News

Many people recognize the smell left behind by cigarette smoking inside a building, car, or on someone's clothes. When you experience this smell when nobody is actively smoking, you are detecting and being exposed to 'third hand smoke' through inhalation, uptake through the skin, and sometimes ingestion as well. New research from our lab (Hurlock and Collins, Environ. Sci.: Atmos., 2024) demonstrates that the chemical composition of surface residues left behind by cigarette smoking changes over time without additional intervention. One reason that cigarette smoke is bad for our health is because it causes oxidative stress. Our new study finds that the oxidative potential of cigarette smoke also translates to non-biological scenarios as well - chemicals deposited on surfaces that cigarette smoke lands on can be transformed as well. Therefore, the smoke particles are actually acting like vehicles for reactive compounds in our environment, which is a new concept to consider when we think about how we may be exposed to toxicants on a daily basis.

NEW RESEARCH ARTICLE! In collaboration with the Lower Lab (Bucknell Biology), Pask Lab (Middlebury Biology), and Millar Lab (UC Riverside Entomology) we have discovered and reported the very first gaseous pheromone for any firefly species. Many people are familiar with the nocturnal fireflies that are seen in the summertime (May through early July) -- the flashing display is intended for finding mates to create the next generation of fireflies. However, many species of fireflies are actually day-active and -- through the natural process of evolution -- have switched from using a visible flash to using a chemical pheromone that their potential mates can 'smell' with their antennae. Our group and the Millar Lab sampled gases that are emitted from male and female fireflies (in this study, specifically Photinus corruscus) and tried to figure out which ones were specific to females; the Millar Lab also tested which compounds emitted by a female would elicit a neuronal response in male P. corruscus antennae. It turns out that the females emit a very specific chemical that attracts male fireflies from long distances, and members of the Lower and Pask labs conducted field trials with synthetically prepared pheromone to show that it works in the real world. The Pask lab also was able to identify the exact type of hair on the antenna that is associated with detecting the pheromone in the air. This research was just published in the Journal of Chemical Ecology, and is available for anyone to read at no cost. This research project is being funded by the National Science Foundation (IOS-2035286). Bucknell Press Release

Huge contratulations to April Hurlock '23 for being named a 2022 Goldwater Scholar! This is a huge and highly selective honor bestowed upon only the nation's top science students each year. April started research in our group as a STEM Scholar in the summer of 2019 before her first year at Bucknell began and has taken a new project all the way through to some great results that we hope to publish soon!

Two students from our research group, April Hurlock '23 and Chris Azzam '23 traveled to San Diego with Prof. Collins to attend the American Chemical Society Spring National Meeting. April and Chris presented research posters on their multiphase chemistry research. Prof. Collins gave two oral presentations, one about his recent article on the indoor air chemistry associated with electronic air cleaners along with his development of new community-engaged approaches to teaching analytical chemistry laboratories. Everyone got to absorb lots of great new science and lots of sun!

Air cleaning has become a hot topic during the pandemic as we work to maintain healthy indoor environments in the face of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Prof. Collins partnered with Prof. Delphine Farmer (Colorado State) to write a Perspective article on the chemistry associated with adding reactive cleaning agents to our indoor environment. It is preferable to use the safer and well-tested methods of air filtration (HEPA or MERV 13) and ventilation to maintain clean air inside buildings. 

The air quality inside our homes has become an increasing area of focus for many people during the lockdowns and work- or school-from-home arrangements over the past year. Prof Collins was recently quoted in a Better Homes & Gardens article to provide some guidance to people wishing to create healthier indoor environments. Remember to ventilate your homes, especially when using anything that burns (a stove or candles), and opt for unscented candles over adding new chemicals to your home. Those pleasant smells can actually the fuel for chemical reactions that result in health hazards.

Photo by Taha Sas on Unsplash 

There's lots of excitement around the lab these days as we will soon see the delivery and installation of our new Agilent 6560 Ion Mobility Q-ToF Mass Spectrometer. The new instrument will allow us and other researchers in the Susquehanna Valley to analyze chemically complex mixtures to identify and quantify their chemical components. The instrument is often described as providing 4-dimensions of information for each chemical it detects: (1) ultra-high performance liquid chromatography separates compounds based on polarity, (2) ion mobility further separates the same sample based on the shapes of each molecule, (3) ion selection in a quadrupole mass analyzer, followed by (4) collision-induced fragmentation and time-of-flight mass analysis of all fragments simultaneously. The instrument is available for use by researchers at primarily undergraduate institutions across Central Pennsylvania. Contact Prof. Collins with interests. 

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Third-hand smoke (THS) chemistry, a topic of research in our research group has gotten attention on the long-running PBS television show, Ask This Old House. The team at AskTOH got a question from a viewer about whether to buy a house with a strong cigarette smoke odor. Prof. Collins, along with Prof. Peter DeCarlo from Johns Hopkins University, provided expert input on the environmental and health implications of third-hand smoke for this segment. Check out the segment online along with the Bucknell press release.