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      <title>Undergraduate Research Blog</title>
      <link>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/</link>
      <description>
The National Science Foundation-sponsored International Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) will take eight students to the University of Càdiz in the region of Andalusia, located in southern Spain.  It is a 10-week collaborative effort between Bucknell University and the science and mathematics faculty at the University of Càdiz.

For this program, undergraduate students will have the choice of working in one of two labs in the Department of Organic Chemistry -- the Allelopathy group or the Marine Chemistry group.

These projects will provide students with laboratory experiences in organic chemistry, biochemistry and ecophysiology, and it will more fully prepare them for careers in the scientific community, particularly graduate school.  The projects will give them invaluable professional experience in science outside the United States and forge long-term international relationships.</description>
      <language>en</language>
      <copyright>Copyright 2009</copyright>
      <lastBuildDate>Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:45:54 -0500</lastBuildDate>
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            <item>
         <title>Sevilla &amp; Ronda</title>
         <description>Picking up from where I left off the last time ... My girlfriend, Kim, came to visit me in Spain on the 15th, and on Friday and Saturday we were in Sevilla and on Sunday we went with a trip sponsored by the university to Ronda. Sevilla is the capital of Andalucia, which is the province of Spain in which I am living.  evilla was the largest city I have been in so far in Spain and it is too big to take in everything in 24 hours. But we certainly tried.</description>
         <link>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/07/sevilla_ronda.html</link>
         <guid>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/07/sevilla_ronda.html</guid>
                  <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category">Jeff Williams &apos;10</category>
        
        
         <pubDate>Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:45:54 -0500</pubDate>
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         <title>Everything that has happened hince the last time I posted</title>
         <description>It has been awhile since I wrote on the blog last, mainly because I haven&apos;t been able to log in to the website for the last two weeks ... AAnyway, two weekends ago I went to Cordoba with Randy, Ashley and Rachel. We got to see La Mezquita, which today is a huge beautiful cathedral built inside a huge mosque. Quick history: at first it was a small cathedral, and then the Moors conquered Spain and in the spirit of tolerance, tore down the cathedral and built a huge mosque in its place. And then when Spain retook the country, continuing in the spirit of tolerance, they tore down part of the mosque to build a huge cathedral in the middle of the mosque.  It is very beautiful and its huge pillar fields make it unique.  </description>
         <link>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/07/everything_that_has_happened_s.html</link>
         <guid>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/07/everything_that_has_happened_s.html</guid>
                  <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category">Jeff Williams &apos;10</category>
        
        
         <pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:24:18 -0500</pubDate>
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         <title>Bioassays of purified compounds</title>
         <description>The last major objective our mentors set for Ruth and me this summer was conducting a bioassay. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we carried out the assay and analyzed the results. From past research in this lab and our work this summer, we had three pure compounds with known molecular weights and structures. With this information, we carried out serial dilutions to make seven different molar concentrations of the compound in buffer.  </description>
         <link>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/07/bioassays_of_purified_compound_1.html</link>
         <guid>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/07/bioassays_of_purified_compound_1.html</guid>
                  <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category">Allyson Marshall &apos;10</category>
        
        
         <pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:16:52 -0500</pubDate>
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         <title>The countdown begins</title>
         <description><![CDATA[This week is the final week of lab for research in Spain. With the approaching deadline, things are beginning to get hectic and more and more projects are pushed in the already long days.  This week, my lab is conducting bioassays on two previously purified molecules -- xiloidone and lapachol. Since we know the exact structures from these molecules (from extensive study of carbon and hydrogen NMR) we were able to make concentrations of various molar concentrations of the molecule. After 24 hours, the bioassay is complete and results can be measured (thats what we are doing tomorrow).

On another note, the eight of us as well as Joanne and Micheal went on our last trip with the University of Cadiz. We got picked up by a minibus early on Sunday morning and spent the day in Ronda. The city was beautiful and we got to wander around and explore on our own.  

