Swarts Lab

12/16/2016: New lab members & year in review

We celebrated a fun and productive 2016 during the year's final group meeting. Highlights included the group's trip to the ACS National Meeting in San Diego, a vibrant and productive summer research session, hosting the Midwest Carbohydrate and Glycobiology Symposium, moving into the Biosciences Building, publishing three research papers as well as various student arrivals, departures, and awards.

Several new students joined us over the course of the fall semester, including undergraduates Nate Holmes, Jessica Groenevelt, Alicyn Stothard (via our community college research outreach program), and Devin Moore (McNair Scholar), and M.S. students Doug Wing (a former undergrad in the lab) and Nicholas Banahene.

12/02/2016: JoVE on site for video protocol shoot

We worked with the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) to develop a script and shoot a video protocol for former M.S. student Lisa Meints's paper, "Rapid One-Step Enzymatic Synthesis and All-Aqueous Purification of Trehalose Analogues." Undergraduate student Brent Piligian (pictured) served as the on-camera talent and spent a day and a half shooting scenes for the video. Lab technician Anne Poston (also pictured) and Ben assisted with the shoot. CMU University Communications covered the shoot in a story titled "Research. Camera. Action!" The manuscript and video protocol should be published in early 2017.

11/01/2016: New paper in Chem. Commun.

Herbert's paper, "A chemical reporter strategy for detecting and identifying O-mycoloylated proteins in Corynebacterium," has been published in Chem. Commun. This paper describes a chemical approach to studying the scope and characteristics of a unique post-translational lipidation that occurs in species from the Corynebacterium genus, which are closely related to mycobacteria.

10/16/2016: CMU hosts 12th Midwest Carbohydrate and Glycobiology Symposium

We hosted the 12th annual MCGS here at CMU in the auditorium of the recently opened Biosciences Building October 14-15, 2016. With excellent student and postdoc posters and oral presentations, as well as lectures by leading principal investigators such as Nicola Pohl, David Crich, and Shahriar Mobashery, MCGS had another successful year. Herbert Kavunja, a postdoc in the lab, won a Best Oral Presentation Award (pictured at right, receiving the award from David Crich). Thanks to all who helped to organize and support the symposium, and we look forward to next year's meeting at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

10/14/2016: Relocating to Biosciences

The lab has begun its trek from the Dow Science Complex to the new Biosciences Building (pictured). While our equipment and supplies will all be moved within a week, we expect to be offline for a couple of months as the lab is modified and set up for research activities.

9/22/2016: Biosciences Building grand opening

We are a few weeks from moving the lab into the new Biosciences Building, and today was its grand opening ceremony. Students, faculty, administrators, members of the Board of Trustees, and state representatives attended. An undergraduate student in the lab, Brent Piligian, gave a speech about what it means to have such a facility on the campus of Central Michigan University.

8/26/2016: New paper in Org. Biomol. Chem.

Sarah and Zac's paper, "Deoxyfluoro-D-trehalose (FDTre) analogues as potential PET probes for imaging mycobacterial infection," has been published in Org. Biomol. Chem. This paper describes synthetic chemistry and biochemistry that support the development of a trehalose-based nuclear imaging probe with possible tuberculosis diagnostic applications. Selected as a hot paper.

7/28/2016: Thesis defense

Congratulations Lisa Meints on a successful M.S. thesis defense. Best of luck in the biomolecular sciences Ph.D. program at Michigan State University. We'll miss you!

7/17/2016: Awards

Ben received the International Carbohydrate Organization Young Research Award for 2016 and CMU's Provost's Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity.

5/13/2016: Group outing

The group in spring 2016 is pictured to the right, following a mini-golf and bowling day in mid-May.

