UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
@uclacb.bsky.social
340 followers 24 following 67 posts
UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry - Young Hall, 607 Charles E. Young Drive E., LA, CA, 90095. Website: http://www.chemistry.ucla.edu Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter: http://bit.ly/3lkix8o Questions? Contact [email protected].
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uclacb.bsky.social
Congratulations to former UCLA professor Omar Yaghi on winning the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his pioneering work in the development of metal-organic frameworks. Read more: ucla.in/48Vy1vt
Reposted by UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
cnsiatucla.bsky.social
In celebration of #NationalNanotechnologyDay on 10/9 (a nod to 10⁻⁹, the nanoscale), check out this clip feat. @pswnano.bsky.social @uclacb.bsky.social @cnsiatucla.bsky.social ) highlighting how collaboration drives the field of nanoscience 🧬
uclacb.bsky.social
🥳Congratulations to PhD candidate Kodi Thurber (Tolbert lab) on winning the 2025 SSRL Scientific Development Award!
www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/ph-d-ca...
uclacb.bsky.social
🥳 Congratulations to Prof. Jose Rodriguez on being one of the recipients of the inaugural UCLA Academic Senate Service Rising Star Award! www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/jose-ro...
uclacb.bsky.social
✨From lab coat to rhinestones✨Meet Olivia Pacheco - UCLA’s only baton twirler, a Public Health major, & undergraduate researcher in Prof. Steve Clarke’s lab. She’s living her childhood dream while preparing for a future in medicine. bit.ly/OlivaPacheco
uclacb.bsky.social
🥳Congrats to Prof. David Eisenberg, who has been awarded the 2026 Gregori Aminoff Prize in Crystallography by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences! www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/david-e...
Reposted by UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
tompfay.bsky.social
The last paper from my postdoc at Aix-Marseille has just been published in the Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation! doi.org/10.1021/acs....

We developed an efficient method, which we call DREEM, QM/MM simulations including electronic polarisability in MM atoms in a QM state specific way.
Analytic Gradients and Periodic Boundary Conditions for Direct Reaction Field Polarizable QM/MM with Electrostatic Potential Fitting
Our recently developed Direct Reaction field with ESPF Embedding Model (DREEM) method offers an efficient and physically rigorous framework for incorporating polarizable molecular mechanics (MM) environments into quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) simulations. By coupling the QM and MM regions through the instantaneous MM electrostatic polarization response to QM charge density fluctuations, DREEM enables consistent treatment of ground and excited electronic states, capturing electronic state-specific polarization and dispersion effects absent in conventional mean-field or linear response approaches. The use of the electrostatic potential fitting (ESPF) approximation method to describe charge density fluctuations significantly improves the computational efficiency compared to the integral-exact direct reaction field. In this work, we present two methodological advancements to extend the applicability of DREEM to realistic condensed-phase simulations: first, the development of efficient analytic energy gradients, enabling geometry optimization, transition state searches, and molecular dynamics; and second, a formulation of periodic boundary conditions (PBC) compatible with the DREEM framework. These capabilities are implemented in the open-source OpenESPF code, interfacing PySCF and OpenMM for high-performance QM and MM calculations. We demonstrate that the resulting implementation enables practical simulations of excited-state optical properties in periodic polarizable environments, where we calculate the fluorescence spectrum of acetone in water, including quantum vibronic and non-Condon effects. This paves the way for predictive modeling of photochemical reactivity and spectroscopy in complex systems where environment polarization is important.
doi.org
Reposted by UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Reposted by UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
cenmag.bsky.social
What does it take to mentor the next generation of innovators in chemistry? Neil Garg, distinguished Professor and Kenneth N. Trueblood Endowed Chair at UCLA, shared his reflections in the opening keynote of the Talented 12 Symposium at #ACSFall2025: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMYJ... #chemsky 🧪
Innovation, Mentorship & the Next Generation | Neil Garg at the Talented 12
YouTube video by Chemical & Engineering News
www.youtube.com
uclacb.bsky.social
UCLA spinout Entropic Biosciences, co-founded by
@pswnano.bsky.social & alum Amir Nasajpour (PhD ’23), awarded $200K from BARDA/BTI VANGUARD to develop a high-throughput 3D skin model. www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/ucla-sp...
uclacb.bsky.social
The UCLA Molecular Instrumentation Center (MIC) is pleased to announce the opening of its newest lab, the High Throughput Synthesis and Catalysis Facility (HTSC)! www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/uclas-m...
Reposted by UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
sciwri.bsky.social
UCLA Fields Medalist Terence Tao: "This is not a routine policy shift—it is a deliberate dismantling of the institutions, funding, and freedoms that have sustained American science for generations." newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-an-awar... 🧪
I’m an award-winning mathematician. Trump just cut my funding.
The “Mozart of Math” tried to stay out of politics. Then it came for his research.
newsletter.ofthebrave.org
uclacb.bsky.social
The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry is excited to welcome emerging pedagogy scholar Jazmin Aguilar-Romero, who joined the UCLA faculty as an Assistant Teaching Professor on July 1, 2025. www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/welcomi...
Reposted by UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
pswnano.bsky.social
@uclacb.bsky.social PhD student AJ Addae will be speaking this morning at an @acs.org meeting Presidential event #cosmetics #chemistry #nano @ucla.edu Room 140B
Reposted by UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
sciwri.bsky.social
UCLA climate scientist Aradhna Tripati told @janecoaston.bsky.social what's at stake when research is used as a political football. 🧪
What It’s Like To Have Trump Hold Your Science Research Hostage | Crooked Media
crooked.com
uclacb.bsky.social
We are excited that Dr. Gustavo G. Flores-Bernal will join Prof. Osvaldo Gutierrez's group in October, thanks to a UC Alianza MX Postdoctoral Research Fellowship! www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/ucla-to...
Reposted by UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
sciwri.bsky.social
UCLA professor Bill Lowry: My current basic-research grant from the National Institutes of Health, which is a continuation of the work that led to this discovery on alopecia, was suspended last week. I don’t know what interesting discoveries won’t be made the longer this thing stays suspended. 🧪
The Great Unbalding Draws Nearer
Decades of science have not found a way to regrow lost hair. Until, maybe, now.
nymag.com
uclacb.bsky.social
🥳Congratulations to Prof. Sarah Tolbert, who has been appointed as the inaugural Charles and Carolyn Knobler Endowed Term Chair! www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/sarah-tolbert-appointed-as-the-inaugural-charles-and-carolyn-knobler-endowed-term-chair/
uclacb.bsky.social
The UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry is excited to welcome forward-thinking chemical educator Dr. Patrick Wilson, who joined the UCLA faculty as an Assistant Teaching Professor on July 1, 2025. www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/welcomi...
uclacb.bsky.social
Congratulations to Prof. Paul S. Weiss (@pswnano.bsky.social)‬, who has been elected a Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences – Materials Science Division! www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/paul-s-...
uclacb.bsky.social
The UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry is excited to welcome talented theoretical chemist Professor Thomas Fay, @tompfay.bsky.social, who joined UCLA as an Assistant Professor on July 1, 2025. www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/welcomi...