<div style="align: right;"><a href="http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/upload/2009/07/5216_516663400989_74801776_30847915_4584435_n.jpg"><img src="http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/upload/2009/07/5216_516663400989_74801776_30847915_4584435_n-thumb.jpg" width="130" height="97" alt="5216_516663400989_74801776_30847915_4584435_n.jpg"/></a></div>]]></description>
         <link>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/07/the_countdown_begins.html</link>
         <guid>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/07/the_countdown_begins.html</guid>
                  <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category">Allyson Marshall &apos;10</category>
        
        
         <pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:30:48 -0500</pubDate>
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         <title>Old HPLC machines and older Roman ruins</title>
         <description>This past Sunday, the University of Cadiz organized a trip to go to Bolonia for the day and to get a semi-behind-the-scenes tour of the old Roman city of Baelo Claudia. In the morning, the archaeologist who was directing the current excavation going on at Baelo Claudia gave us a tour of the ruins, but also showed us the excavation he was overseeing. This tour was all in Spanish like the bodega tour, but this time the only group getting the tour was our small group and, thankfully, Juan Carlos translated what the archaeologist said.</description>
         <link>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/07/old_hplc_machines_and_older_ro.html</link>
         <guid>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/07/old_hplc_machines_and_older_ro.html</guid>
                  <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category">Jeff Williams &apos;10</category>
        
        
         <pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:40:53 -0500</pubDate>
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         <title>TLC, HPLC and NMR</title>
         <description>It&apos;s officially half way through the program and I am making significant progress on my project.  I feel like every couple days I&apos;m taught a new technique or tool to add to those that I&apos;m already using. I&apos;ve been very busy the past couple of days and it&apos;s great because it makes the day go by a lot quicker. Being busy also helps me make it to lunch, which doesn&apos;t come until about 2:30 or 3 in Spain. My stomach is used to it now, but I can&apos;t wait to eat lunch at noon again.  Anyhow, in lab I now run TLC plates, use the HPLC, and today I used the NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) for the first time.</description>
         <link>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/07/tlc_hplc_and_nmr.html</link>
         <guid>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/07/tlc_hplc_and_nmr.html</guid>
                  <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category">Allyson Marshall &apos;10</category>
        
        
         <pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:02:53 -0500</pubDate>
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         <title>Bodega tour, Granada, titrations</title>
         <description>This past Friday after Spanish class in the morning we hopped on a train to El Puerto Santa Maria to take a tour of the Osborne sherry winery. It was cool to walk around and see all the old-fashioned equipment that they used to use to make the wine and also to walk through the winery gardens, which were impressive considering the bland exterior of the building that you see from the street. The tour was in Spanish (clearly) though and the tour guide talked way too fast, so I actually didn&apos;t catch 95 percent of what he said. But it was still fun and, of course, they let us try some of the sherries they produce at the end of the tour.</description>
         <link>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/bodega_tour_granada_titrations.html</link>
         <guid>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/bodega_tour_granada_titrations.html</guid>
                  <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category">Jeff Williams &apos;10</category>
        
        
         <pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:19:15 -0500</pubDate>
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         <title>Gibraltar, U.S. soccer, Kjeldahl Method</title>
         <description>Seven of us went to Gilbraltar this weekend, which was 99th on my list of 100 things I want to do while I&apos;m in Spain.  98th is to riot after a soccer game and 100th is to be thrown into a Spanish prison. I&apos;m just kidding, though.</description>
         <link>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/gibraltar_us_soccer_kjeldahl_m_1.html</link>
         <guid>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/gibraltar_us_soccer_kjeldahl_m_1.html</guid>
                  <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category">Jeff Williams &apos;10</category>
        
        
         <pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:37:31 -0500</pubDate>
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         <title>Don&apos;t Pet the Monkeys</title>
         <description><![CDATA[This weekend, we took a three-hour bus ride down to the Strait of Gibraltar. The earliest bus out of Cadiz was at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday and our bus left La Linea De La Concepcion (the Spanish-owned land just outside the Strait at 3 p.m. Sunday. This didn't give us long in Gibraltar, but we did a ton of things and it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited.  Our hotel was in La Linea, meaning the currency is euros and everything is in Spanish.  We made the 20-minute walk from our hotel to customs, and found everyone speaking English and all prices in pounds.  For the short time we were in Gibraltar I felt literate again- reading signs and understanding bits of conversations from people around me.  Here is a view of the rock of Gibraltar from La Linea
 <div style="align: right;"><a href="http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/upload/2009/06/Spain%202009%20229.jpg"><img src="http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/upload/2009/06/Spain%202009%20229-thumb.jpg" width="130" height="97" alt="Spain%202009%20229.jpg"/></a></div>

