Brittany Smolarski conducts summer research

2014 Jul 21

Brittany Smolarski of Oak Park is spending the summer conducting research at California Lutheran University.

Smolarski, a biochemistry major, received a $5,000 Swenson Science Summer Research Fellowship for her project titled "Application of a Burke MIDA Boronate to the Convergent Synthesis of DANPY, a New Dye Molecule for Fluorescence Imaging." She is trying to develop a straightforward and scalable procedure for synthesizing a novel DNA dye molecule. She is working under the guidance of Jason Kingsbury, an assistant professor of chemistry.

Based on written proposals and academic performance, a faculty committee awarded 24 fellowships to undergraduate students with funding from more than $115,000 in grants from the university. With guidance from faculty mentors, the students are conducting full-time research throughout the summer. The students will publish their results and present them at conferences.

CLU is a selective university based in Thousand Oaks, California, with additional centers in Oxnard, Woodland Hills, Santa Maria and Berkeley. With an enrollment of 4,300 students, CLU offers undergraduate and graduate programs within the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Management, Graduate School of Education, Graduate School of Psychology and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. Members of the CLU student body come from across the nation and around the world and represent a diversity of faiths and cultures. For more information, visit callutheran.edu.