5/01/2016: Farewells

We say goodbye to a number of wonderful friends and lab mates this summer. Hannah Foley, Max Hogue, Bailey Urbanek, and Sarah Rundell, who have been in the lab for 2-3 years each, will all receive their BS degrees from CMU and move on to bigger and better things. Hannah will join the chemistry Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan, while Sarah will begin a chemistry Ph.D. program at the Ohio State University. Bailey will start medical school at CMU, while Max will start dental school at University of Detroit-Mercy. We wish you all well.

3/29/2016: Student awards

A number of our students received awards or recognition this semester. Congratulations to Hannah Foley, a senior biochemistry major who recently published as a co-first author in ACIE, for winning CMU's President's Award for Undergraduate Research and the Midland ACS Section Outstanding Undergraduate Biochemist award. Congrats to Brent Piligian, a junior biomedical sciences major who published as a co-first author in Chem. Commun., for receiving an Honorable Mention for the Barry Goldwater scholarship. Congrats to Sarah Rundell, a senior biochemistry major who has published in Chem. Commun. and ACIE, for winning department awards for Outstanding Organic Chemist and Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher (update, August 2016: Sarah also just published a co-first author paper in Org. Biomol. Chem. on her main project in the lab). Finally, congrats to Claudia Ramsey, a junior biomedical sciences major, for receiving a CMU Summer Scholars Award, which will support her research in the lab this summer.

3/23/2016: Upcoming paper in J. Vis. Exp.

Lisa's paper, "Rapid One-Step Enzymatic Synthesis and All-Aqueous Purification of Trehalose Analogues," was accepted for publication in the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE). We will be working with JoVE to develop a video protocol for this synthetic method.

1/06/2016: New paper in Angew. Chem. Int. Edit.

Hannah and Jessica's paper, "Bioorthogonal chemical reporters for selective in situ probing of mycomembrane components in mycobacteria," has been published in Angew. Chem. Int. Edit. This paper describes a new set of chemical reporters that enable specific, sensitive, and simultaneous detection of the two major components of the mycobacterial outer membrane.

11/10/2015: New Lab Member

Welcome to our newest M.S. student, Taylor Fiolek, who completed his B.S. in biochemistry at CMU with Dr. Choon Lee.

110/26/2015: Conference Activity

A number of our students presented posters at local and regional meetings, including the Wayne State Graduate Symposium, the 11th Annual Midwest Carbohydrate and Glycobiology Symposium at Cleveland State University and the ACS Midland Section Fall Scientific Meeting at Saginaw Valley State University. Congratulations to Maxwell Hogue, Bailey Urbanek, and Brent Piligian for winning best poster awards!

110/15/2015: New Paper in Chem. Commun.

Jessica and Brent's paper, "A Trifunctional Cyclooctyne for Modifying Azide-Labeled Biomolecules with Photocrosslinking and Affinity Tags," has been published in Chemical Communications. This paper describes a new bioorthogonal reagent that should facilitate the study of biomolecular interactions in live cells. Sarah Rundell also contributed.

008/31/2015: New Lab Members

We begin the semester with some new people in the lab, including undergraduates Claudia Ramsey and Tina Bednarz. Abi Detzler has now transferred to CMU and will be a permanent fixture in the lab during her undergraduate studies, and Tope Nathan has finished his B.S. in biochemistry and is now an M.S. student supported by a graduate fellowship from the Office of Graduate Studies and Research.

08/14/2015

The lab says goodbye to undergraduate Zac Wagar, who graduated with a B.S. in Biomedical Sciences and is starting at CMU's medical school this fall. Good luck Zac.

08/05/2015

Jessica Stewart, the lab's first graduate student, successfully defended her M.S. thesis today! Congratulations, and best wishes pursuing a Ph.D. in the chemistry department at Wayne State University. Thanks for your excellent contributions to the lab.

08/01/2015

Our first student is heading to Stellenbosch University in South Africa to participate in our science-specific study abroad program.

07/03/2015

We survived our summer outing, kayaking on the Chippewa River.

06/01/2015

We have started a CMU-supported outreach program aimed at providing research and mentoring opportunities to chemistry students from nearby community colleges. This summer, we welcome Abi Detzler from Mid-Michigan Community College and Irene Casillas-Lopez from the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College.

