Experimental Synthesis and Characterization of Perylenetetracarboxyl Diimide Derivatives

Fan Hu, Verrazzano Class of 2023, completed major in Molecular, Cellular & Development Biology  

I started this research in October of 2022, the semester where in-person lectures were back in session and pandemic quarantine policies had loosened up but the effects and lasting impacts still loomed.
This was also around the same time of the global chip shortage (I also bought a Desktop during this shortage in December of 2021 where prices were inflated). When Dr. Jin invited me for an independent study I was intrigued, as he works on organic semiconductors. He mentioned that his research entailed the potential use of Perylene as a replacement for silicon in chips, which may be a more cost-effective alternative.
During this time, I was also shadowing my mentor in Northwell Staten Island University Hospital’s Emergency Department. I heard that the hospital has plans to upgrade their medical software system and it would cost them in the billions to do so! Their computer’s hardware was also getting slow, so if they needed to replace and update all those computers as well then wouldn’t the cost be far greater? Of course, the actual applications of Dr. Jin’s research may be well into the future, but it was a wonderful opportunity that fascinated me. That’s just a tie into healthcare as someone interested in going into medicine.
Going into chemistry research as a biology major was, admittedly, daunting. But once I did begin, the research itself made a lot of sense. It followed the basic cornerstone of chemistry knowledge that was taught in general chemistry and organic chemistry and merely built upon it, layer by layer.
What surprised me was how simple the physical procedures themselves were. Syntheses involved measuring compounds and transferring them into a vial with a stirring bar. Then they were left on a hot plate and heated. But the theory behind this simple procedure, the mechanisms, and the interpretation of results required a thorough understanding of chemistry principles. Thus, I believe this experience in undergraduate research provided me an opportunity to work on my critical thinking skills; something that will no doubt be held in high regard with the advance of artificial intelligence.
More optimizations can be made to the synthesis procedures if given more time; testing it in a lower temperature, conducting the chromatography in one single sitting, or perhaps testing the effects of different length alkanes. These attempts may increase the product’s yield from the current 20%—allowing greater versatility and equally advantageous yields. I also had the opportunity to visit a biology laboratory and from what I’ve seen, the inherent principles of research in a laboratory are similar. I believe this undergraduate research experience has prepared me well, no matter the type of laboratory or research I may participate in.

Researching Solutions to the Opiod Crisis

 Jack Rogers, Verrazzano Class of 2021, completed major in Biology with minors in Biochemistry and Chemistry

My experience with the capstone project has been rather interesting to say the least. Starting out in the Verrazano program, I knew I wanted to make a difference by doing research on pressing health issues but did not know what it entailed or how to move forward with finding a mentor. Fortunately, my project ended up finding me after a chance encounter with Dr. Poget while I was volunteering at the Spring 2018 Undergraduate Research Conference. After some brief discussions with him and two of his undergraduates, I found that Dr. Poget’s project, if successful, could potentially combat the opioid crisis, which was still prevalent in many people’s minds (especially on Staten Island). I was especially interested in the unorthodox but sensible solution Dr. Poget was working on to address this problem, which investigates potential sources of non-addictive pain therapeutics.

To briefly go into more detail about this, Dr. Poget’s overall project looks at both the structure and function of both potassium and sodium channels in the human body as well as various natural toxins derived from tarantulas, scorpions, cone snails, etc. that interact with these channels. The way Dr. Poget initially explained the overall premise of his project to me was that some of these channels are linked to pain perception, which are then activated or deactivated by interaction with the toxins these animals use to capture their prey. Therefore, some of these toxins that deactivate the channels (thus eliminating their pain response) could be used to produce non-addictive pain therapeutics for use in patients with chronic pain if the structure and interactions of both the channel and toxin were known. With this in mind, I decided to try to determine the structure of the fourth repeated voltage-sensing domain in the human sodium channel Nav1.7 (Nav1.7D4) with the hope of utilizing this information to design non-addictive pain therapeutics.

This project was nearly identical to one already being performed by a PhD student, who I ended up working very closely with. Because of this, he became my mentor, teaching me the practical and theoretical skills I used in the lab, as well as advising on what steps the project should take and how to address problems that arose. While it was initially difficult and stressful to manage my time between lab and my classes (especially organic chemistry), I eventually became comfortable in both roles. After about a year, however, he graduated, leaving me in a role I imagine being quite like that of a PhD student. While I still received help when necessary from other PhD students, I was left to my own devices in terms of where the project would go.

While I definitely enjoyed this sense of freedom and relative independence, it was sadly cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the unorthodox nature of my research experience, I can say that I found the overall experience incredibly enjoyable and satisfying on both a personal and professional level.