Fun Day at Kings Island

After working intensively in the labs, what could be better than a fun day at the local amusement park.

Shania Smith

Shania is a sophomore biology student at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College with aspirations to go into dermatology. This summer she is working with Spencer Hendrickson in the White Research group working on developing new electrochemical methods of detection.

She describes her research as follows:

In Dr. Ryan J. White’s lab, we are developing electrochemical aptamer-based sensors combined with nanoporous gold leaf electrodes to detect targets - such as ATP, insulin, tropomyosin, and other small biomolecules - in complex media including blood and serum. The ultimate goal is to improve the stability and signal response of E-AB sensors (nanoporous gold) in order to decrease inevitable biofouling of biosensors in complex media. To do this, we are taking advantage of porous structures, leading to increased stability and signal change of sensors.

In this video she explains why

she become a chemist

Salmika Wairegi

Salmika is a senior biochemistry student at the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia where she previously worked in a computational physical chemistry lab on Quantum Mechanics. This summer she is coming back to Ohio (where she is from) and working with Lauren DeLong in the Ross Group working on developing the use of microfluidics in analytical electrochemistry.

Salmika describes her research experience as follows:

During the program, I have been working on creating a fully functioning microfluidic flow cell that will replace a conventional flow cell. The point of this is that a conventional flow cell platform is expensive both in terms of its structure and the cost of using larger sample sizes and certain errors that come along with its mechanics. With this microfluidic device, we reduce the size, sample cost (smaller volumes) and any error. This will hopefully make the applications of detecting neurotransmitters within the brain much more simple, effective and efficient.

In this video Salmika explains how she ended up as a chemist.