Four Helias Catholic High School students presented research projects at the American Chemical Society conference in New Orleans this month.

Seniors Karoline Klebba and Emily Rodriguez and juniors Claire Cassmeyer and Lauren Mathews have participated in undergraduate-level chemistry research throughout the 2023-24 school year as part of Helias Catholic’s Independent Research program in partnership with the University of Missouri and the University of Cincinnati James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy, under the direction of Helias Catholic faculty member Dr. Collin Mayhan.

The American Chemical Society is one of the world’s largest scientific organizations, recognized as a leading publisher of authoritative scientific information.

This was Karoline’s second year presenting at the ACS meeting. This year her research focused on the interaction of avobenzone, an active ingredient in sunscreen, with 𝛃-cyclodextrin and cucurbit[7]uril, which improves photostability and reduces skin permeation.

Emily’s research project used computational methods to explore the aggregation of gelators with collaborators. The results from this project aim to better understand the fundamental interactions that lead to larger, self-assembled gels. Emily also worked with the Harmata Group at the University of Missouri in an organic chemistry research lab last summer.

Claire and Lauren’s research explored the thermodynamic favorability of entrapped molecules in zinc-seamed capsules. The results from this investigation in conjunction with experimental results give a more complete picture of possible interactions between the capsular-framework and a guest.

In addition to the work presented, Karoline and Emily have also been investigating the host-guest chemistry of sweat sensors.

Claire and Lauren will continue in Helias Catholic’s Independent Research program next school year.