News
February, 2024
Biomolecular Sciences Ph.D. student Anna Shuey has been selected to present research on kratom at the national American Chemical Society Conference, in New Orleans, Louisiana, from March 17-21 to an international audience. Anna applied for and was selected to be one of ten awardees for the ACS Women Chemists Committee (WCC) Eli Lilly award. The remaining funding for her travel has been generously provided by the Biomolecular Research Center (BRC). While at the conference she will be taking a multiday workshop titled “Multidisciplinary Fundamentals of Drug Discovery and Development” that will take place before the start of the conference. She has been selected to present her work at three different events during the conference including the analytical chemistry division’s food forensics symposium, the interdivisional Sci-Mix poster session, and the Eli Lilly poster session. Anna will also be attending workshops for networking, interviewing, and writing proposals. Go, Anna!
Rose Saxton published a paper in the journal LWT – Food Science and Technology to describe the utilization of pulsed electric field technology to accelerate the rate of germination for barley in the malting process. The methods and results obtained from this project served as the basis for a provisional patent filing.
January, 2024
PI’s McDougal and Andersen have led a student team of researchers to accelerate and improve protein analysis in the production of dairy products, utilizing mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy combined with support vector regression (SVR) chemometrics, automation of the spectra preprocessing using nippy (a semi-automated spectral preprocessing package), and informative wavenumber selection using genetic algorithm (GA) with interval partial least square (iPLS), to enable rapid quantification of protein in milk. The focus of this work was the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the two major protein fractions in whey, α-lactalbumin and β-lactoglobulin. The results of this study have been published in the journal Foods with the title “SVR Chemometrics to Quantify β-Lactoglobulin and α-Lactalbumin in Milk Using MIR.”
Chemistry major Ajay Atkinson and Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor Owen McDougal presented an invited talk with their University of Idaho collaborator, Professor Mike Thornton at the Idaho Potato Conference in Pocatello, ID. The results of their two-year, Idaho State Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant project, titled “Impact of smoke on potato growth, storage and profitability,” was well received by agriculture leaders from across the region.
Biomolecular Sciences Ph.D. student Madison Dirks and Professor Owen McDougal recently published in MDPI’s journal Pharmaceuticals. Their publication explores the use of minor constituents from the native Idaho plant Veratrum californicum as hedgehog signaling pathway inhibitors. Basal cell carcinomas and other cancers utilize aberrant hedgehog signaling for growth and propagation, but V. californicum is known to possess steroidal alkaloids, such as cyclopamine, which can suppress this pathway. The goal of this work was to test the inhibitory effects of the remaining underexplored compounds within the plant. This involved separating raw extract into concentrated fractions and testing their bioactivity through Gli suppression. Two previously undetected compounds showed promising antagonistic effects.
NSF Convergence Accelerator program in Washington, DC. McDougal and Weaver joined the other members of the Dairy NutriSols team as part of a Phase 2 kickoff event for Track J focused on food and nutrition security. McDougal presented a pitch to other track teams and conducted an interview to detail his experience during the Phase 1 curriculum.
Writeup from DRED regarding McDougal research activity: https://www.boisestate.edu/research/blog/2024/01/30/unveiling-success-owen-mcdougals-journey-in-research/
McDougal receives the prestigious Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry recognition as the Employee of the Month.