It’s been seven years since the Kecklings gathered together, and as a close-knit group, a reunion was long overdue. “Boss Keck” and his “Kecklings” spent many formative years together and learned invaluable fundamentals about research and living a good life in general as they worked together to elevate and move chemistry forward in their own unique and innovative ways.
Working with Carrie Wager and Jerry Murry, we were able to round up about two dozen Kecklings for a Zoom reunion in April. Everyone was able to catch up, reminisce, and reconnect as if no time had gone by at all.
The group has pulled together over the past few years to establish a fellowship in Gary’s honor in order to better support graduate student research. As we near the finish line of raising the remaining $30,000, Gary’s group is also planning a symposium for June 11, 2022, for an in-person deep dive into current research with some of Gary’s former students.
Gary’s personal contributions to synthetic chemistry are among the top in his field. He shares with Nobel Laureate E.J. Corey at Harvard the distinction of having three named reactions: Keck asymmetric allylation, Keck macrolactonization, and Keck free radical allylation.
The Gary E. Keck Graduate Research Fellowship, once established, will fully support the graduate students as they contribute to a legacy of excellence established by Gary and all of his students over the years.
There were definitely silver linings to working and researching from home for the majority of the past year and a half. One of the benefits was the motivation everyone had to find and create new opportunities for sharing and presenting research in a year when travel was almost non-existent. The Curie Club committee and The Synthesis Club came together to organize the 1st Annual Graduate Student Research Conference over Zoom.
For one full week, graduate students and faculty presented their current research. Graduate students were given the choice to participate with either a 5-minute pre-recorded video or a 20-minute live presentation. 19 students presented 5-minute pre-recorded videos, and 21 students gave 20-minute live presentations throughout the week. Professors Gina Frey and Ming Hammond were the keynote presenters.
In addition to the presentations, the conference hosted three evenings of Q&A sessions with alumni. The graduate students were able to ask questions about professional development, personal growth, and how to navigate life after graduate school. Thanks to all of our alumni who participated:
Gabe Nagy joined the faculty in 2021. His core research topics include 1) the Implementation and application of a new recycling liquid chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (recycling LC-IMS-MS) platform for high-resolution human milk oligosaccharide analyses; 2) the Design of a chemical probes toolbox to enable more confident identification of unknown glycans; 3) Development of accelerated reactions in microdroplets for rapid syntheses of carbohydrate building blocks and biomedically-relevant glycans.
Within the first minute of talking with Assistant Professor Gabe Nagy, it becomes apparent that breast milk is a wondrous and mysterious superfood that science is only just beginning to understand. This is no mommy-war breastfeeding vs. formula debate, especially since most women, given the luxury, would prefer (pain and all) to give their child the best shot at as healthy a life as possible. The scientific community and infant formula industry are keen to replicate one of nature’s best defenses against disease and illness, but there’s an overwhelming number of unknowns in uncovering its secrets. And so Gabe devotes his research to understanding HMOs, human milk oligosaccharides, to help mothers who don’t have the socio-economic luxury of breastfeeding their babies for the recommended minimum of six months.
Recently, human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) have been implicated in their roles in promoting the healthy development of the brain-gut microbiota axis of a neonate. However, their numerous potential structural permutations make their accurate analyses and characterization increasingly difficult. To better understand how, why, and what specific HMOs influence the relationship between the brain, gut, and immune system of an infant, better analytical tools are desperately needed. To solve this puzzle, Gabe will focus on the development of a bioanalytical workbench consisting of a new multidimensional separations platform to be used in conjunction with solutions and gas-phase chemical probes to enable better separation and characterization of this highly diverse class of unconjugated glycans. Additionally, the use of accelerated reactions in microdroplets will permit rapid synthesis of biomedically-relevant glycan standards. This proposed bioanalytical toolbox will pave the way for de novo human milk oligosaccharide characterization, enabling advances in disease, clinical, and microbiome research.
Furthermore, according to an LA Times op-ed entitled “Breast milk is best and free, so why is it a luxury for American moms?” written by Jennifer Grayson, here’s what we do know about the important role mother’s breast milk plays in the health of their child:
“We now know that breast milk is not merely a foodstuff, but a mysterious and powerful human tissue — a constellation of complex nutrients, bioactive molecules, hormones, microorganisms, and as yet barely understood compounds that have evolved over eons to ensure the survival of the human species. We also know that feeding babies infant formula instead of breast milk is associated with increased incidence of gastrointestinal and respiratory infection, as well as greater risk of obesity, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, leukemia and sudden infant death syndrome.”
So while many women are unable to breastfeed their babies due to socio-economic conditions and with limited or no access to breastfeeding education and support, Gabe and a handful of researchers are working hard to characterize as many HMOs as possible which have not yet been incorporated in infant formula because they’re incredibly difficult to identify and characterize. Researchers estimate there are perhaps over 200 types of HMOs that mothers produce specifically for each infant depending on many environmental factors. Though these sugars have no significant nutritional value, they play an essential role in promoting good gut health and fighting off other diseases.
Characterizing these human milk sugars is no small feat because not every infant needs the same sugars to fortify their gut microbiome or ensure healthy brain development and growth. Sugar profiles can change in each mother’s milk for each child depending on the needs of the infant. Gabe’s research goal with his group is to be able to characterize as many HMOs as possible while developing new analytical methods to help them discover trends in smaller sugars in order to work their way back to understanding larger sugars.
