Chemistry students present research at national conference

The American Chemical Society brings together experts from across the field

By California State University, Bakersfield

October 11^th, 2022

The American Chemical Society hosts two national conferences every year, regular meetings for the field’s leading experts to share the latest on their research and learn from each other. Among the presenters at the most recent event were Ryan Delmore and Matthew Goulart, two California State University, Bakersfield students who had some work of their own to share.

The fall 2022 ACS Meetings & Expositions was held in August at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, where nearly 10,000 chemists gathered. There, Delmore and Goulart shared the results of their research on lysyl oxidase and cancer metastasis, which they have worked on through CSUB’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

“I was very excited to attend and present at this conference because it was the first in-person conference that I have attended,” said Delmore, a senior studying biochemistry. “I was also nervous to present because I presented in the poster session with graduate students. As an undergraduate, I knew that they would all have more experience than me, but it turned out to be a great experience.”

Delmore, 29, has been working with Dr. Karlo Lopez to study an enzyme called lysyl oxidase-like 4, or LOXL4, which helps mammalian bodies form collagen and elastin. Those proteins are essential for hair, skin, nails and bones, Delmore explained, but also the extracellular matrix around cancer cells. LOXL4 plays a role in cancer metastasis and proliferation by remodeling that matrix.

“Because of its role in cancer, our main goal is to determine this enzyme’s 3-dimensional structure which would allow us to design specific inhibitors of it that could work as cancer treatments,” Delmore said. “The major results that I presented at the conference were protein crystal formation, which is a crucial step towards elucidating the enzyme’s structure.”

While Delmore shared his findings in the Division of Biological Chemistry poster session, Goulart presented the research he has been working on in Dr. Danielle Solano’s lab in the Division of Chemical Education undergraduate posters session. His work has focused on making the inhibitors used in projects like Delmore’s. He explained that manufactured inhibitors normally used in research projects like these can be harmful to the environment.

“We’re trying to make them greener, using safer methodology and safer solvents,” Goulart, 24, explained. “The other project had made some inhibitors, but they were really insoluble in water, which is an obvious problem if you’re trying to get a drug into a human who’s mainly water. Dr. Solano thought, ‘Why don’t we combine these projects?’ Now we make the inhibitors, all with the goal of making them more water soluble.”

Goulart, who graduated with his bachelor’s degree in chemistry this spring and continues working as a researcher in the Dr. Solano’s lab, presented his research in person for the first time earlier this year, at an ACS meeting in San Diego. Presenting at the Chicago conference was still “an entirely different experience,” he said.

“It was a lot bigger,” Goulart said. “I feel like a lot more people came by to talk to me.”

Goulart also won a special award from the College Education Subcommittee Chair Robert L. Chapman recognizing him for coming all the way from California to present.

Chemistry students present research at national conference

Outside of the conference hall, Goulart and Delmore, along with Dr. Lopez and fellow chemistry students Rebecca Smith and Gianna Prieto-Zubia got to take in the sights around Chicago. Delmore even made it to Wrigley Field for a Cubs game.

Dr. Lopez believes the conference was a fulfilling and eye-opening experience for the students. They got to meet chemists from all over the world, he said, and they learned more about graduate research. The students also got a chance to meet with representatives from the companies behind the different equipment and classroom materials they use on a regular basis.

“Having to present their research to someone they don’t know, on-the-spot and coherently, is a skill that can only be developed when practiced, and our students did very well,” Dr. Lopez said. “The experience showed them that they have a place in the research arena and that their education at CSUB has prepared them for the professional stage.”

Both Goulart and Delmore said their time at CSUB and its chemistry department has given them more than a great education. It’s also given them a home and opened doors to new opportunities.

“For the sciences, it’s really important that your professor knows who you are,” Goulart said. “It’s chemistry, so some of the topics that we talk about are challenging. If you need help on the side and your professor actually knows who you are, they can talk to you. It’s a very personalized education.”

As a Navy veteran, Delmore has found support not just from faculty in chemistry and biochemistry department, but also from Jamie Pacheco and the Veterans Success Center, which he said has helped him “in all aspects of being a student veteran.”

“Overall, I have had a great experience at CSUB,” Delmore said. “I am very appreciative of the research experience that I have gained here. I have been mentored and empowered by Dr. Lopez in the performance of my research and gained experience that I don’t think I could have gotten anywhere else.”