<div style="align: right;"><a href="http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/upload/2009/06/Spain%202009%20278.jpg"><img src="http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/upload/2009/06/Spain%202009%20278-thumb.jpg" width="130" height="97" alt="Spain%202009%20278.jpg"/></a></div>]]></description>
         <link>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/dont_pet_the_monkeys.html</link>
         <guid>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/dont_pet_the_monkeys.html</guid>
                  <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category">Allyson Marshall &apos;10</category>
        
        
         <pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:35:59 -0500</pubDate>
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         <title>Flamenco, soccer and organic chemistry</title>
         <description>On Wednesday night, at around 9 p.m. (the sun is up until like 10:10) I went to play a pickup game of soccer (futbol) with the two guys who live in my apartment with me, two guys I know from working in the allelopathy lab, and three other guys (I was the only American). So it was pickup soccer, and I played soccer all through high school, so I thought I would do fine, as the guys are older than me (like 24-27) and they said they weren&apos;t very good at soccer and were out of shape.  So anyway, the point of this long introduction is to set the stage for the butt kicking given to me by these guys. Not all of them were good players (two were only OK), but there were three guys who were very good, and hit give-and-gos like they had been playing together for years. I also was the first person to leave, at 10:10 when it got dark, because I was dead tired and had been standing in a fixed position for the final 15 minutes like I was rooted in the cement we were playing on. They kept playing until 10:30. Yeah.</description>
         <link>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/flamenco_soccer_and_organic_ch.html</link>
         <guid>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/flamenco_soccer_and_organic_ch.html</guid>
                  <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category">Jeff Williams &apos;10</category>
        
        
         <pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:29:57 -0500</pubDate>
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         <title>The start of week three: Getting more comfortable in lab and Spain</title>
         <description><![CDATA[Now in my third week of lab, I am beginning to get a feel for the work I will be doing for the remainder of my time and Spain and the long-term goals of this project. Like I said last week, I am working with just one fraction from previous extractions (mine in particular is the acetone extraction) of a Brazilian plant root. The plant, Guarea, produces secondary metabolites during various times in its lifecycle. These metabolites are of interest to scientists and my goal is to begin to isolate one compound present in the extract. This process takes many years and the project seems huge. I am working on a fraction of a fraction of a fraction (and so on) of the large project.  

This is a picture of the building my lab is in 
<div style="align: right;"><a href="http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/upload/2009/06/Spain%202009%20096.JPG"><img src="http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/upload/2009/06/Spain%202009%20096-thumb.JPG" width="130" height="97" alt="Spain%202009%20096.JPG"/></a></div>]]></description>
         <link>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/the_start_of_week_3_getting_mo_1.html</link>
         <guid>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/the_start_of_week_3_getting_mo_1.html</guid>
                  <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category">Allyson Marshall &apos;10</category>
        
        
         <pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:18:03 -0500</pubDate>
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         <title>TLCs and Corpus Christi in Cadiz</title>
         <description><![CDATA[Friday night we experienced our first Spanish "discoteca." I don't know the name of it, as all clubs have strange names, and so seeing strange names in Spanish makes it even harder to remember. I think one place was called Mu Cho Teatro and another one was called Juegue Conmigo. Or something like that. We took a train into El Puerto Santa Maria and went to a club that had a concert that night, with a band that was fronted by a singer who was an old guy from America, but had been in Spain with the army, had married a Spanish girl and had settled in Spain.  After hearing this, I wasn't surprised when he started to belt out a lot of old Motown songs from the 1970s. We ended up seeing an administrator from the University of Cadiz there with his wife, and he knew the singer and tried to introduce us to him after the show, but the singer was swept up by someone else as soon as he had said hello.  