Gabe’s research is rooted in ion-mobility mass spectrometry as they move away from linear toward a cyclic method of separation. This cyclic method allows his group to scale up the rate of separation to get a real understanding of whether some of these HMOs are even capable of being separated. Finding out if, when, and how the sugars are even separable is the first step in creating a robust database for researchers to begin to understand how they could synthesize the sugars for infant formula applications.
Gabe is looking forward to being back on campus this summer and the coming fall semester. He’s very keen to meet other researchers within the bioscience areas to further understand and collaborate on how HMOs function, and in a few years’ time, to be able to successfully sequence as many of the sugars as possible.
To say everyone was disappointed not to have a traditional graduation in the spring of 2020 due to the surge of Covid-19 cases would be an understatement. And it was no easy decision to hold graduation in person this spring, but with the help of many staff and faculty, graduation became a celebratory reality once again. Everyone crossed their fingers for good weather as they planned to hold graduation at Rice Eccles Stadium outdoors and socially distanced. For many students, staff, and faculty, it was the first time they had seen each other in over a year, though masks were still covering half of their faces.
The College of Science ceremonies went off without any glitches thanks to all the thoughtful planning and execution of the day’s events. Professor Vahe Bandarian spoke to all graduating chemists:
“Resilience is a word many of us probably did not have a working familiarity with before 2020. The word means the ability of people or things to recover from unpleasant events. This past year, things did not go according to plan. Many of you had to let go of long-dreamed travel plans and forgo research opportunities, and some of you had to say goodbye to a family member or friend who was taken by a virus we still know so little about. Some of you perhaps contracted the virus and had to work through the courses while recovering, and may still be recovering from the long-term effects. While it is easy to think about the past year as a lost opportunity, you should not lose sight of all that you have gained. Many of you discovered previously unknown stores of resilience and empathy, perhaps more than you would have in a lifetime. You are much more aware of yourself, your role in society, and your resilience.
You adapted to the changing instructional modes. You learned new ways to communicate, and in some cases, even found ways to do experiments virtually. You learned to tap into your inner strength and found creative solutions to deal with the loss of the in-person interactions that are so precious in the college years and to the learning process. By its nature, Chemistry is an experiential science and I know you worked hard to get the most out of the limited hands-on activities in the advanced labs and in your undergraduate research labs.
The last year was an experiment that Nature performed on you. The hypothesis was that resilience will get you through difficult times. The last 15 months were difficult, challenging, at times surreal. Now, we all know that you can never prove a hypothesis, only evidence for or against the hypothesis. I see so many data points standing here. Each of you was part of an experiment that Nature played on us, and we are standing here with your families, having persevered through the hardships. I won’t say you proved the premise of the experiment because the experiment is still ongoing. But your presence here is pretty strong support that we are more resilient than we had ever imagined.
I know that each of you was asked to do what you once thought impossible. But you showed you are resilient. As you start your careers, you have probably persevered through the worst crisis in your lifetime, and today you are standing tall, knowing that if you can overcome the hardships and adversities of the last 15 months to earn the degree, you can do anything. You are resilient, creative, and ready to face the future.”
After a lifetime of devotion to family, church, and science, Edward (Ted) Marcus Eyring died on February 20, 2021. He was born on January 7, 1931, in Oakland, California to Henry Eyring and Mildred Bennion Eyring. He grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, where he was the only LDS student at Princeton High School and where all of the church meetings he attended were in the dining room at his home. He served two and a half years in the Paris, France mission.
Ted married Marilyn Murphy on December 28, 1954. He graduated from the University of Utah, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi. He did a 2 and a half year tour of duty with the Air Force. In 1960, he earned his doctorate, spent a year in Germany as a Guggenheim fellow, and then joined the chemistry faculty at the University of Utah. Over the next 50 years, Ted co-authored many scientific papers with his gifted students and faculty collaborators. The most important product of his teaching and research was the training of about 100 pre- and post-doctoral students who have made important contributions to science. One of his favorite professional activities was writing informative letters of recommendation for his former students. One of Ted’s innovations was the introduction of service-learning field projects into his classes. He received a number of awards for scientific research, but his favorite recognitions were those his students awarded him for exceptional teaching. Ted served in many capacities in the LDS church in both teaching and leadership, including serving as a bishop twice.
He loved his family and spent countless hours at athletic games, musical programs, and other family activities. He loved the annual trip to Laguna Beach, cruises, and other trips with his family. He and Marilyn loved to travel and often visited foreign countries all over the world. For years he was an avid racquetball player.
Tribute in C&EN
Edward M. “Ted” Eyring, 90, died Feb. 20 in Salt Lake City.
“Eyring was a world-renowned physical chemist and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Over his 52-year career at the University of Utah, he pioneered experimental methods to study rates of chemical reactions in liquids and investigate new catalytic materials. Eyring mentored 30 Ph.D. students and published 325 scientific papers. He was an award-winning classroom instructor who touched the lives of more than 15,000 undergraduate students and introduced service-learning field projects into his classes. Eyring twice chaired the Department of Chemistry, and as a 61-year American Chemical Society member, he served in elected leadership of the ACS Division of Physical Chemistry.”
— Matthew S. Sigman, friend, and colleague.