Chemical detection via organic dyes and a smartphone

Via the New York Times, a new use of smartphones for farmers: 

If the farmer suspects a late blight infection is underway, she can remove a leaf from a living plant and place it in a small, covered glass jar. After the leaf’s volatile compounds have accumulated for 15 minutes or so, the cap is removed and the air is pumped from the jar into a reader device attached to the back of a smartphone. 

Inside the smartphone reader is a strip of paper specially treated with organic dyes and nanoparticle sensors developed by the researchers. Upon interacting with the plant’s volatile compounds, the strip changes color to indicate the presence or absence of the pathogen. It’s like a home-pregnancy kit for tomatoes, or a strep test for tubers.

Here's the Nature Plants* article. It will be really interesting to see when a GC is sufficiently miniaturized to fit in a pocket...

*who knew?!?! 

This week's C&EN

A few of the articles from this week's issue of Chemical and Engineering News:

• Cover: C&EN's ranking of the Top 50 global chemical companies for 2018 (by Alex Tullo)
• Great profile of Callery and their expansion plans (by Michael McCoy)
• "Who’s going to chemistry and chemical engineering graduate school in the US" (by Andrea Widener)
• Laura Howes profiles the Institute for Protein Design's David Baker
• Worthwhile podcast on lab safety (by Jyllian Kemsley and Matt Davenport)
• "US Congress takes up Scientific Integrity Act" (by Jeff Johnson)
• this bears watching, I think
• "Biohaven hobbled by contractor’s warning letter" (by Rick Mullin)
• supply chain manager's nightmare

The 2020 Faculty Jobs List: 71 positions

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 71 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions. In 2019-2020, we will be adding teaching professor positions, targeting positions that demonstrate a promotion ladder and/or are titled "assistant teaching professor" or "associate teaching professor."

On July 31, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 63 positions.

Here's the link to the latest open thread.

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 31 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 31 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

Greek natural products for eye disease?

Via The New York Times, an interesting article on an ancient medicinal compound: 

They know, too, that what we’ve already discovered — mastic resin, for example — may be able to do more than we’ve asked of it. That’s why scores of Americans with my vision impairment, known as Naion, are injecting a translucent amalgam of selected compounds in the resin — or a placebo of cottonseed oil — into our thighs or bellies twice weekly for six months. I have no idea which group I fall into or whether my stint as a human pincushion is helping me. Three months in, I haven’t experienced any improvement. 

The drug is the raison d’être of an Israeli biotech start-up, Regenera Pharma, built on an Iraqi émigré’s research. In animal tests and two small-scale human studies, Regenera established that it was safe and showed enough promise in restoring neural function that the Food and Drug Administration blessed the larger trial that I’m in, which will involve nearly 250 people with Naion at a dozen sites in the United States.

Not often you see natural products research gracing the pages of the Times - worth a read to see how this material forms the economy of this tiny Greek island.  

67% of 2008 B.S. science grads went to graduate school within 4 years?

"Who Goes to Graduate School and Who Succeeds?", Baum and Steele, The Urban Institute

This is a really fascinating table from a report by The Urban Institute. Can it be really true that 67% of students who graduated from the life and physical sciences from 2007-08 ended up in graduate school by 2012? If so, the most obvious explanation is that these were refugees of the Great Recession.

(Question: what was the baseline rate? Answer: I don't know.)

It would be really interesting to know if there was a concomitant increase in science Ph.D.s 5-7 years later...

39 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there are 22 new positions for July 21 and there are 17 positions for July 19. 

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List: 28 positions

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List has 28 positions; this is curated by the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry. Want to help out? Fill out this form. 

Cheap drink, costly drink

I am terribly curious as to how methanol got in these drinks (via the New York Times): 

Nineteen people in Costa Rica died from tainted alcohol over the past two months, according to health officials, who have issued a national alert and confiscated around 30,000 bottles of alcohol. 

The deaths in June and July span the country, and most likely were caused by methanol poisoning, according to a statement the country’s health ministry issued on Friday. At least six brands of high alcohol content liquors are known to have been confiscated.... 

