Chemistry 350 - Chemical Ecology: Catch Fe if You Can

Chemistry is the language through which organisms communicate within the environment, which can be exploited for new therapeutics, industrial chemicals and molecules for bioremediation. Students explore the soils and plants of the Smith College Botanic Garden to find bacterial iron-chelating molecules or siderophores, which can be used to clean up metal pollution. Students learn how to do microbial isolation and cultivation from environmental samples, genomic sequencing, chemical extraction, liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry, bioinformatic analyses and enzyme assays. Experimental findings are summarized in written reports and presented at an end-of-semester poster session. Prerequisites: CHM 118 or CHM 224; CHM 222; and BIO 132, an equivalent or AP Biology. Enrollment limited to 18.

[CE] (CHM 118 or 224), CHM 222 & BIO 132