News

[June 2025] The Tasker Lab attends the 49th National Organic Symposium at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.  We met a Nobel laureate (and a chemistry TikTok star), heard about the latest research in organic chemistry, hung out with graduate students, and presented our group's work on thiol-ene chemistry and gas-releasing molecules via two posters. 

[June 2025] Congrats to Steph, Sachin, and Zarine (L to R) on receiving a 2025 National Organic Symposium Poster Award for their poster entitled "Synthesis of Thioethers via a Hypervalent Iodine-Catalyzed Thiol-Ene Reaction"!

[May to July 2025] We're hard at work in the lab during the Hackman summer research period.  Meet the team here!

[April 2025] Dr. Tasker is granted tenure and promotion to Associate Professor at F&M based on her work in teaching, research, and service!

[April 2024] Four members of the Tasker Lab attended the ISCC conference. Both Zarine and Sachin presented their work on the hypervalent iodine-catalyzed thiol-ene reaction and tandem isomerization/thiol-ene reaction. They also both won awards (first prize and honorable mention, respectively) for their talks--congratulations!

[December 2024] Check out our lab's paper reporting the synthesis and antibacterial activity of the natural product ficuseptine and 12 of its unnatural derivatives. This work is the first independent confirmation of the moderate antibacterial activity of ficuseptine, which is found in the sap of the tropical fig tree F. septica.  This sap has been under clinical investigation in Papua New Guinea for treatment of topical skin ulcers, and the Tasker lab has also provided synthesized ficuseptine to collaborators at Kew Gardens, UK to assist in further investigations. Congrats to Andy, Nina, and Sydney!

[July 2024] A recent article about the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund grant in C&EN News includes Dr. Tasker's story of receiving an Undergraduate New Investigator Award at the start of her career. Read more here.

[June 2024] Thanks to NSF MRI Award #2320384 ($390,720), the F&M Chemistry department installed a new 400 MHz Bruker NMR spectrometer. Research students will use this instrument, which is critical to characterization of organic molecules.

[May to July 2024] We're hard at work in the lab during the Hackman summer research period.  Meet the team here!

[May 2024] With Dr. Giulia Palermo (UC RIverside), Dr. Tasker co-organized the 2024 NSF Chemistry Early Career Investigator Workshop in Alexandria, VA. This event brought together 96 pre-tenure chemistry faculty, 11 PI mentors, and 43 Program Officers from the NSF and other agencies to learn more about how to write a successful NSF CAREER grant proposal. Sponsored by NSF Conference Award #2417805. Find out more here.

[April 2024] Four members of the Tasker Lab attended the ISCC conference. Both Zarine and Sabrina did an excellent job communicating the lab's research, and Sabrina won first place in the Organic II section with her talk entitled "Delivering Toxic and Reactive Gases via Small Gas-Releasing Molecules"!

[March 2024] Dr. Tasker was awarded a $514,388 NSF CAREER Award for a grant application entitled "Development of New Gas-Releasing Molecules Using a Thiol Carrier" (Award #2338835). This prestigious award from the NSF supports early career faculty, and the funds will enable the lab's work over five years, including instrumentation, supplies, and 20 total undergraduate researchers over the summer. Find out more here.

[August 2023] Dr. Tasker traveled to Steamboat Springs, CO to participate in the Organic Syntheses Workshop on Synthetic Organic Chemistry for Young Investigators. There, she presented on two of the lab's projects (gas-releasing molecules and new methods for synthesizing thioethers) via informal chalk talks.

[June 2023] Check out this great F&M News Story featuring our lab's recent commercialization of our CO-releasing molecules here.

[May to July 2023] We're hard at work in the lab during the Hackman summer research period.  Meet the team here!

[June 2023] Two of our carbon monoxide-releasing molecules are now available from Sigma-Aldrich! You can purchase both the phenyl (#930059) and para-nitro (#930105) thioCORMate reagents...see our paper in Chem. Eur. J. for more details on their use.

[May 2023] Congrats to the F&M class of 2023, especially Tasker Lab alumni, Katie DeSimone, Lyla Naqvi, and Andy Hoang!  Both Katie and Lyla will be entering the workforce, and Andy will be pursuing a PhD in Chemistry at Columbia University in the fall. 

[April 2023] The Tasker Lab attended the ISCC conference in force (two presenting, two attending). In addition to hearing about amazing science throughout the day, both presenters walked away with awards! Nina won second place in the Organic I section with "Total Synthesis and Antibacterial Activity of Ficuseptine and Derivatives", and Katie won first place in the Organic II section with "ThioCORMates: Tunable and Cost-Effective Carbon Monoxide-Releasing Molecules".