...Methanol poisoning typically occurs through the consumption of counterfeit or improperly produced alcohol products. The specific cause of this outbreak was not yet clear, but such problems sometimes arise when properly branded bottles of liquor are refilled and resold with cheaply produced bootleg liquor. 

While processing alcohol, methanol is naturally produced, said Dr. George Koob, the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Commercial alcohol manufacturers then remove it before bottling. The problems emerge when alcohol is distilled at home or on the black market without building in a system for removing the methanol. Low levels of the sort found in a home-brewed beer are not likely to be harmful, he said. But the high levels present in hard liquors can be deadly... 

...Figuring out which alcohol has been improperly produced is not always straightforward, the report states. One hint in the recent outbreak was the cost of the product, according to La Nación, a Costa Rican newspaper. Most of the affected products cost around $1.74 a bottle.

I guess people aren't tossing the forecuts of cheap liquor distillations? That costs money, I suppose. So a dumb question - is there a cheap test for sufficiently toxic methanol contamination in ethanol? I am guessing the answer is "no" (and a quick Googling indicates that as well.) Too bad - that would be an interesting problem solving challenge for students... 

Warning Letter of the Week: tell-tale PLC edition

In a note to the Chairman of Indoco Remedies Limited, Mumbai, India, the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research says:

1.  Your firm failed to prepare batch production and control records with complete information relating to the production and control of each batch of drug product produced (21 CFR 211.188). 

Compression machine process control values were not adequately reported in your batch production records during the manufacture of [redacted]mg tablets intended for the U.S. market. Your quality unit used these deficient records to release batches of this drug product. 

While multiple batch records of [redacted]mg tablet included handwritten values routinely within process parameters, the values recorded by the programmable logic controller (PLC) of your compression machine were frequently outside your established process parameters. For example, [redacted]mg batch [redacted]had compression force values handwritten [redacted]in the batch record ranging from [redacted](your limit was (b)(4)). 

However, the PLC data recorded individual values ranging from [redacted]for the same time period. In addition to compression force values, handwritten values for filling depth and automatic weight control (AWC) did not accurately reflect the values within the PLC data. 

An inspection conducted by the [redacted]in March 2018 found similar discrepancies between the compression force values in batch records and PLC data.

I feel like the last few letters have shown a fair bit of detective work by the inspector - looking up PLC values couldn't have been super easy....

The 2020 Faculty Jobs List: 52 positions

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 52 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions. In 2019-2020, we will be adding teaching professor positions, targeting positions that demonstrate a promotion ladder and/or are titled "assistant teaching professor" or "associate teaching professor."

On July 23, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 47 positions.

Here's the link to the latest open thread.

Postdoctoral position: pathogenic iron acquisition/biochemistry, UMBC, Baltimore, MD

Via Twitter: 

The UMBC Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has a postdoctoral position available in the laboratory of Prof. Aaron T. Smith (https://sites.google.com/a/umbc.edu/smithlab/home). The successful candidate for this position will focus on studying the structural and molecular underpinnings of pathogenic iron acquisition accomplished by bacterial soluble and membrane proteins.  

Candidates should have a strong background in biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology, and protein expression and purification. Prior research experience in X-ray crystallography and/or membrane proteins is desirable but not required. Candidates should also have strong communication skills, the ability to conduct research, to prepare manuscripts and presentations independently, and the ability and willingness to work with graduate and undergraduate students in the laboratory.  

Interested applicants who have (or are anticipated to have) a PhD in biochemistry, chemistry, biophysics or a closely related discipline should send a short cover letter describing their research interests and motivation for joining the lab, Curriculum vitae, and contact information of three referees to Dr. Aaron T. Smith (smitha@umbc.edu). Review of application materials will begin August 01, 2019. The position will remain open until filled.  

UMBC is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. Applications from women, minorities, Veterans, individuals with disabilities and other traditionally under-represented groups in the sciences are especially encouraged. 

Best wishes to those interested. 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 31 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 31 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

Lieutenant Colonel to staff scientist is a little unusual

Interesting 2nd (?) career for a former Air Force chemist:

...In October 2017, James Rohrbough became the first staff scientist in the Marty Lab. 

