Theses/Dissertations from 2026
Investigating the Effects of Biodegradable and Non-Biodegradable Microplastics on Pea Plant (Pisum Sativum L.), Blessing Bisola Akinwande
Rethinking the Mechanistic Approach to Teaching Organic Chemistry†, Gautam Bhattacharyya
Myths about Teaching and Learning Organic Chemistry, Gautam Bhattacharyya, Nicole Graulich, Molly Atkinson, Sascha Bernholt, Scott E. Lewis, Maia Popova, Ginger V. Shultz, Ryan Stowe, and Benjamin Pölloth
Crystallographic characterization of products of side reactions encountered during synthesis of cyanoximes, Leon Goeden, Carl Cheadle, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Vlad Birman, and Steven Kelley
31P Solution NMR Investigation of Abasic DNA, Clarissa R. Krimmel
Backbone equilibrium in mismatched DNA influenced by solution conditions, Pilarski and Gary A. Meints
Soybean-Microbe System Response to Perfluorooctanesulfonic Acid: Investigating Stress Responses, Metabolite and Elemental Compositions, and Microbial Community Shifts, Riley Elizabeth Pope-Buss
Submissions from 2025
Modulation of ?-Synuclein Fibrillation and Toxicity by 4-Phenylbutyric Acid, Kristos Baffour, Neelima Koti, Tony Nyabayo, Sathvika Balerao, Carissa Sutton, Rishi Patel, Santimukul Santra, Tuhina Banerjee, and David Johnson
Development of Receptor-Integrated Magnetically Labeled Liposomes for Investigating SARS-CoV-2 Fusion Interactions, Tuhina Banerjee, Clayton Frazier, Neelima Koti, Paris Yates, Elizabeth Bowie, Megan Liermann, Santimukul Santra, David Johnson, and Sharon H Willis
Generational Exposures to Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles and Perfluorooctanesulfonic Acid Affect the Performance of Daughter Plants, Preston Clubb
Exposure of Wheat Plants to Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles for Two Generations Affects the Third Generation’s Responses to Perfluorooctanesulfonic Acid, Preston Clubb, Riley Pope-Buss, Maximo Reyes, Jessica Linson, Cyren M. Rico, Elim Horn, Jose Peralta-Videa, and Illya Aidee Medina-Velo
Investigations of Proteins Including Yellow Thermal Protein, Blue Thermal Protein, Lactoperoxidase, and Thyroid Peroxidase, Cammi Dargatz
LC-MS Discriminates Between Effects of Sulfur Nanoparticles vs Molybdenum Disulfide Nanoparticles on Lettuce (Lactuca Sativa), Mary Fakunle
Cyanoximes, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk
Electrochemically Active Molybdenum Phosphate with Open-Framework Structure, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Sutapa Bhattacharya, Milad Aghayi-Anaraki, Steven P. Kelley, and Amitava Choudhury
Effects of novel organoantimony compounds on the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Kaitlyn Cotton, Jacob A. Lieberman, and Karen L. Wozniak
The Effect of Polyethylene Glycol Surface Density of Dense Brush Gold Nanoparticles on Insulin Fibrillation, Ethan Patrick Grier
Development of Cyan and Blue Thermostable Fluorescent Proteins: Characterization and Structural Analysis, Acacia J. Jurkowski
Cyan Thermal Proteins Derived From Thermal Green Protein, Acacia Jurkowski, Dhruv Sitapara, Austin Brown, Samantha Ball, Trey Norman, Anastasia Jones, Jessica Gilbert, Taryn Criblez, Andrew Yates, Shiv Bansal, and Natasha M. DeVore
Interaction of Tau With Pegylated Gold Nanoparticles, Rahab Wanjiru Kanogo
Towards the Expression of Omniligase-1 Using E. COLI and Cell-Free Protein Synthesis, Jacob Linhardt
Alpha-Synuclein Interaction With Gedunin, Tony Matundura Nyabayo
Physiological and Metabolic Responses of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) after One-Generation Exposure to Perfluorooctanesulfonic Acid (PFOS), Olamide R. Ogundele, Mary Fakunle, Riley Pope-Buss, Jacob Churchman, Blessing Akinwande, Naum Kirwa, Polycarp C. Ofoegbu, and Cyren M. Rico