05/11/2015

We welcome a few new lab members to the group, including incoming M.S. student Claire Olson, undergraduate Jeff Wolber, and postdoc Herbert Kavunja, who did his Ph.D. with Xuefei Huang at Michigan State University. Kailey Zochowski of Chippewa Hills High School will also be joining us over the summer as an ACS SEED student.

03/26/2015

Congratulations to several group members for their recent accomplishments: (1) Jessica Stewart is off to Wayne State University to begin a Ph.D.; (2) Tope Nathan was awarded Outstanding Organic Undergraduate and a fellowship to continue as an M.S. student at CMU starting in fall of 2015; (3) Bailey Urbanek was awarded the President's Award for undergraduate research at CMU; (4) Hannah Foley was accepted into the University of Michigan's Biophysics REU program for summer 2015; (5) Zac Wagar will be attending medical school at CMU starting in fall of 2015.

03/01/2015

Several new students have joined the group, including undergraduates Brent Piligian, Mara O'Neill, and Adrian Rylski, and graduate student Lisa Meints, who completed her B.S. degree at Western Michigan University.

01/24/2015

A review on metabolic labeling of the bacterial cell wall has been published. This paper was spearheaded by Dr. Sloan Siegrist and the Bertozzi group, with contributions from the Swarts lab.

01/30/2015

We have been generously funded by the NIH for our project on the chemoenzymatic synthesis of trehalose analogues and their applications to study trehalose metabolism in mycobacteria.

01/08/2015

Welcome to the group, Anne Poston, lab technician.

10/01/2014

Several of our students recently presented posters at local meetings. Jessica Stewart presented at the graduate research symposium at Wayne State University and at the ACS Midland Section local meeting. Bailey Urbanek, Hannah Foley, Max Hogue, and Zac Wagar all presented posters at the Michigan State Undergraduate Research Symposium and at the ACS Midland Section local meeting.

08/26/2014

We have launched a science-specific study abroad program at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, featuring science-focused coursework and opportunities to participate in undergraduate research and science outreach. For more information, see the Education & Outreach page.

08/25/2014

Welcome to our newest undergraduate researcher, Hannah Brinkman, who did organic chemistry research as a high school student with Jeffrey Johnson at Hope College.

08/19/2014

Bailey and Doug's paper has been published in ChemBioChem: Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of Trehalose Analogues: Rapid Access to Chemical Probes for Investigating Mycobacteria.

07/14/2014

Jessica's paper has been published in the Journal of Carbohydrate Chemistry: Effect of Azide Position on the Rate of Azido Glucose–Cyclooctyne Cycloaddition.

6/30/2014

Demolition of the Washington Apartments makes way for CMU's new Biosciences Building (to be completed in September 2016):

04/30/2014

Welcome to our newest undergraduate students: Sarah Rundell and Temitope Nathan.

03/21/2014

Congratulations to Hannah for receiving a Summer Scholars Grant.

03/01/2014

Welcome to our newest undergraduate students: Christian Burns and Zachary Wagar.

03/01/2014

We have been generously funded by Research Corporation for our project on investigating mycobacterial outer membrane proteins.

10/15/2013

Welcome to our newest undergraduate students: Cody Wilson, Maxwell Hogue, and Hanah Foley.

09/02/2013

Our review article on GPI synthesis has been published in the Journal of Carbohydrate Chemistry.

09/01/2013

Welcome to our newest undergraduate students: Bailey Urbanek and Doug Wing.

06/14/2013

We are now operational for synthesis. Reaction number one is under way.

06/01/2013

Welcome to our first students: Abbie, Chelsey, and Jessica.

04/11/2013

CMU has approved the construction of a state-of-the-art 158,000 square foot Biosciences Building.

04/01/2013

Lab setup has begun.

01/21/2013

We are now recruiting students to join the research group. Please visit the People page for more information.