Chemistry Students Present Their Latest Research at ACS National Meeting

In late March 2015, Professors David Konas, Marc L. Kasner and their undergraduate research students Robert Barrows, Maryam Abdulsalam, Rabih Balilli, and Sandeep Suresh joined thousands of chemists from around the world in Denver, CO at the 249th American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition. The theme of the meeting was “Chemistry of Natural Resources”, and these CSAM students and faculty presented their latest research, attended a variety of cutting-edge chemistry symposia, and networked with other ACS members. The trip was made possible with support, in part, by the CSAM SHIP program.

Robert Barrows (Konas Group) presented his work in synthetic organic chemistry. Robert described his important progress on developing new methods for the synthesis of substrate analogs of the enzyme indole-3-glycerol phosphate synthase (IGPS). This enzyme is part of the bacterial tryptophan biosynthetic pathway, and it may represent a potential target for future anti-infective agents. The new compounds being prepared in the Konas lab using Robert’s methods will be used in collaboration with Prof. Nina Goodey to understand more about the details of the IGPS protein and its chemistry. Robert graduated from Montclair State in May with a BS in Chemistry, and he is now a PhD student in organic chemistry at Rutgers University.

Maryam Abdulsalam, Rabih Balilli, and Sandeep Suresh (Kasner Group) presented their work on computational studies of the relationships between structure and energy of substituted six-member ring systems (Maryam and Sandeep) and the structure of glucose (D-glucopyranose) in a variety of solvent systems (Maryam and Rabih). Rabih graduated from Montclair State in May with a BS in Biology, and he is currently enrolled in Dental School at Rutgers University. Sandeep also graduated in May with a BS in Biology, and he is attending the Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Medical program at the University of Florida. Maryam is continuing her studies toward a BS in Biochemistry at Montclair State.