Rohrbough spent nearly 21 years in the U.S. Air Force as a chemist and taught chemistry as an assistant professor at the Air Force Academy. But 18 months into retirement, Rohrbough, who retired as a lieutenant colonel, was bored. When he saw that Michael Marty, an assistant professor of chemistry at the UA, was hiring, Rohrbough picked up the phone. 

“I thought, ‘I can actually use my degree back at the university,’” says Rohrbough, who grew up in Tucson and received both his undergraduate degree and his Ph.D. from the UA. 

“James told me he’d like to get back into a lab, and with someone of his level of experience, I was happy to have him,” Marty said.

Read the article (really, a press release) to see how Professor Marty and Dr. Rohrbough are working to bring veterans to the sciences.

This week's C&EN

A few of the articles from this week's issue of Chemical and Engineering News:

• Cover: Sam Lemonick covers 2020's Mars rovers, and their chemistry 
• I really enjoyed this articleabout the STEM-humanities debate in universities (by Rick Mullin)
• Fun, art-oriented approach to natural products education at Brown University (by Celia Henry Arnaud)
• I didn't know that the House was addressing PFAS (by Cheryl Hogue)
• Cool new sorbent technology (by Mitch Jacoby)

It's ain't over until the parachutes open...

I love this picture of a part of Apollo 1 being assembled
Credit: Ralph Morse/The LIFE Picture Collection, via Getty Images

In the New York Times recently, an interesting view of the Apollo 11 moon landings, from the perspectives of the people who built the equipment:

...Many Americans thought that the dream of the moon was impossible, but Apollo was a siren call to engineers. 

Charles Lowry was living in Columbus, Ohio, a parachute expert working at a division of North American focused on fighter jets. He remembered being in church when the topic came up. 

“At some point, the leader said, ‘I understand now that the United States government has a plan to go to the moon. How many people really think we’re really going to the moon?’ And my hand went up. I looked around me, and no other hands went up. Not even my wife’s hand.” 

Mr. Lowry wanted to move to California and join the moon effort, which would need parachutes for the Apollo capsule’s return to Earth. But his wife did not want to move far from their families. “Finally, she said to me, ‘If you’ll buy me a big swimming pool, we’ll go to California,’” Mr. Lowry said. “So we did.” 

...When the lunar module, named Eagle, was finally on the moon, Dr. Gran said, “Then I jumped up and down. It’s like winning the lottery.” 

Others were also elated, but had more yet to worry about. The parachutes of Charles Lowry were still packed, waiting for the return to Earth. That development was more arduous than first anticipated, as the command module had gained weight during its development. The parachutes had to successfully slow down 13,500 pounds. 

But four days later, on July 24, 1969, the astronauts returned to Earth. The parachutes deployed, and Mr. Lowry could celebrate, too. 

“It was,” he said, “an amazing feeling of ‘Yeah, we really did it.’”

It's a funny aspect of certain fields where thousands (millions) of intricate little things have to work right, either thousands of times, or as in Mr. Lowry's case, just once. Those on the outside may think that it's all a smoothly running machine, but only those on the inside know the cracks and crevices and where the risks will pop up. Here's to the folks behind the scenes that made it work and still do.  

Job posting: Nanomaterial-Based Biosensor Scientist, UES, Dayton, OH

From the inbox:

UES has an opportunity available for a Research Scientist to join our team working with the 711th Human Performance Wing at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. This position will support research in the area of sensor development related to the selection of recognition elements (peptides and nucleic acids) using high throughput instrumentation and their integration in different sensor platforms. Experience in the synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials and their use in assay development is required, as well as experience with handling biomaterials (DNA, RNA, etc.). Knowledge of techniques to select DNA and peptides recognition elements is beneficial, but not essential. Some of the primary functions for this role will include:

• Conducting lab experiments related to selection of recognition elements
• Characterization of binding affinity and integration of binders and sensors
• Supporting collaborations with external partners
• Presentations of results at meetings and conferences

 Requirements:

• Ph.D. in chemistry, biochemistry, nanotechnology or a related discipline is required
• Proficiency with general chemistry and biochemistry laboratory techniques is required
• Experience with nucleic acid and peptides binding, synthesis, and characterization of nanomaterials is required...

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested. 

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List: 28 positions

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List has 28 positions; this is curated by the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry. Want to help out? Fill out this form. 