[February 2023] Dr. Tasker was awarded a $16,000 Organic Syntheses Research Grant for Faculty at Principally Undergraduate Institutions for a grant application entitled "Synthesis of Thioethers via Anti-Markovnikov Addition of S-Aryl Thioformates to Alkenes". These funds will support one undergraduate researcher for two summers.

[October 2022] All five of the Tasker Lab student researchers from Summer 2022 presented at the F&M Fall Research Fair during True Blue Weekend. They did an amazing job presenting their work to an audience of students, faculty, parents, and alumni!

[June 2022] Katie and Dr. Tasker presented a poster at the 47th National Organic Symposium (NOS) meeting in La Jolla, CA entitled "ThioCORMates: Tunable and Cost-Effective Carbon Monoxide-Releasing Molecules"

[May to July 2022] We're hard at work in the lab during the Hackman summer research period.  Meet the team here!

[May 2022] Check out our lab's first paper featuring work from Katie and Lyla!  This work stemmed from an unexpected observation of bubbles in a screening reaction and grew into a practical and versatile way to produce carbon monoxide (CO) in the lab.  It was also featured in ChemistryViews, and you can see a video demonstration of the kinetics on YouTube.

[May 2022] Congratulations to Hailan, who was nominated as the 2022 Williamson Medalist, the highest student award at F&M!!! You can read an interview about her experiences at F&M and watch her full Commencement speech here (starts at 1:43). 

[May 2022] Congrats to the F&M class of 2022, especially Tasker Lab alumni, Hailan Yu, Vincent Pecora, and Aryana Kavuri!  Hailan will be attending Caltech's PhD program in Chemical Biology (after a well-deserved summer with family in China), and both Aryana and Vincent will be beginning medical school at the GW School of Medicine in the fall. 

[May 2022] Since Andy is interested in potentially pursuing a career in cancer research, he is off to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center this summer to work in the lab of Dr. Cullen Taniguchi studying gastrointestinal cancers via the CPRIT-CURE Summer Undergraduate Program.  

[Academic Year 2022] Yes, it's possible to study abroad as a chemistry major!  Katie was in London at Queen Mary University during Spring 2022, and Andy will be at the University of New South Wales in Sydney in Fall 2022. 

[March 2022] Check out this feature on Hailan's research on the antibiotic natural product holomycin here.

[March 2022] Dr. Tasker gave a talk entitled Exploring the Chemistry of S-Aryl Thioformates the American Chemical Society National Meeting in San Diego, CA as part of a session called "ACS Petroleum Research Fund at 65".

[February 2022] Dr. Tasker hosted a panel with three recent F&M alumni who are currently in graduate school for chemistry or biochemistry: Angelica Camilo (Johns Hopkins), Angus Unruh (Penn State), and Y Dang (UW Madison) .  

[May to July 2021] We're hard at work in the lab during the Hackman summer research period.  Meet the team here!

[May 2021] Dzenis and Olivia have graduated! While both want to attend medical school, Dzenis will be working as an EMT in Lancaster and Olivia as a medical tech in NYC in the meantime.

[April 2021] Dr. Tasker gave a talk entitled Photochemical reactions of S-aryl thioformates: Toward a synthesis of oxetanes via formal formylation at the American Chemical Society National Meeting as part of a session called "Successful Products and Models of Undergraduate-Based Research: Good Science, Better Scientists". 

[March 2021] Dr. Tasker recorded a short video on Chemistry as a Catalyst for Social Justice for the F&M Black Pyramid Society.  Check out the entire series here (direct link).  

[November 2020] Dr. Tasker hosted a panel with three recent F&M alumni who are currently in graduate school for chemistry or biochemistry: Byung (Mike) Lee (UW Madison), Han Le (UC Berkeley), and Bobby Gaston (WVU) .  

[June 2020] The F&M Chemistry Department participated in #ShutDownSTEM.  Read our statement here!

[May to July 2020] Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, F&M has suspended in-person research for the summer of 2020.  Unfortunately, synthetic organic chemistry research needs access to the lab, so planned summer research will not occur.  This is a particular blow to our new lab members Vincent and Aryana (above).

[May 2020] Kat and James have graduated! Kat will be starting as a Research Associate at FirstThought in NYC, while James is taking some time off to study for the MCAT and plans to apply to MD/PhD programs. 

[October 2019] Check out this feature on James's summer research from 2019.  Link here. 

[May to July 2019] We're getting the lab set up and our main research projects rolling with full-time summer research!    

[October 2018] Dr. Tasker was given $55,000 from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Undergraduate New Investigator Award for a grant application entitled "Synthesis of Oxetanes via a Formal Formylation"

[August 2018] Excited to become the newest member of the F&M Chemistry Department.  Go Dips!