Evaluation of cerium oxide nanoparticles’ effects on pakchoi (Brassica chinensis L.) based on metabolomics analysis, Riley Pope-Buss, Cyren M. Rico, Siying Jia, Changyu He, Lei Ji, Jie Hong, and Jorge L. Gardea-Torresdey
Plasmonic Nanoceria: A Plasmon-Enhanced Nanohybrid for Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Ebola Glycoprotein, Carissa Sutton, Kristos Baffour, Cassidy Soard, Rishi Patel, Santimukul Santra, Tuhina Banerjee, and Sneha Ramanujam
Submissions from 2024
Synthesis, Characterization and Antimicrobial Activity of Trimethylantimony(V) Biscyanoximates, a New Family of Antimicrobials, Seth A. Amankrah, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Tarosha Salpadoru, Kaitlyn Cotton, Marianna A. Patrauchan, and Karen L. Wozniak
Green, yellow, or cyan? Introduction of color change mutations into a green thermostable fluorescent protein and characterization during an introduction to biochemistry lab course, Matthew R. Anderson, Cammi J. Dargatz, Tuhina Banerjee, and Natasha M. DeVore
Introducing Ordered Silicon Vacancies Into WSi2, Grace M. Atkins
Soil Nitrogen Fertility Influences the Growth and Yield of American Elderberry but Is Less Impactful than Genotype and Environment on Other Horticultural Characteristics, John D. Avery, Martin Kaps, Richard Biagioni, Andrew L. Thomas, George E. Rottinghaus, Matheus Dela Libera Tres, Patrick L. Byers, Ingolf Gruen, Akash Mazumder, Diann M. Thomas, Westwood, Giselle Campos, Mitch C. Johnson, and C. Michael Greenlief
Comparative Study on Different Fmoc Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis Protocols Towards Reduced Solvent Consumption and Improved Efficiency, Alexander M. Babel
The Kinetic Modulation of α - Synuclein Fibrillation and Toxicity by 4-Phenylbutyric Acid, Kristos Awuah Baffour
Mechanistic Insights Behind the Self-Assembly of Human Insulin under the Influence of Surface-Engineered Gold Nanoparticles, Zachary Flint, Haylee Grannemann, Kristos Baffour, Neelima Koti, Emma Taylor, Ethan Grier, Carissa Sutton, Rishi Patel, Santimukul Santra, Tuhina Banerjee, David Johnson, and Prasad Dandawate
Li2MP2S6: Building-Block Approach to a Family of 2D Non-van der Waals-Layered Materials and Their Water, Ammonia, and Ion Intercalation Properties, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Kartik C. Ghosh, Santhoshkumar Sundaramoorthy, Steven P. Kelley, and Amitava Choudhury
Co-crystallization of isomers of iron(ii) complex of a tridentate mixed amine/imine ligand in one unit cell, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Carl B. Hollandsworth, Blayne M. Griffin, John Raymon Pruden, and Matthew Zeller
Synthesis and characterization of Cu(II) complexes supported by a pyridylamide ligand, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Clement Mugenzi, Douglas R. Powell, Gerard T. Rowe, and Lei Yang
Finally: The X-ray crystal structure of the illusive unsubstituted iron(III) phthalocyanine ?-oxo(1)dimer. DFT-predicted Mössbauer quadrupole splitting and antiferromagnetic coupling constants for X-ray geometry, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Victor N. Nemykin, and Breanna E. Muldowney
Use of Unprecedented Intramolecular 1, 3-Dipolar Cycloaddition Reaction in meso-Nitrile Oxide-Containing BODIPYs as a New Pathway for the Preparation of Fused NIR Platforms, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Yuriy V. Zatsikha, Dijo Prasannan, Briana Scharge, David E. Herbert, Mattias Zeller, and Victor N. Nemykin
Core-Tunable Dendritic Polymer: A Folate-Guided Theranostic Nanoplatform for Drug Delivery Applications, Neelima Koti, Trishna Timalsena, Carissa Sutton, Tuhina Banerjee, Santimukul Santra, Kajal Kajal, Caleb Worsley, Adam Worsley, and Paul Worsley
