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Ken A. Dill, Distinguished Professor of Physics & Chemistry at Stony Brook University, will visit campus this Thursday and Friday, Dec. 4-5, as the college's second Robert S. Morris Class of 1976 Visiting Fellow. Dill, a member of the National Academy of Sciences who has been honored with numerous prestigious awards in his field, will present two lectures, "The Deep Innovation Engine of Science in America" at 4 p.m. on Thursday and "A Physical Chemist's Look at How Cells Grow and Evolve" on Friday at 3 p.m. 

Anyone who has torn their ACL or suffers from osteoarthritis knows just how agonizing the joint pain can be. In the Emergency Medicine Laboratory of Rhode Island Hospital, researchers are working to relieve some of that pain, and keep the damage to the impacted joints minimal. Elizabeth Larson ’16 is spending her summer on the Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University campus assisting Dr. Greogry Jay with his work on Lubricin.

Zoe Tessler ’16 is interning this summer at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake, N.Y, with support from the Jeffrey Fund in the Sciences, which funds students who intern at organizations that promote wildlife conservation or animal care. The Wild Center, located in the Adirondack Park, is a nonprofit organization that educates visitors on the Adirondacks’ rich biodiversity and natural history often through interactive exhibits.

Although not all tumors are malignant, those that are often serve as harbingers of cancer. Combatting cancerous tumors can be difficult, especially when the tumor is receiving the nutrients it needs to grow and spread. David Freeman ’16, a biochemistry major, is spending the summer interning at the Vermont Cancer Center (VCC), a collaboration between the University of Vermont and Fletcher Allen Health Care. Freeman's internship is supported by the Joseph F. Anderson Fund, managed by the Career Center

Rachel Sobel ’15 is among six student delegates sponsored by the American Chemical Society (ACS) who are currently attending the UN Climate Talks in Warsaw, Poland. A videoconference with the student delegates will take place today, Thursday, Nov. 21, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Levitt Center Conference Room (KJ251A).

Four Hamilton students presented their research at the 12th Molecular Educational Research Consortium in Undergraduate Computational chemistRY (MERCURY) conference held July 25-27 at Bucknell University.

Elisabeth MacColl ’16 and Tshering Sherpa ’16, along with Associate Professor of Biology Wei-Jen Chang, presented a talk and poster at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Ciliate Molecular Biology Conference held July 7-13 in Steamboat Springs, Colo.

Because Bisphenol A, or BPA, has been identified as a factor in conditions including obesity, ADHD, reproductive complications and behavioral abnormalities, consumers and health officials have been alarmed at the presence of the chemical in food and drink products for years. In a summer research project,  Lisbeth DaBramo ’15 and Rachel Sobel ’15 are measuring BPA levels in bottles and cans to identify how this toxic compound is introduced into our systems.

Enzymes and proteins, typically when left unattended or unprotected, can easily lose their structural integrity and fall apart. Sol-Gel is an emerging material that helps encapsulate the enzymes and protect them from the dangers of degradation. The technology can be used in numerous applications, one of them being a new method for slow-release medications. These slow release medicines allow for the introduction of necessary chemicals over a period of time, avoiding any negative side effects from releasing all the medication at once.

Substantial improvements in cancer detection and treatment have been made over the years, and Hamilton students are concentrating in that research area as well.  Traditional cancer treatments, such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy, are relatively invasive and attack cancerous and non-cancerous cells alike.  These techniques may diminish or eliminate the cancer, but not without potentially detrimental side effects that leave the body distressed and fatigued.  New therapies are being developed to specifically target cancerous cells in order to have safer and more efficient treatments.