Brandon Nusser
PhD, 2024
Brandon helped to develop fluorescent dyes with a triazole backbone that have excitation-dependent dual emission. He also explored the photochemical reactivity in these compounds.
Joesph Hurley
PhD, 2022
Joe helped to further our understanding of light-emitting fluorophores. He is now teaching at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Peiye Liu
PhD, 2020
Peiye helped to further our understanding of copper-catalyzed oxidation reactions. He is now exploring a career in data science in China.
Miguel Macias-Contreras
PhD, 2018
Miguel was involved in both the chemistry and the biology side of our research. In addition to the development of zinc-sensitive fluorescent indicators, he studied the substrate tolerability of a protein tag called “SNAP-tag”, and developed a two-step labeling strategy that combines the powers of protein tag and bioorthogonal chemistry. Miguel now is a Postdoctoral Fellow to continue research in chemical biology in the Beatty Group in the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.
Neda Arabzadeh
Now a graduate student in Hedi Mattoussi’s group
Neda stayed briefly in the Zhu Group. She started the research on a class of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer compounds with the opposite solvent dependency from what was expected. She is now a graduate student in the Mattoussi group.
Quinton Meinser
PhD, 2018
Quinton made major contributions to the studies on fluorophores possessing intramolecular hydrogen bonds. He was also the photographer of the group, and won an image award from the Chemical and Engineering News. Quinton took a year sabbatical at Argonne National Laboratory to participate in research on lithium-ion batteries. After graduation, Quinton returned to Argonne as a Postdoctoral Fellow to resume his research in the area of energy storage.
Xiaoguang Zhang
PhD, 2017
Xiaoguang made major contributions to the mechanistic understandings of the copper-catalyzed formations of several classes of 1,2,3-triazole molecules. Xiaoguang is now a Process Engineer at Applied Materials in Santa Clara, California.
Kirsten Daykin
PhD, 2017
Kirsten developed fluorescent indicators for zinc ions and hydrogen peroxide. She also applied her indicators in illuminating zinc and hydrogen peroxide in living cells using fluorescence microscopes. Kirsten was an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Tennessee Wesleyan University. She is currently a Lecturer at North Carolina State University.
Chris Bassard
PhD, 2016
Chris spearheaded the development of a new method to make 5,5′-bistriazoles. He also made important contributions to our works in the syntheses of 5-iodotriazoles and 5-alkynyltriazoles. Chris is now a Scientist I at Leidos in Frederick, Maryland.
Tyler Simmons
PhD, 2013
Tyler worked on the coordination chemistry of 1,2,3-triazoles and its application in developing zinc-sensitive fluorescent indicators. He also made significant contributions to the mechanistic work on copper(II) acetate mediated azide-alkyne cycloaddition reactions. Tyler is now the Chair of the Division of Science and Health at Enterprise State Community College in Enterprise, Alabama.
Heather Michaels
PhD, 2012
Heather studied triazolyl-containing multidentate ligands as zinc-sensitive fluorescent indicators. She contributed to our work in copper(II) acetate-mediated azide-alkyne cycloaddition chemistry, in particular, the effect of ligands in the efficiency of this reaction, and the 5-iodotriazole synthesis. She also cleverly demonstrated the synthetic utility of 5-iodotriazole in producing polyheterocyclic organic molecules. Heather is a Principal Investigator at Smart Biomolecules, Inc. in Port Saint Lucie, Florida.
Ali Younes
PhD, 2012
Ali thoroughly studied and reported the zinc coordination chemistry and fluorescent properties of 2,2′-bipyridyl-containing fluorophores. He started the project of organic fluorophores capable of multiple emission, which has since been growing till this day.
Wendy Brotherton
PhD, 2012
Wendy discovered the high reactivity of chelating azides in copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition reaction. This work has been applied by many in need of a rapid version of this reaction. She also reported a new, rather convenient method to make 5′-iodotriazole from terminal alkyne and organic azide. Wendy was a professor at Tennessee Wesleyan University. She is now a Laboratory Coordinator at Alltech in Kentucky.