GROUP PHOTOS   

summer group dinner



biking the high trestle trail




box seats, iowa wild hockey


summer group BBQ


   PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR   

Brett VanVeller

  • CIHR Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2014
  • Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011
  • B.Sc., McMaster University, 2006


  • ORCID 0000-0002-3792-0308

Honors and Awards

  • 2023  ISU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Frontier Science Award
  • 2021  NIH Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA)
  • 2019  National Science Foundation CAREER Award
  • 2018  Cottrell Scholar Award, Research Corporation for Science Advancement
  • 2017  The Cassling Family Faculty Award for Early Achievement in Teaching
  • 2017  College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Early Achievement in Teaching Award
  • 2016  Department of Chemistry, Wilkinson Teaching Award in Graduate Education
  • 2016  Pfizer Global ASPIRE Research Award
  • 2015  Thieme Chemistry Journal Award
  • 2013  Baxter Young Investigator Award
  • 2013  63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting Invited Young Researcher
  • 2013  Canadian Institutes of Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • 2010  David A. Johnson Graduate Fellowship
  • 2008  Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada Predoctoral Scholarship
  • 2007  Massachusetts Institute of Technology Dept of Chemistry Award for Outstanding Teaching
  • 2007  David A. Johnson Award
  • 2007  Macromolecular Science & Engineering Division of the Chem. Inst. of Canada Undergrad. Research Thesis Award
  • 2006  The Society of Chemical Industry Merit Award
  • 2006  The Provost’s Honour Roll Medal
  • 2006  The Robert S. Haines Memorial Scholarship
  • 2005  The Canadian Society for Chemistry Prize
  • 2005  The J. L. W. Gill Prize
  • 2005  The Donald G. McNabb Scholarship
  • 2004  National Science and Engineering Research Council Undergraduate Student Research Award
  • 2004  Reactive Intermediates Student Exchange Award
  • 2004  The Chemical Institute of Canada Prize
  • 2004  The University Senate Scholarship
  • 2002  The McMaster Honour Award

Bio

Brett was born in Ontario, Canada and received his B.Sc. in chemistry from McMaster University in 2006. During his time at McMaster, he performed undergraduate research with Professor Mónica Barra at the University of Waterloo and with Professor Alex Adronov at McMaster University. He began his graduate studies with Professor Timothy M. Swager at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006 as an NSERC graduate fellow. At MIT he developed new syntheses of conjugated polymers for applications in biosensing and conductive materials. After receiving his Ph.D. in 2011, he moved to the University of Wisconsin–Madison as a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Postdoctoral Fellow working with Professor Ronald T. Raines. At UW–Madison he studied secondary molecular orbital interactions that contribute to the stability of proteins, as well as boronic acids and thiol reducing agents for protein chemistry applications. Brett joined the faculty at Iowa State University in August 2014 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2020.



   GRADUATE STUDENTS   

  • Mohaddeseh Abbasi

  • B.S., Isfahan University of Technology
  • M.S., Isfahan University of Technology
  • abbasi [at] iastate DOT edu

  • Jacob Byerly-Duke

  • B.S., Grinnell College
  • bduke [at] iastate DOT edu

  • Aaron Donovan

  • B.S., University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point
  • adono [at] iastate DOT edu

  • Rida Ibrahim

  • B.S., Kinnaird College
  • M.S., Lahore University of Management Sciences
  • rida [at] iastate DOT edu

  • Amber Iqbal

  • B.S., University of Sargodha
  • M.S., Lahore University of Management Sciences
  • amberiqb [at] iastate DOT edu

  • Emily O'Brien

  • B.S., Central College
  • obriene [at] iastate DOT edu

  • Katharina Tucker

  • B.S., Colorado Mesa University
  • krt [at] iastate DOT edu

  • Brendan Wall

  • B.S., Illinois State University
  • bwall [at] iastate DOT edu

  • XiFeng Wang

  • B.S., Shandong University of Science and Technology
  • M.S., Central China Normal University
  • xifengw [at] iastate DOT edu

   POSTDOCS AND SCIENTISTS   

  • Selin Kınalı-Demirci

  • Visiting Scientist

  • Ph.D., Gazi University
  • selinkd [at] iastate DOT edu

  • Serkan Demirci

  • Visiting Scientist

  • Ph.D., Amasya University
  • sdemirci [at] iastate DOT edu

  • Krishna K. Sharma

  • Senior Research Scientist II

  • B.S., Gautam Buddha Technical University
  • M.S., Nat. Inst. of Pharmceutical Ed. and Res. (NIPER), SAS NAGAR
  • Ph.D., Nat. Inst. of Pharmceutical Ed. and Res. (NIPER), SAS NAGAR
  • kksharma [at] iastate DOT edu

   UNDERGRADUATES   

  • Nick Grande


  • Rei McCormick


   LAB ALUMNI   

GRADUATE STUDENTS    


Sean Norris (2022)

Ph.D.

Pioneer Astronautics, Space Cowboy Chemist



Luis Camacho III (2022)

Ph.D.

Eurofins Scientific Inc.



Caroline Warner (2021)

Ph.D.

University of Arizona, Postdoctoral Fellow



Bryan Lampkin (2020)

Ph.D.

Tufts University, Postdoctoral Fellow



Yen Nguyen (2019)

Ph.D.

Cheeky Scientist, Inc.



Andrea Thooft (2018)

Ph.D.

Concordia University, College of Pharmacy



Paige Bouc (2018)

M.S.

LI-COR Biosciences



Fudan Zheng (2016)

M.S.

Purdue University, School of Pharmacy





POSTDOCS AND VISITING SCIENTISTS    


Dr. Selin Demirci (2017)

Professor, Amasya University, Turkey



Dr. Serkan Demirci (2016)

Professor, Amasya University, Turkey



Dr. Xiangwei Du (2016)

Research Associate, ISU Veterinary Medicine





UNDERGRADUATES    


Jackson Orr (2022)

University of Minnesota, PhD student



Danniel Arriaga (2020)

Texas A&M, PhD student



Zachary Robole (2019)

Medtronic Medical Technologies



Jacquelyn Mareau (2017)

University of Iowa, College of Pharmacy



Carson Powell (2017)

Continuing studies



Kyle Cassaidy (2017)

University of Chicago, PhD student



Britteny Ross (2016)

University of Chicago, NSF Graduate Research Fellow