澳门金沙线上赌博官网自己的激光切割机建造. 灯箱将聚合物前体暴露在光线下, 这引发了对团队研究至关重要的反应.

“Having this type of equipment can turn hours-long processes into minutes,安德森说. “这非常重要.”

And cutting-edge equipment isn’t the only type of support 澳门金沙线上赌博官网 has for undergraduate research, 地中海补充道. “在澳门金沙线上赌博官网, 我们有很多非常昂贵的仪器, 我们得到了澳门金沙线上赌博官网社区的大力支持, 但我们也有很多外部资金来支持我们的研究,她说。. 

作为学生研究者, Anderson 和 his classmates are all paid a summer stipend for their work in Cooley’s lab. 这是由广泛的赠款资助的,包括 sponsors such as the American Chemical Society Petroleum 研究 Fund, 韦尔奇基金会, 以及阿诺德和梅布尔·贝克曼基金会. 

“这是基础设施与大力支持的结合, 和 it gives students access to top-notch instrumentation for an institution of 澳门金沙线上赌博官网’s small size,库利说. “这是一个非常特殊的情况.”

培养更优秀的科学家

拥有专业水平的实验室设备和现实世界的研究目标, Anderson says he 和 his classmates are getting an experience beyond that of a typical chem lab.

“Being part of research at 澳门金沙线上赌博官网 is valuable because it exposes me to things I wouldn’t see in the classroom,安德森说. 

In one chemistry lab, Anderson recalls failing multiple times at synthesizing a specific reagent. “我一直不及格，因为我用的是‘教科书化学’。, 当我真的需要进入实验室并深入研究文献时,安德森说.

库利说，安德森并不是第一个遭遇失败的化学学生. 

“Those experiments you do in your first chem lab all have one thing in common—they tend to work on the first try,库利说. “这是你在研究中得不到的体验. 当学生们习惯了一切工作时，研究可能会令人沮丧, 他们带着满满的自信来到你的实验室, 和, 它失败了!但我认为，学生们应该通过真实的实地研究学到更多东西. 他们学习如何创造性地解决问题, 他们学会了如何面对失败, 而诚实, 经常发生.”

With failure so frequent in the chemistry world, it’s important to celebrate wins, Cooley says. 她解释说:“这样的时刻非常罕见. 让你度过所有的艰难时刻和失败, 你真的需要庆祝成功.”

发展文化

正如你所期望的那样，努力工作, 也要开心游玩的哲学, 库利实验室的每个角落都洋溢着纯粹的乐趣. Her group started off as a team of seven Tigers ranging from first-years to seniors, 没有合作的经验. 但 Cooley’s unique approach brought the group together through laughs, jokes, 和 music. 

安德森说:“我们的实验室文化确实发生了变化. “We’re all really good friends, even though we’re in different classes, different grade levels. 我们大多数人都是通过这项研究认识的. 我们走到一起, 我们整天演奏音乐, 我们在实验室外面闲逛, 和你喜欢的人一起工作，你会做得更好.”

安德森和他的队友乔丹·麦克默里，21岁, 泰勒·贝特，20届, 卡拉·德威特，20岁, 何塞·多斯·雷麦黛丝22岁, Christopher Fan ' 22, 和玛德琳·霍普斯的20人甚至通过库利实验室的snapchat群联系在一起.

这种化学反应让胜利更甜蜜. McMurry, 例如, 整个夏天都在准备一项至关重要的测试, 优化了所有组分分别组装的反应. This led to a big moment of suspense when McMurry finally put all the pieces together, 想知道这种反应是否真的有效.

“所以我们把它们放在一起，”麦克默里说，“而且非常成功. 我跳上跳下，太令人兴奋了.”

一旦学生研究人员尝到了这种成功的滋味, 他们开始建立具有感染力的自信.

“The research I’ve worked on, from first year to senior year, has totally evolved,安德森说. 

“在澳门金沙线上赌博官网, 你可以完成一个项目, 继续下一个, 能看到一个项目顺利完成真是太令人满足了.”

Any number of universities can conduct high-impact research with undergraduates. 但, 地中海解释说, you’d be hard-pressed to find another place that teaches students that chemistry between the people in a lab can be just as powerful a tool. “我们关系很好，”库利说. “我们做了很多有趣的科学研究, 努力工作, 但我们在一起也很开心, 发展人际关系. 这就是澳门金沙线上赌博官网的美妙之处.”