<div style="align: right;"><a href="http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/upload/2009/06/Spain-TLC-Corpus-Ferry%20012.2.JPG"><img src="http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/upload/2009/06/Spain-TLC-Corpus-Ferry%20012.2-thumb.JPG" width="130" height="97" alt="Spain-TLC-Corpus-Ferry%20012.2.JPG"/></a></div>
Erin, Ruth and Rachel in the discoteca. (I don't get the thumbs thing.)]]></description>
         <link>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/tlcs_and_corpus_christi_in_cad.html</link>
         <guid>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/tlcs_and_corpus_christi_in_cad.html</guid>
                  <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category">Jeff Williams &apos;10</category>
        
        
         <pubDate>Sun, 14 Jun 2009 13:47:52 -0500</pubDate>
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         <title>Column Chromotography ... the same as Bucknell!</title>
         <description><![CDATA[Today in my lab, I began to run a silica gel column to separate compounds based on polarity.  I finally knew what my mentors were talking about in lab, even though I couldn't understand all the words. Last summer, I did research in Dr. Casteel's organic chemistry lab at Bucknell. It was great preparation for the work I am doing this summer. My mentors, Rosa and Anita, try really hard to communicate with me -- in Spanish, English, Spanglish, and sign language. I think we are communicating pretty well now. I'm a fan of the thumbs-up sign and pointing. I am not sure my friends and family are going to understand me when I come home... I feel like my official language will be broken Spanglish after seven more weeks.   <div style="align: right;"><a href="http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/upload/2009/06/Spain%202009%20149.JPG"><img src="http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/upload/2009/06/Spain%202009%20149-thumb.JPG" width="173" height="130" alt="Spain%202009%20149.JPG"/></a></div>]]></description>
         <link>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/column_chromotography_the_same.html</link>
         <guid>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/column_chromotography_the_same.html</guid>
                  <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category">Allyson Marshall &apos;10</category>
        
        
         <pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:21:57 -0500</pubDate>
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         <title>In the lab and on the beach</title>
         <description><![CDATA[On Sunday, we caught a train in the late morning into the new part of Cadiz. Cadiz is divided into the old city and the new city somewhat by an old wall that kept out invaders around the Napoleonic times. Cadiz is a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean and on the train ride to the beach the peninsula gets so narrow that there is only room for one road and one set of train tracks and on one side is a small beach and the ocean and on the other side is a small beach and the bay. The train let us off in the new city about two blocks from the beach and from there we went down to the beach and set up shop under our solitary umbrella, our lone respite from the hot, strong Cadiz sun. The beach, as foretold, was beautiful, but I did not think it was much better, if at all, than nice beaches on the Atlantic coast of the U,S.  Anyway, it was nice and I would spend all summer on the beach if allowed.

<div style="align: right;"><a href="http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/upload/2009/06/Cadiz-Beach2.jpg"><img src="http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/upload/2009/06/Cadiz-Beach2-thumb.jpg" width="130" height="97" alt="Cadiz-Beach2.jpg"/></a></div>
Ruth, Olivia and me on the beach. (Somewhat surprisingly there are waves here, but not so much in the picture)
]]></description>
         <link>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/in_the_lab_and_on_the_beach.html</link>
         <guid>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/in_the_lab_and_on_the_beach.html</guid>
                  <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category">Jeff Williams &apos;10</category>
        
        
         <pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:56:57 -0500</pubDate>
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         <title>Starting the project</title>
         <description><![CDATA[Rachel, Randy and I are going to be working for the next two months on extracting and analyzing three different species of Antarctic lichens. We are trying to identify secondary metabolites in the lichens. Secondary metabolites are chemical compounds that may benefit the lichen but not be necessary for survival, in the strict sense. An example of a secondary metabolite would be an anti-herbivory toxin produced by a plant so insects would not eat the plant. Plant specific secondary toxins (PSST) are also responsible for the bright colors of some insects and frogs because the insects and frogs eat the colored toxic compounds of the plants. But instead of digesting them and getting sick, they store them for their own protection.  Antarctic lichens live in very rough conditions and so have a large amount of secondary metabolites, which we are trying to identify so to then determine their function.  

<div style="align: right;"><a href="http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/upload/2009/06/DSC00035.2.JPG"><img src="http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/upload/2009/06/DSC00035.2-thumb.JPG" width="173" height="130" alt="DSC00035.2.JPG"/></a></div>
Randy and Rachel in the lab.  (We received brand new labcoats, cool right?)
]]></description>
         <link>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/starting_the_project.html</link>
         <guid>http://blogs-archive.bucknell.edu/UndergraduateResearch/2009/06/starting_the_project.html</guid>
                  <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category">Jeff Williams &apos;10</category>
        
        
         <pubDate>Sat, 06 Jun 2009 05:44:32 -0500</pubDate>
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