Karson Brooks, second year graduate student working under the direction of Professor Jason Locklin, has won the 2014 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship award in the category of "macromolecular, supramolecular, and nanochemistry." Karson was one of only eleven UGA students to win an NSF fellowship this year, and the only graduate student in the Chemistry Department to do so. She is the first chemistry graduate student to win the award in many years.

A group of UGA chemists led by Yuzhong Wang and Gregory H. Robinson have prepared the first stable molecule containing diphosphorus tetroxide, P2O4, via a novel approach involving the reaction of molecular oxygen with the base-stabilized diphosphorus. The base involved belongs to an important class of donor bases known as N-heterocyclic carbenes. Diphosphorus tetroxide is the long-sought phosphorus analog of the rocket propellant N2O4.

Iron Carbide, Fe5C2, has long been used in metallic alloys and hard coatings for its superior resilience. Less known is that Fe5C2 also displays strong magnetism and good biocompatibility, making it a promising biomaterial with applications in fields like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic separation. However, these applications require Fe5C2 to be made in the form of colloidally stable nanoparticles, which has proven to be challenging. This problem was solved recently by UGA graduate student Wei Tang, and her advisor Dr.

Researchers at the University of Georgia have developed a new prodrug that promises to reduce many of the negative side effects caused by cisplatin, a commonly prescribed chemotherapy treatment.

Cisplatin may be used to treat a variety of cancers, but it is most commonly prescribed for cancer of the bladder, ovaries, cervix, testicles and lung. It is an effective drug, but it often causes severe and irreversible damage to a patient's kidneys, hearing and sense of balance.

The second organic chemistry course a college student takes is often referred to as the "gateway to medical school" because students must learn, synthesize and use knowledge in a rapid fashion to make decisions, much like a doctor.

University of Georgia researcher Henry “Fritz” Schaefer, Graham Perdue Professor of Chemistry in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Chemistry, has been selected to receive the 2014 Peter Debye Award in Physical Chemistry sponsored by the E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. The American Chemical Society formally announced the 2014 ACS National Awards in the September 9th issue of Chemical & Engineering News.

Gregory H. Robinson, Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at The University of Georgia, has been honored with a national award from the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society.

Robinson was presented with the F. Albert Cotton Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry at the national meeting of the ACS in April 2013. The award is given to one person annually and recognizes distinguished work in synthetic inorganic chemistry with a particular emphasis on creativity and imagination.

Researchers at the University of Georgia are developing a new treatment technique that uses nanoparticles to reprogram immune cells so they are able to recognize and attack cancer. The findings were published recently in the early online edition of ACS Nano.

The human body operates under a constant state of martial law. Chief among the enforcers charged with maintaining order is the immune system, a complex network that seeks out and destroys the hordes of invading bacteria and viruses that threaten the organic society as it goes about its work.

Gregory H. Robinson, Franklin Professor and Distinguished Research Professor of Chemistry at the University of Georgia, has been appointed the UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor in Chemistry. The special appointment was approved by the Board of Regents at its May 2013 meeting and will be effective as of August.

Jenna Bilbrey, a doctoral student in the Department of Chemistry at UGA, is the 2013 awardee of the Beverly Hirsh Frank Graduate Fellowship for Women in Science. This university-wide award is made to a single graduate student annually, and is meant “to recruit, support, and encourage exceptional graduate-level study and research in all fields of life and physical sciences with emphasis in interdisciplinary and emerging fields”.