News & Updates

Congrats to Korbin, who was chosen as the first recipient of the Stanley B. Mirviss award, honoring outstanding graduate student mentors of undergraduates! Korbin's undergraduate mentee, Stella, nominated him for this award. Great work Korbin!

Congrats to Joseph, whose paper was selected as a featured article in the latest issue of ACS Infectious Diseases! He and Wenqi are the creative masterminds behind the issue's cover art! https://pubs.acs.org/toc/aidcbc/5/4

Our very own Joseph has been selected to attend the 2018 Summer ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Graduate Research Symposium.  This is a huge honor and one Joseph should be proud of. Way to go Joseph!  

Please join me in congratulating our very own Stephen Early in being awarded not only a Hilldale Undergraduate Fellowship (the most prestigious fellowship given to undergraduates by UW), not only a Chemistry Department Scholarship, but also a Honors Senior Thesis Grant!  Way to go Stephen!  Wow!

The Blackwell Lab held our 2017 retreat where we discussed our current research and what new directions and frontiers we would want to branch out to in the future. Later that evening, Helen and her collaborator, artist Sonja Bäumel, hosted a Science Café open forum titled "What Would a Microbe Say?" and discussed how art and chemistry can help understand the relationship between humans and microbes. Check back for updates on their collaboration here and on Sonja's website!

Please give Michelle et al. a hearty congratulations — her collaborative paper with former groups members J.P. Gerdt, Danielle Stacy, Josh Combs, Jacob Brummond, and Clare Xu was accepted at ACS Chemical Biology today! Awesome work!

Wenqi Shen has been awarded three undergraduate scholarships! She is the proud recipient of a Chemistry Department research scholarship, a Biochemistry Department research scholarship, and a prestigious Hilldale Undergraduate Scholarship! Way to go Wenqi! Yow!

Tian's collaborative work with the Lynn lab has been highlighted in Chemical and Engineering News! Check it out here!

Congratulations to Erica and Matt O'Reilly! They welcomed a baby girl earlier this month named Lena Noel O'Reilly!

Congratulations are due to Betty! She has been selected to take part in the NSF ADVANCE Seminar program here in Wisconsin. She will give an invited lecture at UW-Parkside in the coming semester, gaining valuable experience presenting her research and interacting with faculty and students at a WI state university. Way to go! Yow!

Joe Moore had a collaborative paper with the Amador-Noguez lab accepted today! Check out "Identification of unanticipated and novel N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) using a sensitive non-targeted LC-MS/MS method" in PLOS One soon!

Michael has another paper out in collaboration with the Lynn lab! Look for "Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces that Prevent Bacterial Surface Fouling and Inhibit Virulence Phenotypes in Surrounding Planktonic Cells" in ACS Infectious Diseases.

Michelle won the award for best speaker presentation at the 4th annual Chemical Biology Seminar Day! Hooray!

Michael had a review article accepted to FEMS Microbiology Reviews today! Titled "Chemical Probes of Quorum Sensing: From Compound Development to Biological Discovery," we expect it to be an important piece for the QS community. Great job, Michael!

Congratulations to Michelle for winning the prize for best poster at the Perlman Antibiotic Symposium!

Check out Michael's new paper in collaboration with the Lynn and Palacek labs titled, "Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces that Prevent Microbial Surface Fouling and Kill Non-Adherent Pathogens in Surrounding Media: A Controlled Release Approach." Interesting stuff, team!

Congratulations, Dr. Michael Welsh! Michael successfully defended his thesis titled, "The Application of Chemical Tools to Study Bacterial Quorum Sensing: New Insights into Virulence Pathway Regulation and Its Attenuation in Human Pathogens"!

Three new chemistry grad students joined the lab this week: Daniel Manson, Matt Styles, and Joe Manulik! Welcome, guys!

