Community and Events

Protein Design Contest

Mines inaugural 2024 Protein Design Contest launched in honor of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John M. Jumper for the computational prediction and design of protein structures (as shown below). This contest is open to undergraduate and graduate students with no prior computational experience required. The goal is to design proteins, hopefully stable, for honor, glory, and cash prizes.

Source: Baker Lab; examples of de novo proteins successfully predicted before and after 2011

SEMINAR SERIES

We are excited to announce this year’s seminar series.
Seminars will be Wednesdays, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., in Alderson Hall, Room 140. Open to the Oredigger campus community, undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff. No pre-registration required. If you have any questions, contact QBE Professor Kevin Cash.

Next seminar: Wednesday February 5th, 2025

Welcome Dr. Terry Lowe!

Terry Lowe

Innovations for Human Health via Engineering of Biotic/Abiotic Interfaces

The interfaces between living and non-living systems provide an exciting domain for enhancing human health. We will explore three innovations and the contributions that Quantitative Biosciences and Engineering (QBE) students are making to research on health-enhancing biotic/abiotic materials interfaces. First, we will examine neurovascular health and introduction of novel neural transducers and interfaces. Then we will examine nanostructuring of titanium to create signaling pathways that accelerate healing of bone tissues after implantation of orthopedic devices. Finally, we will examine Surface Nano-Faceting (SNF) of copper to show how the efficacy and speed of neutralization of microbes can be enhanced by altering the internal microstructures and surface topography of copper substrates.

The main purpose of this seminar presentation is to highlight some of the roles and contributions of QBE undergraduates and graduates to health-related research at Mines.

Upcoming Seminars

2/19   Dr. Christian Beren – Mines

3/5      Dr. Alex Pak – Mines 

4/2      Dr.  Alina Handorean

4/16    Dr. Ramya Kumar

Past Seminars

Dr. John Spear, Mines 1/22/25

“Investigating Life on Eartly Earth by Hanging Out at Modern Hotsprings

Dr. Duncan Davis-Hall, Mines 1/8/25

“Impact of Ungrading on Student Confidence in Capstone EngineeringDesign

Dr. Matt Olm, CU Boulder 11/13/24

“Deciphering the impact of industrialization on the human gut microbiome

Dr. Charlene Van Buiten, CSU 10/30/24

Sourdough-Omics: Modern Analytical Approaches to Understanding an Ancient Fermented Food”

Dr. Ursula Goodenough, Washington University 10/16/2024

“The Religious Naturalist Orientation: Taking Nature to Mind and to Heart”

Dr. Julie Johnston, Hampshire College 10/02/24

“Life and Activity of Ammonia Oxidizing Organisms in Engineered Environments”

Dr. Teisha Rowland, FDA 09/18/24

“Alternative Science Careers in Writing, Academia, Industry, and Government”

Dr. Jana Montgomery, ActiVie 04/17/24

“A Career in Curiosity: Navigating Startups
and Academia”

Dr. Brady Worrell, University of Denver 04/03/24

“Catalytic Chain Transfer in Crosslinking Photopolymerizations: Towards Catalyst-Catalyst Multimaterial Additive Manufacturing”

Dr. Cris Argueso, Colorado State University 03/06/24

“Hormonal Regulation of Plant Growth and Defense” 

Dr. Griffin Chure, Stanford University 02/21/24

“The Form of Growth and Growth of Form: Understanding Cell Growth and Size Homeostasis from First Principles”

Dr. Chesley Chen, University of Denver 02/07/24

“Zen and the Art of Starting Up a Start-up”

Dr. Yamuna Phal, Colorado School of Mines 01/24/24

“Harnessing and ShapingMid-Infrared Light for Biosensing”

Dr. Brennan Sprinkle, Colorado School of Mines 11/29/23

“The Countoscope: measuring self and collective diffusion with facncy counting”

Dr. Erin Nuccio,  Lawerence Livermore National Laboratory 11/15/23

“Visualizing Microbial Oxygen Use Surrounding Roots Using Transparent Soils and Oxygen-sensitive Nanosensors”

Dr. Adrienne Williams, University of California 11/01/23

“Metacognition and Study Strategies as Drivers of Student Success in Biology”

Dr. Joshua Chan, Colorado State University 10/04/23

“Learning Microbial Metabolic Interactions and Their Evolution Through Artificial Intelligence” 

Dr. Pavel Osten, The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 09/20/23

“New Platform for Clinically Predictive Drug Recovery in Neuropsychiatry” 

Dr. Xuewei Wang, Virginia Commonwealth University  09/06/23

“Optical and Electrochemical Sensors for Decentralized Health Monitoring” 

QBE Clubs

Student Advisory Board

The uQBE Student Advisory Board is a board of elected students who each strive to make our major a welcoming and supportive environment. This board works hard to support the staff and the students by aiding and hosting QBE related events. The goal of this board is to bridge the gap between faculty and students to create a supportive community of Mines best students.

STUDENT CLUBS

Bio Builders

BioBuilders @ Mines was created to help foster creation through biology and provide interdisciplinary work and research opportunities for the Mines community. They plan to host classes, projects, and implement a team to compete and travel to the iGEM competition to explore the world of synthetic biology collaboratively. Ultimately, as a student-run organization, they aim to provide opportunities for students to learn from one another about biological research by giving them the space, resources, and support to do so.

The Colorado School of Mines Pre-Medical Society is a student-led organization guiding students through the process of getting into medical or medically related graduate schools. We work with a board of selected faculty who have experience in medicine and related fields.

We recognize that students majoring in engineering fields have an opportunity to impact medicine greatly by applying their critical thinking and their work ethic. We have been working hard for years to compile a range of contacts that allow our pre-med students to have opportunities other schools cannot offer. Previous opportunities included dissection of a cadaver, volunteering in an emergency department with patient contact, and scholarships for service-oriented events.

American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA)

Mines AMWA has connected with physicians, dentists, and nurses to bring you the best guest speakers. They hold bimonthly meetings, where they discuss women’s issues, medical pathways, potential specialties, and how to thrive in a medical career. AMWA has social events to connect you with other students to build a community and a premedical network.

International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering 

The ISPE club intends to provide students with a community of like-minded individuals who are interested in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, with no limitation on their major. They wish to provide professional development and social events to bring this community together and enrich their education. Every student at Mines will have a different career path and ISPE wants to encourage them to consider the biotech/pharma field.