NSF grant

For immediate release:

CSULA Chemistry Professor
Receives Grant
Funding Cutting-edge
Nanotechnology Research

Los Angeles, CA – California State University, Los Angeles chemistry professor Frank A. Gomez (Montebello resident) recently received a grant to develop groundbreaking “nanotechnology” devices that may be used in applications ranging from detecting bioterrorism pathogens such as anthrax to analyzing forensic evidence at the scene of a crime.

“Basically we are developing miniaturized devices that will allow people to use hand-held instruments to perform point-of-care diagnostics and to detect pathogens from bioterrorist attacks, among other applications,” says Gomez. “For example, a physician can simply put a little dab of blood into a hand-held device and analyze it while with a patient, rather than having to take it back to a laboratory. As chemists we are always interested in devising smaller instruments to make things easier.”

The $450,000, four-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will fund this research, which will develop analytical techniques that examine small molecules and enzymes involved in disease and public health.

Gomez will serve as principal investigator for the project, titled “Microfluidic/Capillary Electrophoresis Devices for Chemical Analysis.” In this role, Gomez will oversee a group of 14 Cal State L.A. undergraduate and graduate students as well as a post-doctoral fellow. In addition, students from Roosevelt High School in East Los Angeles and Los Angeles Trade Tech who conduct research in Gomez’s lab each summer will also contribute.

“This project will provide students with invaluable chemistry experience in bioanalysis, biochemistry and instrumentation design and development, allowing them to conduct cutting-edge interdisciplinary research to help solve broad scientific problems,” says Gomez.

Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 185,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds--reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Among programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include a noted alternative energy technology initiative; an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, to be housed in the Los Angeles Regional Crime Lab now under construction. www.calstatela.edu

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