Congratulations, Joe Moore, Frank, Michael, and Kayleigh! They had a paper accepted to JACS titled, "A comparative analysis of synthetic quorum sensing modulators in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: New insights into mechanism, active efflux susceptibility, phenotypic response, and next-generation ligand design"!

Congratulations to Nora, Joe Moore, and Margie! Chembiochem just accepted their paper titled, "Potent and Selective Modulation of the RhlR Quorum Sensing Receptor using Non-Native Ligands - An Emerging Target for Virulence Control in Pseudomonas aeruginosa"! This is the culmination of years of hard work—way to go, team!

Matt deserves a hearty congratulations this week! He received the prestigious Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship! Woooooo!

Another round of congratulations go to Joseph Vasquez! He has been awarded the Chemistry-Biology Interface NIH Traineeship! Hooray, Joseph!

We are wishing Kim a fond farewell this week as she leaves us for Epic Systems in Verona, WI. Good luck, Kim! We will miss you!

Lea has received two fellowships to fund her work in lab this summer! She has received the Undergraduate Student Support in Chemistry Scholarship as well as the George & Arleen Ziarnik Scholarship. Congratulations, Lea!

Katie leaves us this month for new research adventures as she pursues her mechanical engineering degree. Good luck with your future academic endeavors, Katie!

We say farewell to Dr. Nora Eibergen this month as she leaves for the Microbial Control Group at Dow Chemical Company. Best of luck in your new position, Nora! We will miss you!

Congratulations again, J.P., Trevor, and Christie! They had another paper accepted! Look for their paper titled, "Unraveling the contributions of hydrogen-bonding interactions to the activity of native and non-native ligands in the quorum-sensing receptor LasR" in Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry!

First year student Joseph Vasquez has joined the lab this week! Welcome, Joseph!

J. P.'s ACS Chemical Biology Paper is highlighted in this week's edition of C&E News! Take a look here!

J. P.'s paper titled, "Competition studies confirm two major barriers that can preclude the spread of resistance to quorum-sensing inhibitors in bacteria" was accepted to ACS Chemical Biology today! He deserves a hearty congratulations!

Dr. Matt O'Reilly joined the lab today as a new postdoctoral researcher. Welcome to Madison, Matt!

Yftah starts today as an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Nevada-Reno! Congrats Yftah! We'll miss you, but we look forward to seeing your future research!

Way to go Joe, J.P., and Nora! Their paper titled "Active Efflux Influences the Potency of Quorum Sensing Inhibitors in Pseudomonas aeruginosa" was accepted with much enthusiasm at ChemBioChem today!

We're wishing a warm welcome to our new first year graduate student, Kim Tyler!

A big congratulations to Helen, Yftah, and Danielle! They received one of two WARF Innovation Awards for their patent application, "Peptide-Based Quorum Sensing Inhibitors for the Attenuation of Virulence in Staphylococcus aureus." This patent application was chosen out of over 360 applications filed by WARF in 2013.

Congratulations to Yftah and Danielle!  Their collaborative paper written with David Lynn's lab, "Surface Coatings that Promote Rapid Release of Peptide-Based AgrC Inhibitors for Attenuation of Quorum Sensing in Staphylococcus aureus" was accepted to Advanced Healthcare Materials.

Congratulations to JP for receiving a Hirshmann-Rich Award in Bioorganic Chemistry!

Congratulations to Yftah Tal-Gan and Hila Marom, who are proud parents of a beautiful baby girl, Emily Elizabeth Talgan!

Congratulations to Dr. Danielle Stacy!  She successfully defended her thesis, "Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Small Molecule and Peptide Quorum Sensing Modulators."

The press is already talking about Danielle's and Michael's new paper that was recently accepted by ACS Chemical Biology.

Congratulations to Nora for being awarded an NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship!

Congratulations to Jacob Brummond for winning one of seven prizes for the poster he presented at the 11th Annual UW-Madison Chemistry Undergraduate Poster Session!

Congratuations to Danielle for winning the prize for best poster at the Perlman Antibiotic Symposium!

