The Work Also Has Implications for Speeding Drug Development

The process of crystallization is central to drug development, petrochemical processing and other industrial actions, but scientists say they still are learning about the complex interactions involved in the building and dissolution of crystals.

The National Science Foundation has awarded $510,000 to Peter Vekilov, John and Rebecca Moores Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and chemistry, to conduct the first fundamental work about how the nature of solvents impact the crystallization process.

Katy Olafson, a chemical engineering doctoral student at the UH Cullen of Engineering, received a 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AIChE) Separations Division Graduate Student Research Award.

More than three billion people – almost half of the world’s population – are at risk of contracting malaria, which is spread by infected mosquitos.

In 2013, an estimated 200 million malaria cases worldwide resulted in approximately 585,000 deaths of mostly African children under the age of 5, according to the World Health Organization.

As a Tier One research university, the University of Houston places a strong emphasis on research in and out of the classroom. But for undergraduate students, hands-on laboratory opportunities can be scarce, as researcher spots are usually filled with graduate students and post-doctoral associates.

Katy Olafson, a Ph.D. candidate in chemical and biomolecular engineering and co-advised by Drs. Peter Vekilov and Jeffrey Rimer, has been awarded a one-year predoctoral fellowship in the Gulf Coast Consortia/W.M.

More than 100 University of Houston undergraduate students, including more than a dozen from the Cullen College of Engineering, presented their work last week during UH’s annual Undergraduate Research Day.

For pioneering research in the areas of crystallization and protein aggregation, Peter Vekilov, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, has been named a fellow of the American Physical Society.

“This fellowship acknowledges the significance of our work, specifically the discovery of new mechanisms and phenomena in crystallization and aggregation research,” he said. “It is an honor to be named a fellow.”

Peter Vekilov, associate professor of chemical engineering, recently received the award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship at the associate professor level from the university. His nomination was submitted by Michael Harold, chairman of the Department of Chemical Engineering, and supported by five scientists in his field from across the country.