News and Events - Chemistry

Fall 2018

• Dr. Stuart Chalk received an NSF Research at Undergraduate Institutions (NSF RUI) grant ($605,000) for the proposal "An Open Semantic Data Framework for Data-Driven Discovery"
• Prof. Kunisi S. Venkatasubban (“Venkat”) and Prof. Abdul Fauq published an article with UNF undergraduate, Jamie Thomas, in Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics titled “Decarbamoylation of carbamoylated acetylcholiesterases is markedly slowed as carbamoyl groups increase in size” in collaboration with Professor Rosenberry of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL. Prof. Kunisi S. Venkatasubban is Professor Emeritus in chemistry at UNF.
• Prof. Ken Laali published an article in European Journal of Organic Chemistry titled “Libraries of C-5 substituted imidazoles and oxazoles by sequential Van Leusen (VL)-Suzuki, VL-Heck and VL-Sonogashira in imidazolium-Ils with piperidine-appended-IL as base.”
• Prof. Ken Laali with co-authors Prof. Rick Troendle, Angela Zwarycz (UNF Chemistry undergraduate), and Sebastian Correa Smits (UNF Chemistry undergraduate) published an article in ChemMedChem titled “Synthesis, computational docking study, and biological evaluation of a library of heterocyclic curcuminoids with remarkable anti tumor activity.”
• Prof. Ken Laali with co-authors Prof. Rick Troendle, Angela Zwarycz (UNF Chemistry undergraduate), and Sebastian Correa Smits (UNF Chemistry undergraduate) were awarded the front cover of ChemMedChem for the September 19, 2018 issue.

Spring 2018

• Dr. Amy Lane received a NSF Research at Undergraduate Institutions (NSF RUI) grant ($294,000) for the proposal "Biosynthesis of diketopiperazine natural products from aminoacyltRNAs."
• Dr. Josh Melko was awarded the UNF Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award.
• Dr. Ken Laali received a UNF Foundation Board Grant for "Developing Anti-Cancer Drugs with UNF Students." and was awarded a sabbatical for Fall 2018
• Dr. Stuart Chalk was promoted to Full Professor, was awarded an extension of his 'Units of Measure' grant with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and became a Titular member of the IUPAC Committee on Publications and Chemical Data Standards (CPCDS).