GROUP NEWS
Mobile Selenium Measurements!
Team Selenium took the Vocus-S on the road this week to sniff out Atmospheric Selenium around Metro Vancouver! Thank you to Prof. Naomi Zimmerman and the iREACH Lab for the use of their PLUME Van to conduct this research. Learn more about our Selenium work here!
Apr 4th 2025
Honours Thesis Complete!
Yuki Torigata presented her undergraduate honours thesis poster this week, featuring her research on Canada-wide data/distribution trends of atmospheric selenium in PM2.5. Congrats and amazing work Yuki!
Apr 4th 2025
Field Work and Helicopters!
Dr. Borduas was in Fernie, BC last week with Natasha Neumann from the BC Ministry of Forestry (pictured above). They were collecting samples and exploring the Elk River Valley for our field campaign, studying the effects of Selenium from mining in the environment.
Mar 28th 2025
CURC Success!
Big congrats to Ken Hagiya on his wonderful poster presentation of his Selenium work, at the UBC Chemistry Undergraduate Research Conference last week. Amazing work Ken!
Feb 24th 2025
MSc Complete!
Huge congratulations to Rickey Lee on his successful Masters thesis defense this week! Rickey is responsible for the development of NBD Group ATMOX chamber + LEDs. Best of luck in your very bright future and we'll miss you Rickey!
Dec 21st 2024
AGU Conference
Dr. Borduas and Keighan Gemmell attended the AGU Conference this week, presenting great talks/posters on NBD Group work, meeting up with old NBD Group members, and many other colleagues in atmospheric chemistry!
Dec 12th 2024
Awards!
HUGE congratulations to Ayomide Akande for being awarded the Dr. Wilma Ethel Elias Scholarship in Chemistry and Paul Bieber for being awarded the Sandra Morris and Richard Tillyer Scholarship in Chemistry from our department awards. Amazing work to both!
Nov 26th 2024
Published!
Congratulations to Ayomide Akande on the publication of her new paper: The gas phase ozonolysis and secondary OH production of cashmeran, a musk compound from fragrant volatile chemical products in Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts.
Oct 30th 2024
Another Paper!
Congratulations to Paul Bieber on the publication of his next paper! The presence of nanoparticles in aqueous droplets containing plant-derived biopolymers plays a role in heterogeneous ice nucleation in The Journal of Chemical Physics.
Sept 7th 2024
Paul B @ EAC 2024!
Paul Bieber is in Finland at the European Aerosol Conference this week, where he gave an extremely successful talk on his ice nucleation research, as well as chairing his session! Huge congrats Paul! 😊
Aug 28th 2024
Amazing Presentation!
Great work and congratulations to Earl Edwards and Lindsay Nahanee for their amazing presentation about their time at UBC and new knowledge in atmospheric chemistry! Thanks for spending time with us these last two weeks!
Aug 23rd 2024
Award!
Huge congrats to Yuki Torigata on recieving an award for Best Undergrad Student Poster at the CSC 2024 in June! Yuki's poster highlighted her research progress with environmental selenium data in Canada. Amazing work!
Aug 6th 2024
Award!
Big congrats to Paul Heine for receiving an award for Best Student Oral Presentation at the CSC 2024 in June! Paul gave an amazing talk on his work on the atmospheric fate of dimethyl selenides. Check out more about this research here.
Aug 6th 2024
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Let's Talk Ice!
The second annual UBC ice workshop was a huge success, bringing together ice experts from different fields all over campus to collaborate and share their research. Congrats to our lovely Paul Bieber for organizing such a successful workshop, for the second year in a row!
Jul 30th 2024
Published!
Congratulations to Paul Bieber on the publication of his latest paper High-speed cryo-microscopy proves that ice-nucleating proteins of Pseudomonas syringae trigger freezing at hydrophobic interfaces in Science Advances.
Jul 4th 2024
SO is on the cover!
Singlet oxygen is produced from brown carbon containing cooking organic aerosols (BrCOA) under indoor lighting. made the cover of our volume of Environmental Science Atmospheres! Amazing cover art done by our own Anna Zeleny!
Jun 17th 2024
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AGES+ Conference
Ayomide Akande attended the AGES+ Workshop last week, to present on her findings from the AEROMMA field campaign last summer. Incredible work Ayo!
Jun 3rd 2024
CIMS Conference
Dr. Borduas, Paul Heine, and Ayomide Akande attended the CIMS User Meeting this week, to collaborate with other scientists on Mass Spectrometry. Congrats to both Ayomide and Paul for giving amazing talks on their research using our two Vocus mass spectrometers, key instruments in our lab!
