Blog Challenge #5-Part 2

Interview with Dr. Jeffrey D. Madura:

Q: How did you become interested in science?
A: My 5th grade science teacher gave me a soil testing kit, been interested ever since.

Q: How did you end up at Duquesne?
A: Serendipity, just by chance.

Q:Have you taught at any other universities?
A: Yes, University of South Alabama and the University of Texas.

Q:Did you do any research during high school?
A: No

Q:Why did you choose your profession?
A; Tired of washing glasses, had an interest in computers, they were just starting to come out at the time.

Blog Challenge #5

Part 1:

Two Fridays ago was the undergraduate research symposium I had a good time during the symposium and got to see many different research. We first heard talks from multiple people from Duquesne and places like the University of Pittsburgh. There was also a keynote speaker from the university of Pittsburgh and he talked about water declination. I thought he research was very interesting; he like me also used computer simulations to do his research so I thought it was a nice consequence that we both used computers for our simulations. Once we heard about some of the student’s research we ate lunch then got the chance to explore and look at different people's poster and ask questions about their work. There were two hour-long sessions of poster presentations. The even numbers went from 2-3 and the odd numbers went 3-4. My poster was an odd so I went the second hour, which wasn’t as busy and crowded as the first hour.  I personally only got to talk to two people about my project but i had good conversations with those two people. I wouldn't of minded talking to more people about my research but I was fine with two.  I also went to about 10 different posters myself and talked to people about their research. My mom also came to the symposium so I was having her meet some of the people I worked with over the summer and the people I’ve been around since I was here. I showed her most the SEED students’ projects and let her get to know more about the program. Overall I had a great time at the research symposium and i had a ton of fun.

Part 2:

3 people to interview...

 Dr. Madura

 Dr. Wheeler

 Dr. Evansack 

How did you get to where you are today?

What type of schooling did you go through?

How many years did school take you?

Have you taught at any other universities?

Did you do any research in high school or college?

Blog Challenge #4

Yesterday was the SEED celebration day.  A lot of people came to the event ranging from former SEED students to a head of an organization.  I thought the event went well and everybody had a good time at the event.  Multiple people spoke at the event, SEED students presented, even former SEED students talked about their experiences.

I personally thought my presentation was OK, it wasn't as smooth as i would've liked it to go but i thought i presented fine. I thought Charlie and Emily presentations were fantastic. To make my it even better i think i could've not of jumble my words up as much. I thought i could've of presented more smoothly and just take my time during the presentation and slow down a bit. I think  rushed myself a bit so i tried to speak faster and just jumbled my words.

I learned a lot from the former SEED students i thought they said some valuable things. Such as taking more then the just the research from this experience and take as much as you can from this experience.  They also mention that in retrospect SEED was a great experience and that us students should try to pursue everything possible.

Christopher Sidun, who was a former SEED student who also worked with Dr. Madura and i just talked to him about his research and my research.

I also talked to the ACS pittsburgh chapter chairman Tabitha ????, i dont remember her last name, but i talked her about SEED, college, what i'm interested in taking in college.

Abstract

Small molecule-protein interactions involving  Substrate 4 of the Vitamin D receptor using computational alanine scanning Grant, Deion; Madura, Jeffry D. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Center for Computational Sciences Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA 15281 Vitamin D is an essential enzyme that assists in the mineralization of bone, bone growth and bone remodeling. Experiments have been done to investigate the allosteric effects of ligands in the function of nuclear receptors using a method known as alanine scanning. Alanine scanning involves the mutation of binding pocket amino acids to alanine so that the importance of that amino acid in the binding pocket is determined. The free energy perturbation method in conjunction with the thermodynamic cycle is used to perform computational alanine screening. Using Substrate 4 in the vitamin D receptor the computational alanine scanning method can be validated. Preliminary results of the computational alanine scanning method will be presented in the poster.

Blog Challenge #2

Kelly working in the lab.

Cheyenne examining different chemicals   

Emily working with SEM.

Melissa working with molecules on a computer.

Charlie in the cold room, picking out buffer solutions

(Stolen,Melissa's Photo,  I couldn't get my own picture due to a group meeting)

Charles Thornton is a 17 year old senior that attends Storox high school.  He lives in Mckees Rocks and is interested in nuclear engineering.  He is interested in attending the University of Pittsburgh.  His project is a continuation of his project last summer. He is learning biological and biochemical techniques. He is investigating periplasmic nitrate reeducate A. He is trying to isolate the protein to do further studies in order to run kinetics. 

Blog Challenge #1

Ever since i was a kid i was alway interested in building and creating things. I use to have un-realistic dreams. I remember when i was young i tried to build a robot with scrap metal i found around my house.  I've always been interested in engineering, either mechanical or structural, or maybe even civil. I'm also interested in chemistry but i still think i rather go into the engineering field.

Im interested in the University of Pittsburgh, they offer a good engineering program that caught my eye.  I talked to different people from the university about the college and go some valuable information. I learned about the courses they offer in the mechanical engineering major, credit requirements  how many years ill spend in school, tuition, etc.  My school is also located in the middle of the campus so i know the rea well.

Penn State University also caught my eye. They are the number #1 recruitment college in America. I also talked to a representative from Penn State and im planning to visit the campus over the summer, sometime in July. I found out that 1 in every 50 engineers is a Penn State Engineer.

Im also interested in Carnegie Mellon University, they offer an excellent engineering program that i would lov to be apart of. I'm actually working with CMU during my senior year building a prosthetic arm with Dr. Steve Collins. The only problem with this school is financial issues. I dont know if i will be able to afford the school and not to mention how competitive the school is.

New Beginnings

With project seed i am going to be working with the Vitamin D receptor. I still don't know what exactly my project is. I haven't gotten much time to talk to Dr. Madura but i'm looking forward to spending my summer working with him and my partners.

So far on my project me and my group haven't done much.  On the first day we simply talked to Dr.Madura about the project and what my group will be doing. He then set us free to complete tutorials for 3 different programs. He also gave us 2 different research papers to read over, they talked about the same topic but i didn't understand either of the papers.  Other then those items we haven't really done anything.

I have high expectations for this project and i'm hoping i'll be able to fulfill. I'm a little nervous about the project since i have to write a 5 page paper on it and not to forget that i have to  present it at a symposium. I'll just like for me and my group to make this project a success.