Dr. Veronica Okello invited to deliver a talk at the Molecular Foundry User Meeting

Dr. Veronica Okello has been invited to deliver a talk at the Molecular Foundry User Meeting on Friday, August 19, 2022 at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, US

As a follow up to an exciting profile in Nature career feature, ‘Voices from Africa’ series, https://www.nature.com>career articles, Dr. Veronica Okello, a lecturer from the Department of Physical Sciences, Machakos University has been invited to deliver a talk during the “Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Justice in Science and Innovation” research symposium at the Molecular Foundry User Meeting on Friday, August 19, 2022. The meeting will take place August 18-19, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

This annual conference, brings together scientists from a diverse range of disciplines to focus on the most exciting work being done in nanoscience. Her work in green approaches to cleaning up heavy metals in the environment will be of great interest to Molecular Foundry staff and users, and others at Berkeley Lab.

The Molecular Foundry is a US Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility for nanoscale science serving hundreds of academic, industrial, and government scientists from around the globe each year. This program gives users access to expertise and equipment for cutting-edge nanoscience in a collaborative, multidisciplinary environment. Users come to the Molecular Foundry through a competitive peer-reviewed proposal process to conduct non-proprietary research at no cost. The user community includes many world-leading academic researchers as well as junior faculty, industry researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and students, resulting in a vibrant and energetic User Meeting.

In this symposium for the Molecular Foundry’s 2022 Annual User Meeting, Dr. Okello will present her work on:

1. Use of an environmentally benign sulfur-based sensor for selective detection of mercury ions (Hg²⁺) from water in the presence of other metal ions. Here, she used a combination of UV-vis and fluorescence techniques to investigate the interaction between the sensor and Hg²⁺ ions highlighting a synergy between molecular sensors’ selectivity/sensitivity and sensor-analytes dynamics.

2. Use of naturally derived flavonoid for removal of hexavalent ions (Cr⁶⁺) from water. Quercetin pentaphosphate, a water-soluble flavonoid derived from quercetin, was used to reduce toxic hexavalent chromium to its benign trivalent state.