Update on the University of Hawaii explosion

On March 16, 2016, Dr. Thea Ekins-Coward was working in the laboratory of Dr. Jian Yu at the University of Hawaii on a biofuels project with a high-pressure hydrogen/oxygen mix. Because the mixture was in an inappropriate tank and the system was not grounded, the tank exploded and Dr. Ekins-Coward was severely injured. Here is the longer C&EN article about the investigative report about the incident. Via KHON (a Honolulu TV station, article by Manolo Morales), an update on the University of Hawaii Manoa hydrogen explosion:  

...In March 2016, a powerful explosion inside a laboratory rocked a building at the UH Manoa campus. HFD determined that a wrong pressure gauge was used, which caused a spark that led to the explosion. 

Ekins-Coward, a postdoctoral fellow was in that lab and lost part of her right arm. Her attorney says she has since moved back home to England and has struggled with getting her life back. 

“She still is very traumatized by the event, it distresses her to speak about it still and she still can’t do a lot of things,” said attorney Claire Choo. Things that most people take for granted. “Even eating a steak, cutting a steak, she can’t do it. Someone has to cut up her food for her so that takes a toll,” said Choo. 

She adds that Ekins-Coward is still trying to find the proper prosthetic. In the meantime, there’s the legal fight against UH which says that she was an employee at the time of the explosion. So she’s only entitled to workers compensation benefits, and cannot sue the university. “We think that the amount that she would be given at workers compensation is not sufficient to cover the pain and suffering and the injuries, and the injury to her career that she suffered through because of this incident,” said Choo. She says Ekins-Coward was never an employee and that UH made that clear when she was invited by UH to do her research. “They told her specifically that she was not an employee and she didn’t get the benefits of being an employee,” said Choo. 

She says UH then said it has an internal policy that considers researchers like Ekins-Coward as employees only to get workers compensation benefits. She is challenging this with the labor board. “So our position is she was not an employee. They made it very clear that she was never an employee, and that you can’t have your cake and eat it too,” said Choo. 

A hearing with the labor board is scheduled in December. Choo says it will likely take years before the issue is resolved because of appeals. UH says it is unable to comment on pending litigation.

It sounds like the case has not advanced much further than where it was in September 2018. Another reminder for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to not become Schrödinger's employee, and determine their status in terms of worker's compensation, benefits and the like. (Short answer: whatever status benefits the university? That's your status.) 

Warning Letter of the Week: inadvertent scrap yard edition

In a missive from the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research to the Managing Director of Strides Pharma Science Limited in Bangalore, India: 

1.  Your firm failed to establish an adequate quality control unit with the responsibility and authority to approve or reject all components, drug product containers, closures, in-process materials, packaging materials, labeling, and drug products (21 CFR 211.22(a)). 

Your quality unit (QU) lacks appropriate responsibility and control over your drug manufacturing operations. 

During the inspection, our investigator observed discarded CGMP documents and evidence of uncontrolled shredding of documents. For example, multiple bags of uncontrolled CGMP documents with color coding indicating they were from drug production, quality, and laboratory operations were awaiting shredding. Our investigator also found a blue binder containing CGMP records, including batch records for U.S. drug products, discarded with other records in a 55-gallon drum in your scrap yard. CGMP documents in the binder were dated as recently as January 21, 2019: seven days before our inspection. Your QU did not review or check these documents prior to disposal. 

...The uncontrolled destruction of CGMP records, and your lack of adequate documentation practices, raise questions about the effectiveness of your QU and the integrity and accuracy of your CGMP records. 

In your response you state the binder of CGMP documents in your scrap yard was “inadvertently come [sic] to scrap yard” and that you were investigating the issue....

You hate it when controlled documents end up in a 55-gallon drum in a scrap yard... 

The 2020 Faculty Jobs List: 38 positions

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 38 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions. In 2019-2020, we will be adding teaching professor positions, targeting positions that demonstrate a promotion ladder and/or are titled "assistant teaching professor" or "associate teaching professor."

On July 17, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 30 positions.

Here's the link to the latest open thread.