Remarkable Structural Diversity of N-Pyrrolidine-cyanoxime and its Ni(II) Complexes, Adedamola Abraham Opalade, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Oleksandr Hietsoi, and Olga Gerasimchuk
Novel antimony-based antimicrobial drug targets membranes of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial pathogens, Kevin E. Pinks, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Tarosha Salpadoru, Jacob A. Lieberman, Kaitlyn Cotton, Karen L. Wozniak, and Marianna A. Patrauchan
Transcriptomics Reveals the Pathway for Increasing Brassica chinensis L. Yield under Foliar Application of Titanium Oxide Nanoparticles, Cyren M. Rico, Iqra Shakoor, Mary Fakunle, Lan Wei, Lei Ji, Changyu He, Xiaohua Lu, Yuhong Xia, Ying Hou, and Jie Hong
Toxicity assessment of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) on a spontaneous plant, velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti), via metabolomics, Cyren M. Rico, Dane C. Wagner, Polycarp C. Ofoegbu, Naum J. Kirwa, Preston Clubb, Kameron Coates, Jenny E. Zenobio, and Adeyemi S. Adeleye
Assessing Interatomic Potentials for Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Soybean Oil Pyrolysis, Tanner Garrett Rust
Determining Perfluorooctanesulfonic Acid Adsorption on Nanoparticles Using Liquid Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry, Iqra Shakoor
Development of Functional Plasmonic Nanoceria for the Ultrasensitive Detection of Ebola Glycoprotein, Carissa A. Sutton
Inorganic Chemical Reasoning Skills: An Exploratory Study into Understanding Students’ Choices and Thought Processes, Hannah P. Thompson
Theses/Dissertations from 2023
The Future of Alternative Energy? Simulating Methyl Stearate Pyrolysis via Molecular Dynamic Processes, Sarah J. Adeoye
Engineering a Yellow Thermostable Fluorescent Protein by Rational Design, Matthew R. Anderson, Caitlin M. Padgett, Cammi J. Dargatz, Calysta R. Nichols, Keerti R. Vittalam, and Natasha M. DeVore
Structural Engineering of Thermostable Fluorescent Proteins TGP-E and YTP-E and Crystal Structure of TGP-E, Matthew Ryan Anderson
Tunable Magneto-Plasmonic Nanosensor for Sensitive Detection of Foodborne Pathogens, Tuhina Banerjee, Carissa Sutton, Nilamben Panchal, Rebekah Elliott, Truptiben Patel, Kajal Kajal, Eniola Arogunyo, Neelima Koti, and Santimukul Santra
Influence of ionic cerium and cerium oxide nanoparticles on Zea mays seedlings grown with and without cadmium, Preston Clubb, Cyren M. Rico, Muhammad Ashar Ayub, Muhammad Zia ur Rehman, Hamaad Raza Ahmad, John-Paul Fox, Alan L. Wright, Muhammad Anwar-ul-Haq, Muhammad Nadeem, and Lorenzo Rossi
Renewable Fuels: Molecular Dynamics Investigations Into Pyrolysis of Methyl Linoleate, Elson Osakpolor Eguaosa
NaGaSe2: A Water-Loving Multifunctional Non-van der Waals Layered Selenogallate, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Srikanth Balijapelly, Santhoshkumar Sundaramoorthy, Dibya Jyoti Mondal, Sanjit Konar, Aleksandr Chernatynskiy, and Amitava Choudhury
Synthesis and characterization of iron(II) Schiff-base complexes of tridentate mixed amine/imine ligands with cis- and trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexane backbones, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Carl B. Hollandsworth, Blayne M. Griffin, John Raymon Pruden, Dustin E. Nevonen, Rachel R. Nickel, Johan van Lierop, and Victor N. Nemykin
Crystal Structure of fac-Tris(pivaloylcyanoximato)Cobalt(III), [Co(PiCO)3], Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, van Dyk, Mokolokolo, and Brink
Synthesis and Characterization of Pt(II) and Pd(II) Complexes with Planar Aromatic Oximes, Mikala Meadows, Cody Turner, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Lei Yang, Mikhail Berezin, and Sergiy Tyukhtenko
