Monday, October 26, 2009
Presenters: Sharon K. Miller and Bruce Banks
NASA Glenn Research Centre
The seminar mainly included the discussion about a technique that was developed at
NASA Glenn Research Centre to simulate the Low Earth Environment in space by generating atomic oxygen. The atomic oxygen, because of its high reactivity, has been used to remove many types of damages like shoot, char, ink, marks, graffiti, etc on paintings. Atomic oxygen could be generated by various ways like uv-, RF, etc. But, Atmospheric Atomic Oxygen
Beam(AAOB) is commonly used for this purpose. The AAOB is obtained by passing the arc through the atmospheric air at R= 1mΩ, V = 7000 V, A = 5-6 mA. The application of this technique in improving the quality of images/paintings was shown with illustration which was amazing. The cost of application of this technique is normal (about $25-30 per sample) which makes this technique easily accessible.
The seminar was interesting. The material was relevant and somewhat comprehensible.
The discussion was lively and timing was good. Presenters were very confident on their work and satisfactorily replied all the queries. Overall, the seminar was good.
Thank you!

Monday, November 2, 2009
Steven Sucheck, Ph.D.
University of Toledo
The seminar covered many research works carried out by his team in the University of
Toledo. The seminar was mainly focused on the synthesis of glycoconjugates using novel ligation reactions. The synthesis involves synthesis of hydroxylamine, amide ligation by decarboxylation and amide ligation via 2,4-Dinitrobenzenesulphonamide. The glycoconjugates are used as recognition markers in biological systems and in the diagnosis of many disease states. Discussion was also made on the various vaccines used against the cancer like protein conjugates, α-gal conjugate vaccines and also about the enhancement of antigenicity. They have been able to synthesize L-Rhamnopyranoside containing three component anti-cancer vaccines. They are also working to investigate the modification of carbohydrates for using them as potential inhibitors of enzymes that use carbohydrates as substrates.
Overall, the seminar was good. In my opinion, though the seminar disseminated a lot of information about the research works carried out by them, the inclusion of a lot of stuffs in the presentation made it difficult to get into the matter. The presenter could hardly draw attention of the audience throughout his presentation. He could make the presentation material more organized and be aware of timing.
Thank you!

October- 29, 2009, Burton Manor, Livonia, Michigan
Presenter: Yves Coello A. Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
The seminar discussed mainly about a novel imaging mass spectrometry(IMS) that uses near- infrared femtosecond laser pulses for direct desorption and ionization of sample constituents. This technique was employed in the analysis of biological tissues at cellular level particularly the onion skin cell with a resolution of 10 µm. This studied was aimed to provide a high resolution AP IMS approach which would be able to analyze biological samples at the cellular level. This technique is superior to other existing techniques in terms of resolution as this uses laser source for ionization.
The presentation was ok in terms of the knowledge imparted. In my opinion, this seminar could be made more effective just by correcting few things. The fluency and clarity of speech was not good enough. The presenter seemed to be less confident in some of the areas related to his works due to which he was somewhat less successful in answering the queries.
The drafting of the material on slides, their sequential flow and appropriate timing with adequate confidence was not as per the general expectation.
Thank you!

October- 29, 2009, Burton Manor, Livonia, Michigan
Presenter: Scott A. McLuckey, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
This was the Plenary Lecture by the 2008 ANACHEM Award Recipient. He talked about many aspects of scientific inventions. He tried to justify a proverb “Invention is the mother of necessity” before entering into the topic of his presentation. He has worked on the use of Gas-phase ion/ion reactions involving multiply-charged ions in conjunction with mass spectrometry for (bio) chemical analysis. He compared the reactions involving single-charged particle transfer and complex chemistry via long-lived complex. The presentation included various reactions other than single proton or single electron transfer which include metal ion transfer, reactions involving the inversion of charge of the analyte ion and selective reactions that result in covalent bond formation. The study of these ion/ion reactions would be helpful in developing more sensitive analytical tools.
The presentation was awesome. As a professional, he delivered his stuffs quite uniquely. His beginning was successful in drawing the attention of audience. He made the discussion with so many illustrations and examples that made it more comprehensible. I could not notice how he explained the use of ion/ion reactions in analytical mass spectrometry. I think it would be better if he spent more time on discussion about how it could be more useful/ advantageous than those of existing techniques.
Thank you!
Reviewed by: Badrinath Dhakal (E00902065)

Monday, November 30
Structural and Electronic Characteristics of Human Islet Amyloid Polypeptide (hIAPP) Leading to
Aggregate Formation
Reza Eizadkhah
This seminar began with the description about the type 2 diabetes; its causes and the cost associated with its treatment. It was discussed that why rats do not suffer from type 2 diabetes. The structural characteristic of hIAPP was studied using HF SCF method and Density
Functional Theory.
Overall, the seminar was nice. The presenter seemed to be confident and discussion was effective. There was consistency in the materials presented. All the slides were properly formatted and were attractive. The presenter could have been more cheerful and could maintain bodily movement during the period of his presentation.
Thank you!
Reviewed by: Badrinath Dhakal, E00902065