Congratulations to Dr. Marina Sarcinella!!

A huge congrats to Dr. Sarcinella for recently defending her thesis, titled “Analytical characterization and biological impacts of multi-lipid Nanodiscs”. Marina presented on the work she has done in developing analytical tools for the characterization of Nanodiscs, a lipid bilayer mimetic.

In a few weeks, Marina will begin her new job as an analytical scientist at Corteva Agriscience in Indianapolis. We wish her all of the best and cannot wait to follow along with all the exciting research she will be conducting!

Claire presents at MSB2023!

At the end of May, 5th-year Ph.D. candidate Claire Cook traveled to Tallahassee, Florida for the 39th International Symposium on Microscale Separations and Bioanalysis. Claire’s talk, titled “CellMag-CARWash: A Droplet Microfluidic, Isolation Technique for Highly Pure, Single-Cell Populations”, was presented in the Cellular Analysis II session. She gave a great presentation, followed by many questions and conversations about her work.

Outside of the conference, Claire enjoyed soaking up the warm Florida weather and spending time with our lab neighbors from the Kennedy Group.

Goodbye UM, hello Eli Lily! Sam has graduated!

A huge congratulations to our undergraduate researcher, Sam Edgcombe, for graduating from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and a Bachelor of Science in Women’s and Gender Studies. Sam has been a part of our lab since the summer of 2021 and has contributed to the lab’s research and culture in so many ways. She has been working in collaboration with Marina on identifying the influence of detergents and other mixture components on the formation of nanodiscs.

Sam has presented her work at numerous poster sessions, including the ANACHEM symposium, the URANIUM symposium, and recently at the Pharmacological Sciences and Bio-related Chemistry symposium. She completed an undergraduate thesis on her work toward nanodisc optimization and assessment. She was awarded the department’s 2023 American Chemical Society award in Analytical Chemistry, presented to an outstanding undergraduate student in the field. Sam has also been a leader on campus, serving as a co-coordinator for a volunteer group within the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center (SAPAC) at UM.

Sam will be starting as a Research Analytical Chemist at Eli Lily in June. Bailey Lab members are incredibly proud of Sam and her accomplishments, both in and out of the lab. It has been a pleasure to watch Sam grow into an independent scientist and we have no doubt she will contribute greatly in her new role at Eli Lilly. Congrats Sam!!

Congratulations to Dr. Nick Glenn!

On April 19th, Nick successfully defended his thesis titled, “Development of Microfluidic Droptodes as a New Approach for Ionophore-Based Polyion Sensing”. Following his defense, we celebrated Nick’s great accomplishment with pizza, cake, and many football references!

Nick, an avid football fan, had previously equated getting a PhD to winning the Super Bowl. Bailey Lab members kept this in mind and during the celebratory toast, presented Nick with his own PhD Lombardi trophy! We hope he continues to celebrate this momentous achievement all the way to Boston. Nick starts his new position at Vertex Pharmaceuticals next month and we wish him all the best!

Bailey Lab takes on Comerica!

The Bailey Lab ventured out of the lab and into Comerica Park to watch the Detroit Tigers take on the Boston Red Sox! We thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful weather and spending an afternoon together at the ballpark. Detroit attempted to rally late in the 9th inning, but it wasn’t enough. The Red Sox won 4-1, which was thoroughly enjoyed by the lab’s loyal Red Sox fans (and not so much by the Yankees/Cardinals/Detroit fans)!

 

Congratulations to Dr. Nico Mesyngier!

On February 4th, Nico successfully defended his thesis titled, “Developing a droplet-based phase grating for use as a label-free, high-throughput analytical platform”. His defense garnered great questions from the in-person and virtual audience. The lab then celebrated all of Nico’s accomplishments with cake, champagne, and great music!

Congratulations to Dr. Nico from all of us in the Bailey Lab!

Congratulations to Cole and Krista on their latest publication!

Chorioamnionitis-exposure alters serum cytokine trends in premature neonates

Abstract
Objectives: Determine if chronologic age and/or chorioamnionitis exposure alter normal serum cytokine and chemokine levels in uninfected preterm neonates during their initial NICU stay.

Study design: A 7-plex immunoassay measured levels of serum IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α, CCL2, and CCL3 longitudinally from chorioamnionitis-exposed and unexposed preterm neonates under 33 weeks’ gestation.

Results: Chorioamnionitis-exposed and unexposed preterm neonates demonstrated differences in the trends of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α, and CCL2 over the first month of life. The unexposed neonates demonstrated elevated levels of these inflammatory markers in the first two weeks of life with a decrease by the third week of life, while the chorioamnionitis-exposed neonates demonstrated differences over time without a predictable pattern. Chorioamnionitis-exposed and unexposed neonates demonstrated altered IL-10 and TNF-α trajectories over the first twelve weeks of life.

Conclusion: Chorioamnionitis induces a state of immune dysregulation in preterm neonates that persists beyond the immediate neonatal period.

Read the full article here!

ANACHEM 2022

The 2022 ANACHEM Symposium was held by the Association of Analytical Chemists on Thursday, November 10th. The day-long symposium was filled with graduate research presentations, instrument workshops, a vendor fair, a poster session, and a plenary lecture by UM professor, and recipient of the 2021 ANACHEM award, Mark Meyerhoff.

Ryan gave a talk in the award session in honor of Professor Meyerhoff, where he discussed the microring resonator sensing platform and the work we are doing to improve LTBI diagnostics. Krista, a 4th year graduate student, presented her work on Ebola virus diagnostics using the mircorings in the morning academic research session. She was recognized as the top presentation in her session! Marina, a 5th year graduate student, presented her work on nanodisc characterization in one of the afternoon research sessions.

Krista and Marina, along with undergraduate researcher Sam, had a great time hearing about local analytical chemistry research, collecting pens and other goodies at the vendor fair, and getting to connect with other graduate students!

Congratulations to Dr. Gloria Diaz!

On October 4th, Gloria successfully defended her thesis titled “Leveraging the Power of Droplet Microfluidics to Profile the Epigenome”. Her defense was well attended both in-person and virtually and marked the first in-person Bailey Lab defense in three years! The lab was excited to come together and celebrate Dr. Diaz’s accomplishments in and out of the lab.

Congratulations to Gloria from all of us in the Bailey Lab!