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 31 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 31 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

Major budget cuts hit University of Alaska system

Also in this week's C&EN, a brief article about the cuts to the University of Alaska system, with an update from the perspective of UA-Fairbanks' department chair (by Andrea Widener):

The chemistry department at the school’s main campus in Fairbanks expects to be hit by the cuts, says department chair Thomas Green, but they don’t know exactly the impact yet. “This is all thrown at us all at once,” he tells C&EN from a rural Alaska beach where he is trying to keep up with the news while on vacation. “We are sort of in limbo now.”  

Before the failed override attempt, the university had already implemented a hiring and travel freeze and sent furlough notices to staff. Now they are waiting for a more detailed plan. “Of course everybody is worried,” Green says. The Fairbanks chemistry department includes 13 faculty and multiple staff, including a safety officer, stock room manager, NMR lab manager, and part-time administrative assistant. Green also doesn’t know what might happen to funding for the school’s 35 graduate students, about 15–17 of whom are supported through teaching assistantships each year. The university’s Board of Regents will meet July 15 to plan next steps.

Best wishes to all affected. 

This week's C&EN

A few of the articles from this week's issue of Chemical and Engineering News:

• Cover: "It’s time to get serious about recycling lithium-ion batteries" (by Mitch Jacoby)
• Alex Scott, on Evonik's approach to the future
• Japanese silkworm research (by Katsumori Matsuoka)
• Fascinating science, seriously creepy pictures 
• "Flame retardants linked to feline hyperthyroidism" (by Giuliana Viglione)
• Interesting experiment with (R)-limonene driving a chiral polymer synthesis (by Mark Peplow)
• Some d00d yapping about chemistry jobs and their definitions

Chemical Activity Barometer Is Flat In June

From the American Chemistry Council (the trade group for large chemical companies):

WASHINGTON (June 25, 2019) – The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), was flat (0.0 percent change) in June on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis, following three monthly gains. On a year-over-year (Y/Y) basis, the barometer is up 0.3 percent (3MMA). 

The unadjusted measure of the CAB retreated 0.2 percent in June and fell 0.3 percent in May. 

The diffusion index rose to 65 percent in June. The diffusion index marks the number of positive contributors relative to the total number of indicators monitored. The CAB reading for May was revised downward by 0.38 points and that for April by 0.22 points. 

“The slowing economy and rising trade tensions have weighed on business confidence and investment, resulting in mixed manufacturing activity,” said Kevin Swift, chief economist at ACC. “In summary, the CAB reading continues to signal gains in U.S. commercial and industrial activity through late 2019, but at a moderated pace.” 

The CAB has four main components, each consisting of a variety of indicators: 1) production; 2) equity prices; 3) product prices; and 4) inventories and other indicators...

This isn't the greatest news, and of a piece with recent economic news that led the Fed to signal that it will be cutting rates soon.

A couple of crazy questions from a milquetoast economic doomsayer:

• 2019 is turning out to be a seemingly decent economic year, as measured by GDP. Does anyone expect 2020 to carry this along? 
• When will the next recession be? I got a dollar that the next recession (casually) two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth) will happen in the next 2 years. 
• What is the American Chemical Society doing to prepare its members for that next recession? 

Here's hoping that 2020 will be a decent economic year, especially for those looking for jobs this coming fall and spring...

(For those students/postdocs who will be forwarded this post, in general, I'm pessimistic on the economy. Watch the trends, not the data points.)

22 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there are 10 new positions for July 10 and there are 12 positions for July 7. 

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List: 28 positions

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List has 28 positions; this is curated by the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry. Want to help out? Fill out this form. 

The 2020 Faculty Jobs List: 24 positions

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 24 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions. In 2019-2020, we will be adding teaching professor positions, targeting positions that demonstrate a promotion ladder and/or are titled "assistant teaching professor" or "associate teaching professor."

On July 10, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 18 positions.

Here's the link to the latest open thread.

Faculty position: assistant professor of biochemistry, The College of New Jersey, Ewing Township, New Jersey

From the inbox: 

Tenure-Track Chemistry / Biochemistry Faculty Position  

The College of New Jersey 

The Department of Chemistry at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) invites outstanding applicants for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in biochemistry, broadly defined, to join our community starting August 2020. 

