LAB News

Lab Member Sam Showunmi has been admitted to participate in Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program at Towson University in the spring 2024 semester. 

Congratulations, Sam!

We're happy to share that two chemistry majors have decided to join our lab this semester:

1. Emily Brown is a junior in chemistry from Pasadena, Maryland.

2. Mariaam Khan is a senior in forensic chemistry from Baltimore, Maryland.

Welcome - it's great to have you!

The Tran-Ba lab is thrilled to welcome three new members to the lab:

1. Mia Watson is a senior in chemistry from Waldorf, Maryland.

2. Chloe Dudley is a senior in chemistry from Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

3. Samuel Showunmi is a junior in biology from Silver Spring, Maryland. 

We are thrilled to learn that Mac's and Katie's abstract for the Biophysical Society 68th Annual Meeting at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 10-14, 2024 has been accepted by the BPS. Both lab members will present a poster, titled SINGLE-PARTICLE INVESTIGATIONS OF THE DRUG'S PARTITION BEHAVIOR AND DYNAMICS USING FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY: TOWARDS A BETTER DRUG DELIVERY AND RELEASE on Monday, February 12. Good job, Mac and Katie! 

The FCSM Undergraduate Research Grant Committee has funded Mac's and Katie's research proposal, titled Fluorescence imaging of single-particle dynamics at the oil-water lateral interface. 

We could not be prouder. Good job, Mac and Katie!

The Tran-Ba Lab's alumna, Kathryn Foreman, has applied for an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). Kathryn is currently a second-year Ph.D. student in physical chemistry at Johns Hopkins University. Her research mentor is Dr. Kit Bowen. Best of luck to you, Kathryn. We are proud of your achievements!

To celebrate another successful summer of great research activities and to celebrate Kathryn's JPC paper, the current Tran-Ba lab members and Kathryn met at Akira Ramen in Towson downtown for the celebrations. It was also great to catch up with Kathryn who is now a second-year graduate student in the Bowen lab at Johns Hopkins University. Katie and Mac will resume their research efforts this fall to wrap up the water-oil interface project.

Congrats to former lab member, Kathryn Foreman, on her first-author paper published in J. Phys. Chem. B. Here, Kathryn has explored the size-dependent diffusion behaviors of nanoparticles in an unentangled poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate solution using single-particle tracking methods. Good job, Kathryn!

This summer, we welcome our newest member, Mac Crimmins, to the Tran-Ba lab. Mac will be working with Katie McDonald on the externally funded water-oil interface project for the next two months. Welcome, Mac - it's great to have you!

Our tutorial review paper is published in the Journal of Applied Physics. In this work, we describe the working principles of single-molecule/particle tracking and highlight the usefulness of the methods for polymer characterization. We thank Prof. Lydia Kisley for the invitation to write this review article. Congrats to Kathryn Foreman on her second paper!

Lab member Rukhma Butt has received the FCSM Undergraduate Research grant with the proposal entitled 'Single particle tracking investigations of the evolving network structure during crosslinking in poly(ethylene glycol)-based hydrogels'. Congrats, Rukhma - Good job!

The Tran-Ba lab welcomes three new members: Rukhma Butt, Anisa Greene (left) and Brie (right) Harper. Rukhma's project is focused on measuring nanoparticle diffusion in a hydrogel network, while Brie and Anisa are trying to establish a procedure to label and image DNA molecules on our fluorescence microscope. Welcome, everyone!

Khanh-Hoa Tran-Ba has been appointed as the seventeenth Jess & Mildred Fisher Endowed Professor in the Biological and Physical Sciences, 2022 - 2025. The Tran-Ba lab gratefully acknowledge the support by Dean Vanko and the Fisher College of Science and Mathematics at Towson University. Read more about current Fisher Endowed Chairs here.

We had a great lab outing at the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate another successful semester: Khushi got accepted into Dental school. Alison got accepted into the MS program (Forensic Chemistry) at Towson University and PhD program (Physical Chemistry) at Johns Hopkins University, respectively. Good job everyone! :)

Good news! Our UNI proposal was recommended for funding by the committee on the ACS PRF for $55,000. We highly appreciate the support and look forward to making a great research progress in studying surfactant dynamics at the oil-water-solid interfaces using single-molecule fluorescence techniques.

Thank you, ACS PRF!

The Tran-Ba Lab welcomes our newest members, Alison Newman and Ahmed Ahmed to the group. Both students will be working on the hydrogel project and will be directly mentored by Kathryn Foreman. It's great to have both of you onboard.

Welcome, Alison and Ahmed!

Kathryn has presented her research achievements at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, in Delaware. Her poster presentation entitled ''Single-particle tracking measurements in poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels: Does size matter?'' was well-attended and Kathryn had received several great questions by the attending faculty and students. Good job, Kathryn!

The Tran-Ba Lab welcomes Khushi Dhawan to the group. 

Khushi is a junior majoring in chemistry. She will be working on the hydrogel project and will team up with Kathryn. 

Welcome, Khushi!

The Tran-Ba lab first paper is published in the Journal of the Physical Chemistry B. Congrats to all student co-authors - good job, everyone!

Please use this Link to read the paper.

The Tran-Ba Lab welcomes Kathryn Foreman to the group. 

Kathryn is a senior majoring in forensic chemistry. She will be working on the hydrogel project and will team up with Elizabeth. 

Welcome, Kathryn!

The Tran-Ba Lab welcomes Elizabeth Casillas to the group. 

Elizabeth is a senior majoring in chemistry. She will be working on the hydrogel project. Welcome, Elizabeth!