Congratulations to Helen for being selected as one of two Romnes Award recipients on the UW-Madison campus!  This award, supported by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), recognizes exceptional faculty members who have earned tenure within the last four years.

Congratulations to Aaron and Joey!  Their paper, "Extraordinarily Robust Polyproline Type I Peptoid Helices Generated via the Incorporation of α-Chiral Aromatic N-1-Naphthylethyl Side Chains" was accepted as a full paper in JACS today!

Congratulations to Christie!  Her two papers describing the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of non-lactone AHL mimics were accepted by Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry. Check Publications for details.

Congratulations to Jacob!  He received Student Support in Chemistry (SSC) Scholarships for the summer and fall terms of 2011.

Congrats to Knick, Teresa, and Tony! Their paper, "Synthesis and Application of an N-Acylated L-Homoserine Lactone Derivatized Affinity Matrix for the Isolation of Quorum Sensing Signal Receptors" was accepted at Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters today.

Congrats to Helen who was selected as an AAAS Fellow today! Helen received this high honor for the development of a new chemical language to elucidate the mechanisms of bacterial communication, which has had a major impact on the understanding of bacterial growth and virulence. See the press release.

Congrats to Margie who had a paper accepted today in ChemBioChem. Check Publications for details.

Congratulations to Tony Breitbach, who recieved the 2009 National Institutes of Health Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program (NIH CBI) Fellowship.

Congratulations to J. P. Gerdt, who received the 2009 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship.

Congratulations Dr. Sarah Fowler on your Thesis Defense.

The Blackwell Lab is highlighted in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Read the article)

Blackwell Lab featured in the Wisconsin State Journal. (Read the article)

Roland Jiaxun Li was born to the proud parents Qi Lin and Bo Li. Welcome to the Blackwell Lab's first honorary member.

Our quorum sensing and antibacterial research is highlighted by Caltech News (Volume 41, Number 3, 2007). (Read the article)

Jenny O’Neill received an ASM Graduate Student Travel Award to attend the 3rd Annual ASM Conference on Cell-Cell Communication in Bacteria in Austin, TX.

Congratulations Qi Lin on your Thesis Defense.

Margie Mattmann received the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Travel Award to attend the 234th ACS National Meeting in Boston.

Helen Blackwell wins a Dupont Young Professor Grant and receives a 2007 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award.

Our antibacterial research (Chemistry & Biology, 2007) is highlighted by UW Communications. (Read the article)

Helen Blackwell is the recipient of a 3M Nontenured Faculty Award.

Our quorum sensing research is highlighted in the cover story for C & E News on bacterial communication. (Read the article)

Interviewed for the radio show “The World Today” by the BBC about our quorum sensing research.

Congratulations Matt Bowman on your Thesis Defense.

Sarah Fowler received the 2006 Pfizer Diversity in Organic Chemistry Graduate Fellowship.

Interviewed for Drug Discovery & Development about microwave work for December 2005 issue.

Jenny O’Neill received the 2005 Novartis Graduate Fellowship in Organic Chemistry.

A joint paper with one of our collaborators, Jo Handelsman, is currently in press in Appl. Envir. Microbiol.

Congratulations to Dr. Joey Stringer who successfully defended his thesis (I. Design and Construction of Small-Molecule Macroarrays for the Discovery of Antibacterial Compounds, II. Development and Implementation of New Design Strategies for the Generation of Discretely Folded Peptoids ) today!

Congrats to Drew! His ExpR/LuxR comparison paper was accepted at ChemBioChem today. Look for it this fall on the Publications page.

Congrats to Tony! His paper on AHL release from PLG polymer films was accepted into Chem. Commun. today. Look for it this fall on the Publications page.

Congrats to Margie! Her perspective piece on small molecule modulators of QS in P. aeruginosa was accepted in JOC. Look for it this fall on the Publications page.

Congratulations to Teresa Beary, who recieved a Chemistry Department Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award.