Water and wastewater treatment: biological, physical, and chemical treatment processes
Indirect potable reuse (IPR) and direct potable reuse (DPR): Water quality, public health, and public perception
Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs): Ozone, ozone/H2O2, UV/H2O2, TiO2 photocatalysis
Trace organic contaminants (TOrCs), including pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupting compounds
Environmental microbiology (disinfection and methods): Bacteria, viruses, and protozoan parasites
My research interest covers a broad interdisciplinary area including materials chemistry and self-assembly. Current research focuses on the development of new electron-deficient semiconductors which can self-assemble into well-defined high aspect ratio clusters (such as nanofibers, nanobelts, etc.) for future electro-optical applications. We are especially interested in developing pi-organogelators which can produce nanofibers through organogelation in select organic solvents, simply and reproducibly.
Dr. Hatchett’s research focuses on the dissolution, coordination, and solubility of f-element species dissolved into ionic liquids. Ionic liquids (ILs) are chemically stable purely ionic solutions at room temperature and they are composed of cation/anion pairs that can be exploited to provide a wide range of tunable physical and chemical properties. Ionic liquids also provide unique solution environments for electrochemical deposition of actinides because traditional side-reactions associated with common working electrodes in aqueous solution are eliminated. The potential windows associated with GC, Pt, and Au working electrodes in IL, ([Me3BuN] [TFSI] trimethyl-n-butylmethylammonium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide provide an absolute potential window of approximately 4.5 V for Pt, 5.0 V for Au, and 6.0 V for GC, which encompass the thermodynamic potentials associated with the oxidation/reduction of actinide species to metal. The electrochemical deposition and formation of actinide thin films at electrode interfaces is the primary goal. The methods that are utilized include the synthesis of actinide TFSI complexes that can be directly dissolved into the ionic liquid [Me3BuN] [TFSI] trimethyl-n-butylmethylammonium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide. The goal of the research is to increase the ultimate solubility and to facilitate the in-situ formation of stable, coordinated actinide complexes to provide a more systematic and comprehensive approach to the electrochemical deposition of actinides films. To date we have successfully demonstrated the deposition of U metal from ionic liquid using electrochemical methods. Similar results have been obtained for more electropositive lanthanide species.
Dr Kuang is currently the Lincy Endowed Assistant Professor and American Board Radiology board certified therapeutic medical physicist in the CAMPEP accredited Medical Physics Program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He obtained his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 2009 and completed my medical physics postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan in 2010 and Stanford University in 2012. His clinical emphasis is on the routine external beam radiotherapy physics practice and SBRT techniques. His research focuses on the development and clinical integration of novel medical imaging devices with medical linear accelerator and proton therapy device; real-time image guided and adaptive radiation therapy; combining biological- and imaging- biomarkers for early detection of cancers and cancer Interventions; nanotechnology and its application in imaging and therapeutics; molecular imaging for radiation biology and clinical applications.
research in computationally efficient intelligent systems. The lab combines computer vision, machine learning, and pattern recognition to develop “real” solutions. Intelligent systems are those that are able to observe the world, learn from these observations, and understand the environment. The real-time systems are designed to operate continuously and robustly through all operating modes.
Research areas of interest include traffic monitoring and pedestrian safety, activity analysis and assessment, visual object recognition, self-driving cars.
Helen J. Wing is an Associate Professor of Molecular Microbiology in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She obtained her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Birmingham (UK) in 1997, where she studied transcriptional gene regulation in Escherichia coli. She worked with both Prof. Stephen J.W. Busby and Prof. John R. Guest in her first post-doctoral position, where she employed biochemical approaches to study transcription. In 2000, Helen moved to the U.S. to take a post-doctoral position with Marcia B. Goldberg M.D. at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. It was here that she became interested in the transcriptional regulation of Shigella virulence genes and antimicrobial peptides. She joined the faculty at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2005.
The primary focus of my research laboratory is virulence gene expression in the bacterial pathogen Shigella flexneri, the causal agent of bacillary dysentery, which is estimated to kill over 1 million people each year. All four species of Shigella harbor a large virulence plasmid, which carries most of the genes required to cause disease in the human host, including those required for invasion, type III secretion and actin-based motility, a process that allows bacteria to spread from one human cell to another. We are interested in the environmental cues, the timing and the molecular events that trigger the expression of virulence genes. We are particularly interested in the complex interplay between nucleoid structuring proteins, proteins that facilitate the packaging of DNA into tiny cells, and the transcriptional regulators of virulence in Shigella VirF and VirB.
Dr. Eduardo Robleto’s laboratory focuses on the study of mutagenesis in cells under conditions of no-growth or under nutritional stress. They use Bacillus subtilis as a model to elucidate novel mechanisms that produce genetic diversity in conditions of stress. Particularly, we are interested in mutagenesis that is mediated by the process of transcription. These processes are influenced by universally conserved factors, provide novel views of the evolutionary process and apply to the formation of mutations in all organisms.
His research focuses on identifying novel mechanisms of mutation. He is particularly interested in elucidating cellular processes that generate mutations in non-replicating cells. These processes are important in evolution and apply to the acquisition of antibiotic resistance in human pathogens and to the formation of tumors in differentiated tissue.
Dr. Nora Caberoy’s research is on eye diseases. Specifically, she studies the retina (the thin, multi-layer, light-sensitive tissue that is found all the way at the back of the eye) and the role of retinal pigment epithelium phagocytosis in photoreceptor death that leads to retinal dysfunction and then blindness. By identifying factors and pathways associated with damage of the retina, she hopes to be able to develop ways to prevent or treat blindness.
In parallel with Caberoy’s work in the eye, she also identifies and characterizes factors that contribute to the development of obesity with the hope of developing therapeutic strategies to prevent or treat obesity. She explores the physiological and pathological roles of tubby protein in the development of obesity.
Dr. Jeff Kinney’s research area is behavioral neuroscience with an emphasis in two general areas; the neurobiology of learning & memory and the biological basis of several neurological/psychological disorders. Research projects in Dr. Kinney’s laboratory focus on the cellular, molecular, and genetic mechanisms involved in various types of associative/spatial learning with particular emphasis on glutamate, GABA, and a few neuropeptides. Additional research projects focus on animal models of schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, and mood disorders. The investigation of these disorders incorporates transgenic models and identifying potential therapeutic targets. The laboratory utilizes psychopharmacological, behavioral genetic, and molecular biology techniques to address experimental questions. Dr. Kinney is open to working with graduate students on other related topics in behavioral neuroscience.
Dr. Abel-Santos is interested in research that combines the areas of organic chemistry, biochemistry and microbiology. The Abel-Santos laboratory is currently applying enzymology approaches to the process of Bacillus spore germination. Due to its potential as a bioterrorism weapon, new methods to control B. anthracis (a.k.a ANTHRAX) infections are needed. B. anthracis spores are resistant to most type of antiseptic and antibiotic treatments. Although anthrax spores are resilient, they have to “taste” their environment to determine when conditions are right to germinate (e.g. your lungs) Using the information gathered from the kinetic models, we have developed nucleoside inhibitors against anthrax spore germination. These compounds have proven to be effective in protecting macrophage form anthrax-mediated killing.