TCNJ has a strong commitment to inclusive excellence and to supporting a healthy work-life balance for our faculty of teacher-scholars. TCNJ has been recognized by The Chronicle of Higher Education on its honor roll of “Great Colleges to Work For.” 

For this position, we seek a broadly trained scientist who has the potential to establish a highly visible undergraduate research program and who will be passionate about teaching chemistry at all levels of the curriculum in a primarily undergraduate, residential, liberal arts-centered institution. We are especially interested in candidates whose research and pedagogy will connect and integrate chemistry with other disciplines and who have the potential to collaboratively contribute to interdisciplinary curricular and scholarly efforts within the School of Science and at the College. The successful candidate will also display dedication to inclusive excellence in STEM and higher education.... 

...Applications are due by October 1, 2019. Late submissions will be considered if a suitable candidate pool is not identified by the deadline. Final offer of employment will be contingent upon successful completion of a background investigation.

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested.  

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 31 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 31 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

Against food for your committee members in graduate school

Via Jen Heemstra on Twitter, this article from Science by Kate Bredbenner: 

I never thought I would spend so much of my time and money setting up still-life worthy displays of flaky croissants and shiny fruit for people who are judging my science, and that of my colleagues. Yet that’s the expectation: At my university, and many others, students bring food to our thesis committee meetings and defenses, adding to the already sky-high pressure. My first taste of it came 5 years ago, for my first committee meeting. I prepared furiously. I meticulously proofread my written proposal and aligned all the figures. My slides all used the same font. I had even prepared some extra slides to address possible questions my judges might ask. Even so, I was sure the meeting was doomed—because I didn’t know how to make coffee.

I believe I've heard of this tradition, but it wasn't a tradition where I went to graduate school and I'm really happy about that. Let's be clear - I'm not talking about providing food for a celebration after passing, we're talking about bringing food to a meeting where people will be judging your work product.

It is absolutely absurd that schools would allow this tradition. Yes, it would be smart not to have irritated committee members by scheduling a long meeting right before lunch (or maybe it is! -ed.) Perhaps it would be even better to provide a warm drink for your committee members! Students shouldn't be pressured into spending their time providing snacks for their committee.

In the discussion on Twitter, it sounds like a number of graduate schools actively or passively discourage this practice. I think that's the right approach. Readers, tell me why I'm wrong. 

Job posting: associate scientist, Protomer Technologies, Pasadena, CA

From the inbox, a position in Pasadena:

Associate Scientist, Peptide Chemistry 
Multiple Openings for MS, PhD, Postdocs

Protomer Technologies is an exciting biotechnology company based in Pasadena, California, which is engineering next-generation protein therapeutics. Protomer was founded by Caltech faculty and alumni, and has active collaborations with Caltech faculty.... 

As an Associate Scientist in Peptide Chemistry, you will lead efforts requiring design, execution, and management of chemical synthesis projects. Candidates with a doctoral degree in a related field are preferred, but all exceptional candidates will be considered at all levels. You must have the requisite experience to make technical insights in chemical library design, peptide synthesis, and chemical modification of peptides, and you will be encouraged to push the boundaries of these fields.... 

Minimum qualifications:

• Advanced degree in chemistry or chemical engineering (or equivalent practical experience.)
• 5 years of wet lab experience in chemistry, biochemistry, or chemical engineering or graduate level/post doc
• 2 years+ of experience with peptide synthesis or other related chemical synthesis experience or experience with small molecule synthesis, SAR, or medicinal chemistry 

Preferred qualifications:

• PhD degree in chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering, or related field with strong publication record.
• 2 years+ of relevant research experience in bio-conjugation, protein modification or protein engineering. 
• Experience with mass spectrometry sequencing is a plus.

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested. 

Independence Day

It's Independence Day in the United States, which is a national holiday. We'll see you tomorrow!

