In November, a group of William & Mary undergraduates attended the annual Commonwealth of Virginia Cancer Research Conference, and two of members of the Class of 2023 came back to Williamsburg bearing “best presentation” honors.
Award winner: Rachel O’Brien, an assistant professor in William & Mary’s Department of Chemistry, recently received a five-year CAREER award from the National Science Foundation to continue her research, which she is doing with a team of undergraduate W&M students, two masters students and a third graduate student joining the group in the fall. Photo by Stephen Salpukas
Photo - of - by Adrienne Berard | May 25, 2021
It took a pandemic for the world to understand the importance of something Rachel O’Brien has been researching for the better part of two decades.
O’Brien, an assistant professor in William & Mary’s Department of Chemistry, is an expert on tiny airborne particles known as aerosols. Aerosols are created when fine solid bits or teeny liquid droplets are suspended in air or another gas. Dust, haze and smoke are all examples of aerosol
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Photo - of - by Joseph McClain | March 3, 2021
Pyrola media is a woodland plant, native to Europe. It produces 2-methyl-1,4-benzoquinone, a molecule that shows promise as a therapeutic, but it doesn’t produce very much of it. Dana Lashley says it’s a common phenomenon.
“Often, the most interesting of these naturally occurring molecules called natural products are only produced as secondary metabolites, which means a plant could generate a really interesting-looking organic structure, but it only makes a small amount of it,” she explained. “So we really don t have enough to be able to do all the biological testing and see if the molecule could be therapeutically useful as a treatment for one disease or another.”