Elizabeth's summer research is financially supported by the Dean's Office of Fisher College of Science & Mathematics. #TUproud

The Tran-Ba Lab members Rose, Kanika and Michaela have presented their research projects at the annual 'Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry Forum'. Due to the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, the research forum has been held remotely on Blackboard. 

The Tran-Ba Lab acknowledges the financial support of the students' project by the Dean's Office of Fisher College of Science & Mathematics. #TUproud

The Tran-Ba Lab members Rose, Kanika and Michaela have presented their research projects at the annual 'Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry Forum'. Due to the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, the research forum has been held remotely on Blackboard. 

The Tran-Ba Lab acknowledges the financial support of the students' project by the Dean's Office of Fisher College of Science & Mathematics. #TUproud

More exciting news! 

Tran-Ba Lab member Rose Willis has been admitted to the graduate program in biochemistry at the University of Maryland, College Park. Rose is pursuing her dream to become an excellent research biochemist. Congratulations to you, Rose!

Best wishes to you and your dream! #TUproud

Very exciting news! 

Tran-Ba Lab member Ben Bilik has been admitted to the graduate program in physical chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University. Ben will be joining the Bowen lab this fall to continue his journey to be become a spectroscopist.

Best of luck for your future endeavors, Ben! #TUproud

The Tran-Ba Lab welcomes Maria Puglese and Jacob Anderson to the group. 

Maria is a sophomore majoring in biology. She will be working on the hydrogel project. Welcome, Maria!

Jacob is a senior majoring in biochemistry.He will be working on the polymer electrolyte project. Welcome, Jacob!

Dr. Tran-Ba's first commencement ceremony as a TU professor!

It was great to see the Tran-Ba Lab members, Kenny Doh, Kanika Ajmani and Rose Willis at the ceremony. We are very proud of your achievements. Congratulations to you all and best wishes for your future endeavors. 

Let's go Tigers! #TUproud

Rose and Kanika have been awarded with an undergraduate research grant to study the transport properties of a polymer electrolyte. Michaela has been also awarded with a separate undergraduate research grant to study the drug delivery properties of a hydrogel.

The Tran-Ba Lab gratefully acknowledges the Dean's Office of Fisher College of Science & Mathematics for the financial support. #TUproud

The Tran-Ba Lab welcomes Rose Willis to the group. 

Rose is a senior majoring in Biochemistry. She will be working on the polymer electrolyte project to better understand the factors governing transport in such polymer. She will team up with Kenny and Kanika.

Welcome, Rose!

The Tran-Ba Lab kicks off the fall semester with a formal lab meeting. It is great to see everyone after a long summer break. 

We also said farewell to Priyansh who will be joining the Reber lab in the fall. Priyansh is pursuing his goal to synthesize natural products. Best of luck to you and thanks for everything, Priyansh!

Priyansh has successfully completed his summer research project by giving an excellent seminar presentation. We highly appreciate his valuable contributions to the group and wish him the very best for his future endeavors.  

The Tran-Ba Lab gratefully acknowledges the department of chemistry for the financial support via a Raspet fellowship. #TUproud

Dr. Tran-Ba has received a general endowment grant (as Co-PI) together with Drs. Soto (PI), Ma, Hancock and Weldon to support research projects in the summer of 2019 and 2020. 

We highly appreciate the financial support by the Dean's Office of Fisher College of Science and Mathematics. #TUproud

Dr. Tran-Ba has received a Faculty Development and Research Committee (FDRC) grant to support a research project to study transport phenomena in nanoporous hydrogels using single-molecule imaging techniques. 

The Tran-Ba lab gratefully acknowledges the FDRC for the financial support of our research. #TU proud.

Congratulations, graduates!

A special congratulation to the Tran-Ba Lab member Jared Sparta on receiving his well-deserved BS degree in biochemistry. It was great to have you.

Best of luck to you and for your future endeavors, Jared! #TUproud.

Priyansh Gujarati has received the prestigious Raspet Fellowship to support his research work in the Tran-Ba Lab this summer. Congrats, Priyansh! 

Priyansh's research is focused on studying mass-transport properties of PEG-based hydrogels using widefield fluorescence microscopy. We are very excited to have you this summer. #TUproud

The Tran-Ba Lab welcomes new members Jared Sparta, Kanika Ajmani and Ben Bilik to the group. Jared is a senior in biochemistry from NJ. He will be working on the hydrogel project. He will team up with Kanika who is a senior in chemistry. 

Ben is a native of Washington DC majoring in chemistry. His research is focused on studying the dynamics of molecules in poly(ethylene oxide) films. Welcome all! #TUproud

Last day of class!

Dr. Tran-Ba is very grateful for a wonderful first semester at Towson University. A special thank to the amazing students in his class. We started the class with a round of delicious DK donuts (Thanks, Jay) before learning about quantum mechanical aspects of IR spectroscopy.

Congratulations to all graduating seniors, and let's go Tigers! #TUproud

The Tran-Ba Lab welcomes new members Priyansh Gujarati, Jay Patel and Kenny Doh to the group. It's very exciting to have you as a brand new batch of undergraduate students in our lab.

Our lab kicked off the semester with a informal lab meeting at the Cook library's Starbucks. #TUproud

First day of class as a brand-new assistant professor at Towson University! 

Dr. Tran-Ba kicked off his teaching career with a lecture in the 'Principles of Physical Chemistry' course.  Students and instructor seem to have a good time...

I look forward to having a great semester with you all. #TUproud