Department News

Department News

article graphic for Chemical Safety Education: Methods, Culture, and Green Chemistry
Research Highlights

Chemistry contributes to special issue on chemical safety education

Posted

The Department of Chemistry has a strong presence in the January Journal of Chemical Education's special issue, Chemical Safety Education: Methods, Culture, and Green Chemistry.

Fluorescent cells
Research Highlights

Researchers discover new way to deliver DNA-based therapies for diseases

Posted

University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers in the labs of Professor Renee Frontiera and Professor Theresa Reineke have created a new polymer to deliver DNA and RNA-based therapies for diseases. For the first time in the industry, the researchers were able to see exactly how polymers interact with human cells when delivering medicines into the body. This discovery opens the door for more widespread use of polymers in applications like gene therapy and vaccine development.

portrait of William Pomerantz
Research Highlights

Professor Pomerantz to develop epigenetic therapies for aggressive brain cancers

Posted

Professor William Pomerantz' lab has received a $100,000 grant from the Humor to Fight the Tumor Foundation to support its chemical epigenetics research project to develop new inhibitors for the treatment of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.

illustration of Professor Reineke's research on the Efficient Polymer-Mediated Delivery of Gene-Editing Ribonucleoprotein Payloads through Combinatorial Design, Parallelized Experimentation, and Machine Learning
Research Highlights

Efficient polymer-mediated delivery of gene-editing RNP payloads

Posted

Professor Theresa Reineke’s research on genome-editing payloads continues. An article on the latest break-through research, Efficient Polymer-Mediated Delivery of Gene-Editing Ribonucleoprotein Payloads through Combinatorial Design, Parallelized Experimentation, and Machine Learning, has been published in ACS Nano.

Professor Valerie Pierre
Research Highlights

Professor Pierre receives NIH grant to help people with chronic kidney disease

Posted

Professor Valérie Pierre has received a five-year, $2 million National Institutes of Health National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases grant to focus on "polymer supported phosphate-receptors for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia."

MRSEC research photo
Research Highlights

University of Minnesota receives $18M grant for materials research

Posted

The University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering announced that the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $18 million in renewed funding over the next six years for the University’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). The University of Minnesota MRSEC program is among only 11 centers nationwide receiving funding for successful collaborative research.

Research Highlights

Article on DMRG-PDFT selected for Chemical Science 'best of' collection

Posted

Chemical Science has selected the article, “Density Matrix Renormalization Group Pair-Density Functional Theory (DMRG-PDFT): Singlet-Triplet Gaps in Polyacenes and Polyacetylenes," for its themed collection, Most Popular 2018-2019 Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Articles.

Professor Lawrence Que in front to elements display
Research Highlights

'Metalloenzyme Mastery' features Professor Que

Posted

A feature article, "Metalloenzyme Mastery," published in the July 29, 2020, edition of Chemistry World highlights the work of Regents Professor Lawrence Que Jr.

iron sulfide crystal
Research Highlights

‘Fool’s gold’ may be valuable after all

Posted

In a breakthrough new study, scientists and engineers at the University of Minnesota have electrically transformed the abundant and low-cost non-magnetic material iron sulfide, also known as “fool’s gold” or pyrite, into a magnetic material.

General chemistry graphic with flask, glassware, periodic table
Research Highlights

14 undergraduates participate in summer fellowship program

Posted

The Department of Chemistry has offered 14 undergraduate students the opportunity to participate in an abbreviated, five-week, full-time research opportunity through its Summer Research Program.