Warning Letter of the Week: short attention span edition

In a note to the Managing Director of Aurobindo, this amusing comment from the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (emphasis mine):

1.  Changes to methods or controls were not reported to FDA through a supplement to an approved [redacted]. (21 CFR 314.97(a) and 314.70(c)(6)(i)) 

...Investigators observed, in your [redacted] API, non-carcinogenic impurities of [redacted] and [redacted] at levels up to [redacted]% and [redacted]%, respectively, in residual solvent testing for [redacted] API batches. These impurities are present in drug substances at levels exceeding the [redacted] USP specification limit for Any other individual impurity (i.e. NMT [redacted]%). These impurity levels are also above the ICH Q3A(R2) reporting threshold for drug substance impurities. 

Your Quality Unit failed to report to FDA these impurities, which were also above your internal reporting threshold limit of no more than [redacted]%. You updated the information in your Drug Master File (DMF) only after FDA investigators communicated during the inspection that you should be reporting all observed impurities above the reporting threshold.  

In your response, you explained a “scheduled regulatory update skipped our attention.” In addition, you stated you would undertake an additional CAPA for controls of residual solvents. Your response is inadequate, as you did not commit to conduct a full review of all impurities observed in all your APIs above the reporting threshold and ensure that your DMFs and [redacted] are updated accordingly...

I hate it when things skip my attention. 

This week's C&EN

A few of the articles from this week's issue of Chemical and Engineering News:

• Cover: "Making invisible work in STEM more visible" (by Linda Wang) 
• Unusual technique for finding a hydrogen sulfide antidote (by Laura Howes)
• Very detailed nucleation understanding (by Sam Lemonick)
• Podcast: Kerri Jansen on fire science; Lisa Jarvis and myself on the generic drug industry
• CSB on the scene of the Philadelphia refinery explosion (by Jeff Johnson)
• Cool profile of Trinity University's Luis Martinez (by Matt Davenport)

The 2020 Faculty Jobs List: 17 positions

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 17 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions. In 2019-2020, we will be adding teaching professor positions, targeting positions that demonstrate a promotion ladder and/or are titled "assistant teaching professor" or "associate teaching professor."

On July 3, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 12 positions.

Here's the link to the latest open thread. 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 31 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 31 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

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BREAKING: Alonzo Yanes awarded $59 million by jury

From the New York Post (by Priscilla DeGregory and Daniel Cassady):

A Manhattan jury on Monday awarded nearly $60 million in damages to a former Beacon High School student who was badly burned in a botched chemistry experiment five years ago. 

After a nearly three-week trial, the six-person jury panel — made up of three men and three women — agreed with Alonzo Yanes that the city and teacher Anna Poole’s negligence led to the Jan. 2, 2014, fire that scorched the then-16-year-old 10th-grader. 

Poole — who testified as a defense witness and attended the entire trial — had been conducting the “Rainbow Experiment” using highly volatile methanol to ignite four different salts to show the various flame-colors each displayed.

From the New York Daily News (by Stephen Rex Brown):

A Manhattan jury awarded $59 million Monday to a student disfigured by a botched chemistry demonstration that set him on fire in the classroom at a prestigious Manhattan high school... 

...Half of the award was for past pain and suffering, the other half for the mental and physical pain that Yanes feared will define the rest of his life.

Well, now we have a number for this, although I imagine that the lawyers of the New York City Department of Education will be working towards appeals and reducing the jury award.

Alonzo Yanes' lawyer: my client deserves $70 million

From the New York Post (by Priscilla DeGregory):

The lawyer for the Beacon High School teen who was badly burned in a botched chemistry experiment asked a jury to award his client more than $70 million in damages for past and future pain. Ben Rubinowitz asked for the stunning figure for Alonzo Yanes, now 21, who was disfigured after a fireball erupted while his teacher Anna Poole was conducting the “Rainbow Experiment” Jan. 2, 2014. 

“No matter what an award in a case like this is they [Yanes’ parents] would return it in a heartbeat if they could return their son to the way he was. But I can’t do that,” Rubinowitz said. Rubinowitz asked jurors to award Yanes the amount just for his past pain and suffering alone and didn’t suggest an amount for his future suffering but asked them to consider that his life expectancy is another 53.8 years.... 

...Earlier Thursday, lawyer Mark Mixson — who is representing the city and Poole — told jurors that Yanes should be awarded just $5 million for past and future suffering.
Jurors began deliberations Thursday afternoon and will resume again Friday.

Will be interesting to see if a verdict is reached by Wednesday afternoon.