{"id":59852,"date":"2015-02-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-chemistry-professor-awarded-prestigious-early-career-grant-for-research-on-molecular-communication\/"},"modified":"2015-02-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-02-25T00:00:00","slug":"uri-chemistry-professor-awarded-prestigious-early-career-grant-for-research-on-molecular-communication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/02\/uri-chemistry-professor-awarded-prestigious-early-career-grant-for-research-on-molecular-communication\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 chemistry professor awarded prestigious \u2018early career\u2019 grant for research on molecular communication"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tSharon, Mass., resident’s research used for medical diagnostics, toxin detection<\/b><\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 February 25, 2015 \u2013 In Mindy Levine\u2019s world, chemical molecules are talkative little beings and she is trying to decipher how they communicate with each other when they are not attached. It\u2019s research that can be applied to a variety of industries, from the development of tools for medical diagnostics to sensors for detecting toxicants in the environment.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cIf we can better understand the talking between molecules, we can use that knowledge to develop detection methods that are more sensitive and applicable in complex environments,\u201d said Levine, assistant professor of chemistry at the 溏心vlog免费B站.<\/p>\n


\n\tHer research received a significant boost this month when she was awarded a $650,000 research grant from the National Science Foundation through its Faculty Early Career Development program, the most prestigious NSF grant program supporting junior faculty members. The grant will support her research into what she calls noncovalent interactions.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI\u2019m studying the way molecules are attracted to each other at distances that are close but not physically attached,\u201d said Levine, a resident of Sharon, Mass. \u201cThese noncovalent interactions are responsible for how drugs act in the body and why electronic devices work so well.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tIn her research, she will force different molecules close together to analyze how energy is transferred between them. She is particularly interested in energy transfer among toxic compounds because current technology requires those seeking to detect toxicants in the environment to know in advance what toxicant they are looking for.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re hoping to develop sensors that are counterintuitively less sensitive for particular exact compounds and more generally sensitive for classes of compounds,\u201d Levine said. \u201cThat will enable us to move away from requiring knowledge that is certainly not available in all situations. It\u2019s outrageous to me that we need an offending company to be forthcoming about what they may have spilled in the environment in order for us to clean up that spill in a way that minimizes the negative health impact to nearby residents.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tShe hopes her research will result in methods to quickly detect particular classes of compounds, \u201climiting the nonproductive guesswork and focusing instead on the compounds that you may have been exposed to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n


\n\tIn addition to funding her research, Levine\u2019s grant will also support outreach activities designed to educate the public \u2013 especially high school girls \u2013 about chemistry and careers in science. For instance, she plans a \u201cSugar Science Day\u201d in which 100 high school girls will spend a day at 溏心vlog免费B站 growing sugar crystals, measuring the sugar content of beverages and conducting other hands-on experiments with sugar. Two of the participating students will then receive a paid summer internship in her laboratory.<\/p>\n


\n\tThese activities are a follow-up to Levine\u2019s annual chemistry camp, which she holds during April vacation week for middle school girls to increase their interest in science. This year\u2019s camp, which runs April 20 to 24, features lipstick chromatography, the chemistry of bubbles, corn starch relays, and other chemistry activities using common household products.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI want these girls to come out of this camp thinking that science is cool and that women can become scientists,\u201d said Levine.<\/p>\n


\nPhoto by Michael Salerno Photography.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sharon, Mass., resident’s research used for medical diagnostics, toxin detection KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 February 25, 2015 \u2013 In Mindy Levine\u2019s world, chemical molecules are talkative little beings and she is trying to decipher how they communicate with each other when they are not attached. It\u2019s research that can be applied to a variety of industries, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59854,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}