Robbie is a senior Chemistry student at Trine University in Angola, Indiana. This summer he is in the Sun Lab working with Brett Mason and Xuan Liu learning about medicinal synthesis.

Robbie describes his research as follows:
I am working in Dr. Yujie Sun's lab synthesizing photoactive ruthenium complexes with oxygen independent activity for use as chemotherapy agents. By using ruthenium complexes, instead of more commonly used platinum complexes, the compound can preferentially target the cancer tumor, reducing side effects. Targeting is done by the complex's structure in addition to requiring complexes be activated with light before they have anticancer activity. By also being oxygen independent these complexes can function even in the low oxygen environment of cancer tumors. The product of this research could allow for safer and more effective chemotherapy treatment in the future.
Here is a video of Robbie explaining how he got into chemistry
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