Base Dynamics in the HhaI Protein Binding Site, Gary A. Meints, Kari Pederson, and Gary P. Drobny
Stress Memory of Wheat After One-Generation Exposure to Perfluorooctanesulfonic Acid (PFOS), Olamide Rachael Ogundele
Changes in physiological profiles and co-occurrence patterns of soil microbial community following exposure to nanoceria and ionic cerium, Olamide R. Ogundele, Cyren M. Rico, Jie Hong, Siying Jia, Lan Wei, Minhua Wu, Feng Chen, and Feng He
Impact of Sample Conditions on DNA Phosphodiester Backbone BI/BII Conformational Equilibrium Dynamics, Autumn C. Pilarski
Backbone Conformational Equilibrium in Mismatched DNA Correlates with Enzyme Activity, Pilarski, Johnson, Mamoud, Gary A. Meints, and Westwood
Improving the quantum yield of nitrogen-doped carbon dots by varying dopant ratios and pH, Megan B. Prado, Nguyen T. Truong, and Adam Wanekaya
Divergent effects of cerium oxide nanoparticles alone and in combination with cadmium on nutrient acquisition and the growth of maize (Zea mays), Cyren M. Rico, Muhammad Ashar Ayub, Muhammad Zia ur Rehman, Hamaad Raza Ahmad, Ghulam Hassan Abbasi, Wajid Umar, Alan L. Wright, Muhammad Nadeem, John-Paul Fox, and Lorenzo Rossi
Tree age and maturity stage affect reducing sugars, organic acids and minerals in Ziziphus jujuba Mill. cv. Huping fruits, Cyren M. Rico, Lina Wang, Chuan Chen, Rongjun He, Qingyuan Mao, and Peilong Sun
Computational Comparison of Platinum, Base Metals, and Binary Intermetallic Compounds’ Efficiency in Hydrogenation Catalysis, Lauren M. Sayler
Engineering and Characterizing Proteins: A Dual Study on Canine p53 Protein and Cyan Thermal Protein, Dhruv B. Sitapara
‘Pocahontas’: a vigorous and highly productive American elderberry, Westwood, Richard Biagioni, Thomas, Byers, Starnes, Sergent, Templemire, McGowan, Schuessler, and Gold
Design of an Anti-HMGB1 Synthetic Antibody for In Vivo Ischemic/Reperfusion Injury Therapy, Keiichi Yoshimatsu, Hiroyuki Koide, Chiaki Kiyokawa, Anna Okishima, Kaito Saito, Tatsuya Fukuta, Yu Hoshino, Tomohiro Asai, Yuri Nishimura, Yoshiko Miura, Naoto Oku, and Kenneth J. Shea
Cooling-induced, localized release of cytotoxic peptides from engineered polymer nanoparticles in living mice for cancer therapy, Keiichi Yoshimatsu, Hiroyuki Koide, Kazuhiro Saito, Beverly Chou, Yu Hoshino, Sei Yonezawa, Naoto Oku, Tomohiro Asai, and Kenneth J. Shea
Theses/Dissertations from 2022
Synthesis and Characterization of Antimony Cyanoximates for Microbiological Studies, Seth Adu Amankrah
Characterization of Nanoparticles Using Inductively-Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry, Jabez D. Campbell
Development of PEG-b-PLA Based Micelles for Neutralization of a Toxic Peptide, Giselle Campos
Plasmon-Enhanced Bimodal Nanosensors: An Enzyme-Free Signal Amplification Strategy for Ultrasensitive Detection of Pathogens, Zachary Flint, Tuhina Banerjee, Nilamben Panchal, Vedant Jain, Rebekah Elliott, Paul Worsley, Caine Duran, and Santimukul Santra
Rational Design of Iron Spin-Crossover Complexes Using Heteroscorpionate Chelates, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Patrick J. Desrochers, Ali Abdulrahim, Katherine R. Demaree, Joseph A. Fortner, Jamie D. Freeman, Makenzie Provorse Long, Madison E. Martin, and Carlos J. Gómez-García
X-ray structural determination and comparison of Bis-imine Schiff bases with trans- and cis-1,2-cyclohexanediamine backbones, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Carl B. Hollandsworth, John Raymon Pruden, and William Clark
Non-Antibiotic Antimony-Based Antimicrobials, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Kevin Pinks, Tarosha Salpadoru, Kaitlyn Cotton, Olga Michka, Marianna A. Patrauchan, and Karen L. Wozniak
