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- Gwyn Gagnon ’26 – An Otter this World Experience!
As Gwyn returns from ACS Spring 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia, she is reminiscing on the great talks she went to, the connections she made, the communicating science she did, and the places she visited. Her favorite destination in Atlanta, besides the conference center, of course, was the Georgia Aquarium, where ... read more - ACS Spring 2026 – Great chemistry in Atlanta!
The GRAB Lab had an amazing time at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Atlanta this week. We had Gwyn and Georgia as seasoned veterans presenting at their second conference and Lana and Ann-Lee making it their first conference. All four did an amazing job at the ... read more - Ellie Vanhille ’26 – Working together on separations
In her final semester at Emmanuel, Ellie has been analyzing carbon dots synthesized from a mixture of urea and citric acid by teammate Gwyneth Gagnon. Ellie is working to understand the method of best separation for liquid chromatography, to gain knowledge about the properties of the carbon dots, such as ... read more - Noah Carreiro ’26 – Building Skills
As Noah begins his final semester of senior year, he continues to build on the research skills and experiences he developed last semester in the lab. Currently, he has been working on preparing tissue samples for thin sectioning using a microtome, a crucial step for examining demineralized samples under fluorescence ... read more - Ann-Lee Coriolan ’28 – Hearts are full of fun fluorescence!
Ann-Lee is taking a small break from mineralization experiments for the semester in order to learn about a new project! Gwyn has been teaching her all she needs to know about carbon-nano dots. This week they've performed such an easy microwave-based synthesis! In the future, we hope that we find ... read more - Lana Dang’28 – DIY lab decor inspiring creativity!
After a rejuvenating winter break, Lana was eager to get back into her chemistry classes and labs this semester. The other research students seem to feel the same, as everyone has been jumping straight into new projects, whether that be an experiment or making DIY lab decor. Lana is especially ... read more - Georgia Kazis ’27 – Kinetics, Controls, and Comebacks
Happy New Year from the GRAB Lab! The whole group is back at it to continue working on experiments this semester, to prepare for the ACS conference in Atlanta, and for end of year celebrations. Georgia is getting back into research, even through epic Boston snow storms. After submitting our ... read more - Happy Holidays from the GRAB Lab!
The entire research team took a well-earned break to end the semester with the time-honored tradition of a trip to Tasty Burger! It was a working lunch - Dr. Gerdon, per usual, made sure everyone shared three successes of the semester and three goals for next semester. We also enjoyed ... read more - Donald Ulwick ’26 – Chromatography Credentials
Micro-credentialing is a recent method for instilling skills into students and workers to ensure that they are prepared for the field they are trying to enter. It was my duty to create a protocol using micro-credentials that could test students' knowledge in gas chromatography mass spectrometry. A mixture with a ... read more - Fall 2025 – Awards Abound!Congratulations are in order for awesome research students in the GRAB Lab! Congrats to Gwyn Gagnon '26 for winning the Best Poster Award for the entire Gamma Sigma Epsilon conference that took place in Pennsylvania in October. Congrats to Ann-Lee Coriolan '28 for being selected as a co-recipient of the Catherine ... read more
- Noah Carreiro ’26 – First Semester of Research
This fall marks Noah’s first semester conducting research in the lab, and it’s been an exciting learning experience so far! Recently, he’s been focusing on studying the demineralization process of mouse teeth using lactic acid or EDTA (ethylenediaminetetracetic acid) and confirming the results through infrared (IR) spectroscopy. By comparing the ... read more - Gwyn Gagnon ’26 – Spooky Spectroscopy!
As midterms have come to an end, Gwyn is in full swing in the lab! After a few weeks of trial and error, she has finally found a synthesis method for carbon dots that producing samples that emit different colors of light. Very soon she hopes to separate these carbon ... read more - Ann-Lee Coriolan ’28 – Seems Like There’s a HEATWAVE!
Ann-Lee is starting her first Fall semester incorporating research into her school life. After having a productive summer, there's only a few more experiments left to wrap up the current nanoparticle research segment. Whilst she thinks about more data that could be incorporated into a future publication, she has been ... read more - Lana Dang ’28 – Fall (Spring?) Cleaning
With her sophomore Fall semester in full swing, Lana is definitely experiencing all the highs and the lows that come with doing research during the school year. It is a challenge to find time for lab when classes are so busy. From her work this summer, she learned the importance ... read more - Georgia Kazis ’27 – Evaporation Exasperation
Georgia is starting her junior year at Emmanuel College and another semester of research. While juggling her classes and responsibilities during the semester she is finishing up her last experiments for the project to be published! She has won the battle against evaporation for her IR experiment with a new ... read more