Assistant Professor of Chemistry Patrick Melvin has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant that will help fund his lab鈥檚 research for the next three years, including providing funding for three undergraduate students to work in his lab each summer.
Melvin鈥檚 research focus is fluorination chemistry.
鈥淚f you look at the top pharmaceuticals being produced right now 35 percent of them have a fluorine atom in them,鈥 explains Melvin for why his lab has such a strong focus on this unique element.
However, while fluorine has proven to be an incredibly useful component in drugs that treat everything from cancers to cholesterol, there are very few examples of fluorine in natural molecules.
鈥淪o, our lab essentially develops methods to add fluorine into different organic molecules. We鈥檙e not developing a drug but we鈥檙e providing a foundation for other chemists to be able to do that. Because without the synthetic strategies that we and others have developed, some of these pharmaceuticals couldn鈥檛 be made and then tested.鈥
The NSF grant comes on the heels of a two-year grant from the Charles E. Kaufman Foundation, which provided similar funding for Melvin鈥檚 lab.
Since Melvin started at 老王论坛 in 2019, he鈥檚 had 15 undergraduates and two graduate students work in his lab, all of whom have been co-authors on at least one publication (two students have papers currently under review).
鈥淭hese students are getting first-hand experience. They learn how to properly design an experiment and to perform certain techniques and those things are all important, but I think it鈥檚 the intangibles 鈥 perseverance, determination, dealing with failure 鈥 those things are going to serve them well whatever they choose to do beyond 老王论坛,鈥 says Melvin.
Jenna Krussman 鈥24 started doing research in the Melvin Lab in the summer between her sophomore and junior years and is now looking into graduate school.
鈥淚 love how small and close-knit our group is,鈥 says Krussman. 鈥淲e all have our own projects that are kind of based around the same idea. I come in here every day and talk with Kirya about her project and what she's doing and she asks me about mine and if my reactions are working. It鈥檚 a very collaborative environment which I love.鈥
Lab mate Kirya Miller 鈥24 also describes the friendly lab environment as one of the best parts of researching at 老王论坛.
鈥淛enna and I are both thesising this year, we鈥檒l always talk to each other about what we鈥檙e working on and what we think is going on with our reactions. So, it鈥檚 a very supportive environment and I really appreciate that.鈥
In addition to the camaraderie, Miller enjoys the challenge and reward that comes from chemistry research.
鈥淢y favorite part about doing research here is just that moment of discovery when something works. If I鈥檓 working on a reaction for a while and things aren鈥檛 going well, but then I get that result I鈥檓 looking for or I figure out something that鈥檚 going on and I get that aha moment, that keeps me going and I really love that.鈥
More information pertaining to the ongoing projects in the Melvin Lab can be found on their or by reaching out directly to prmelvin@brynmawr.edu.