May 17th 2024
Significant Discoveries!
The NBD Group are the first to discover singlet oxygen indoors our new paper: Singlet oxygen is produced from brown carbon containing cooking organic aerosols (BrCOA) under indoor lighting. Click the link below to read media coverage about the implications of this important discovery.
May. 8th 2024
Award!
Congratulations to Yuki Torigata on receiving an NSERC USRA grant for research this summer! Yuki is continuing to work on compiling findings from environmental selenium data. This is an amazing achievement! Great job Yuki!
Apr. 23rd 2024
Collaboration
Congrats to Ayomide Akande for her contributions and Vocus work on a paper with the Bertram Group at UBC! The paper can be found at the link below:
Apr. 16th 2024
MUOAA and Travels
Dr. Borduas has been travelling Europe, presenting on the NBD group's research at the MUOAA Conference and the University of Lille in France. There she met up with new NBD Group member Luna Cartayrade (pictured above with Dr. Borduas). Next, onto the EGU conference in Vienna!
Apr. 10th 2024
EGU Conference
Dr. Borduas and Claudia Sardena attended the EGU conference in Vienna, to present on NBD group research. The conference was a huge success! Congrats to Claudia for giving an amazing talk on her work in singlet oxygen from biomass burning, in front of an audience of 150 people!
Apr. 16th 2024
Paper Accepted!
Congratulations to Team Singlet Oxygen, both past a present NBD group members, for the acceptance of your paper: Singlet oxygen is produced from brown carbon containing cooking organic aerosols (BrCOA) under indoor lighting. The paper was accepted to Environmental Science Atmospheres. Click the title to view the preprint!
Apr. 8th 2024
From violumas.com
Advanced Photochemistry
The NBD Group has partnered with Violumas, High Power LED Light Solutions, to study the photochemistry of indoor and outdoor air, using our custom smog chamber. The smog chamber is now equipped with high powered LEDs at different wavelengths, ready for new discoveries in photochemistry. Click below to read more about the chamber on the Violumas website.
Mar. 19th 2024
Award!
Congratulations to William Bae on receiving a coveted NSERC award for undergraduate summer research. William is continuing to work on the ice nucleation of biomolecules in the lab this summer. This is an incredible achievement! Amazing work William.
Feb. 26th 2024
Sharing Science!
Dr. Borduas shared her expertise on the chemistry in bogs with National Geographic Magazine! Click the link below to read their article; "What's that lurking in the mist? Inside the eerie science of bogs" by Kit Chapman
Feb. 16th 2024
Award!
Congratulations to Ayomide Akande on receiving the Robert Caton Scholarship for Air Quality Research from the Gov't of B.C.! She will also have the chance to present at an award lecture on Air Quality later this spring. Amazing work Ayo!
Feb. 9th 2024
Amazing Mentor!
Congratulations to Paul Heine on his recent award for "Best Mentorship Pair" in his role as a mentor in the UBC Science Undergraduate Society! Way to make a difference Paul!
Jan. 26th 2024
Let's Talk Selenium
Dr. Nadine Borduas-Dedekind & Paul Heine will be hosting an environmental selenium session at CSC 2024 in Winnipeg (June 2-6). Learn more on the CSC's Website, or view the full poster below to see the invited speakers. Hope to see you there!
Jan. 24th 2024
Sharing Science!
Keighan Gemmel was at Science World last year, sharing his expertise on greenhouse gas emissions in BC. Click the link below to read Science World's article on his interview, or view their instagram post @scienceworldca.
Jan. 20th 2024
Capstone Conference
Dr. Nadine Borduas-Dedekind & Ayomide Akande gave amazing research presentations at the Capstone Chemistry of Indoor Environments Conference in Washington D.C. See their posters of the NBD Group's work on the fate of cashmeran from perfume (Ayomide) and the production of singlet oxygen from cooking aerosols (Nadine) here!
Oct. 20th 2023
Published!
Huge congratulations to Paul Heine for the publication of his first paper "The Ozonolysis of Methylated Selenide Compounds in the Atmosphere: Isotopes, Kinetics, Products, and Mechanisms" in Environmental Science & Technology.
Aug. 21st 2023
AAAR Conference
Rickey Lee is presenting a poster at the American Association for Aerosol Research Conference in Portland, OR this week. He is currently developing an environmental chamber for simulating atmospheric chemical reactions, right here in our lab. Congratulations Rickey!
Oct. 4th 2023
