Research Interests - Prof. Bryan Hanson

Research Interests of Prof. Bryan Hanson

If the research projects I choose have a common theme, it's understanding the natural world from a chemical viewpoint. Sooner or later the functioning of a complex protein, the color of a flower, or the antibiotic defenses of a bacterium can be understood in terms of chemistry (mostly organic chemistry I might add, with bias). There is never a shortage of possible projects; only of time to read up on ideas and translate them into specific projects.

Active Projects include:

Medicinal Plant Metabolomics. Click here for the whole poop.

Past Projects:

A Chemist's Perspective on 19th Century Medical Practices. Click here for our web page on the work of Dr. William D. Hutchings, who practiced medicine in Madison Indiana during the latter half of the 19th Century. Computational Investigation of Photoactivated Pesticides from Plants
Native American Uses of Medicinal Plants
Medicinal Plants of Indiana
Fragrances of Indiana Orchids
Chemical Ecology of Insects (joint with Prof. Dana Garrigan of Pacific Lutheran University) Poster given by Prof. Dana Garrigan
Neuropeptide Control of Swallowtail Butterfly Pupal Dimorphism (with Prof. Wade Hazel in Biology). Click here to download a poster (in pdf format) of work by Peter Hogg (summer 2004) which employs molecular biology and informatics approaches to isolating PMRF, the putative neuropeptide. During summer 2005 Jessica Boyer conducted a preliminary metabolomic analysis of the growth and pupation process in the Swallowtails. Her poster can be downloaded here.