This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Instead of capturing a memory with an iPhone camera, Carnegie Mellon University's Nivedita Shyamsundar used hers to make a scientific discovery. A senior in the Department of Chemistry, Shyamsundar studies tiny particles that could help medicines and vaccines travel more effectively through the human body and reach their targets.
Her work may one day lead to better cancer treatments and stronger vaccines. "I'm really excited to see where all this research goes," Shyamsundar said. In the lab of Jill Millstone, Leo B. and Teresa Y.
Wegemer Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh, Shyamsundar worked with researchers to create new metal nanoparticles. But the researchers could capture only the final stages of nanoparticle formation. "The formation was happening way too fast to capture with typical lab technologies," Shyamsundar said.
"I wanted to come up with a more accessible way to see some of the kinetics of the nanoparticle formation." The researchers noticed that the solution changed color as the nanoparticles formed. Shyamsundar recorded a reaction with her iPhone. By analyzing the video frame by frame, she tracked the timing of the color changes and compared those observations with the lab's data.
Building on this insight, Shyamsundar created a program that allows researchers to monitor nanoparticle formation using cameras they have on hand. Using the program, they discovered how the nanoparticles formed. "We found out the formation mechanism wasn't the classical one of metal atoms coming together one by one," Shyamsundar said.
"It was actually clusters of metal atoms coalescing." Their work is published in the American Chemical Society journal Langmuir, with Shyamsundar as second author. Millstone said her lab continues to use Shyamsundar's program. "This innovation was possible not only because Niv is outstandingly smart and a hard worker, but because Niv is unusually talented in engaging available tools to solve longstanding problems in creative, robust ways that make real impact," Millstone said.
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