Lithium selenometallates of triel elements, Li5MSe4 (M = Al and Ga), aliovalent doping and their ionic conductivity, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Santhoshkumar Sundaramoorthy, Aleksandr V. Chernatynskiy, and Amitava Choudhury
Metabolomics Reveal Size-Dependent Impacts of Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles on Grains of Barley (Hordeum Vulgare L.), Naum Jepkemei Kirwa
The Synthesis and Characterization of Pb(II) Cyanoximates, Patricia McDaniel
Synthesis and Characterization of Chitosan Derivatives Intended for Gene Delivery Applications, Alex M. McMullen
Green synthesis of nanoparticles: Current developments and limitations, Polycarp C. Ofoegbu, Preston Clubb, Cyren M. Rico, Shuaixuan Ying, Zhenru Guan, Feng He, and Jie Hong
Structural characterization of products in the Ni(II) – 2-oximino-2-cyan-N-piperidineacetamide (HPiPCO) system, Adedamola A. Opalade, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, and Oleksandr Hietsoi
Nickel(II) Aqua Complexes with Chelating Ligands: What Happens When Water Is Gone?, Adedamola A. Opalade, Nikolay N. Gerasimchuk, Imre Labadi, Carlos Gomez-Garcia, and Oleksandr Hietsoi
Optimizing the Fluorescent Quantum Yield of Carbon Dots, Megan B. Prado
Plant Exposure to Engineered Nanoparticles: Uptake, Transformation, Molecular and Physiological Responses, Cyren M. Rico
The importance of system complexity in understanding plant responses to engineered nanoparticles: direct versus indirect effects, Cyren M. Rico and Christian P. Andersen
Changes in metabolite profile of plants exposed to engineered nanomaterials, Cyren M. Rico, Polycarp C. Ofoegbu, Naum J. Kirwa, Dane C. Wagner, Oluwasegun Michael Abolade, Siying Jia, and Jie Hong
Reply to the ‘Comment on “Foliar application of nanoparticles: mechanisms of absorption, transfer, and multiple impacts”’ by S. Husted, P. Møs, S. Le Tougaard, A. Pinna and F. Minutello, Environ Sci.: Nano, DOI: 10.1039/D1EN00630D†, Dane C. Wagner, Cyren M. Rico, Jie Hong, Chao Wang, Jorge L. Gardea-Torresdey, and Feng He
Kinetics and thermodynamics of BI-BII interconversion altered by T:G mismatches in DNA, Westwood, Johnson, Gary A. Meints, and Nathan A. Oyler
Biosensors: Biomimetic Sensors, Keiichi Yoshimatsu
Biosensors: Biomimetic Sensors, Keiichi Yoshimatsu
Theses/Dissertations from 2021
Expression, Purification and Characterization of the Human Cytochrome P450 Enzyme 4x1 (CYP4X1) Using Substrate Binding Affinity, Metabolic Assays and Protein Crystallization, Olusegun Adeolu Idowu
Investigation of the Interface Reactions of Ion Selective Electrode Membranes Using Chromatographic and Spectroscopic Analyses of Erbium(III) Tetraphenylporphyrin, Alexis Rae Miller
Stimuli Responsive Dye-Containing PEG-PLA Block Copolymer Micelles and Computationally Assisted Design of a Stapled Peptide Bundle, Tyler L. Odom
Physiological, Biochemical, and Metabolic Responses of Wheat (Triticum Aestivum) Exposed To Perfluorooctanesulfonic Acid (PFOS), Polycarp Chidiebere Ofoegbu
Characterization of Lamellar Liquid Crystal Emulsifiers in Topical Creams Containing a Novel Solvent, Melinda Joanna Sutton
Expression and Purification of Cytochrome 2U1 and Canine 1A2 and Metabolism of Caffeine by Cytochrome 1A2, Brenda M. Wekesa
Theses/Dissertations from 2020
Toward Development of a Paper-Based Microanalytical Device for Heavy Metal Ion Detection by Enzyme Inhibition, Adjoa Otubea Adams
Improving Biodiesel Through Pyrolysis: Direct Dynamics Investigations into Thermal Decomposition of Methyl Linoleate, Michael Bakker
Determining Particle Size of Polymeric Micelles in Thermothickening Aqueous Solutions, Jessica Diane Bruer
