Heavy Metal Chelation: Applications in Nuclear Medicine and Accessing Critical Minerals

SEC’s December Presentation: Molecules called chelators can bind to and capture metal ions. By engineering chelators at the molecular level, one can design them to exhibit exquisite selectively for specific types of metal ions. In this presentation, our speaker will describe how research has been applied for enabling new forms of nuclear medicine, via the chelation of radioactive metal ions, and also how this work has allowed us access to critical rare earth elements in a sustainable manner.   

Our Speaker: Justin Wilson, a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSB, received his BS from UC Berkeley, his PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from MIT, and carried out postdoctoral research as a Seaborg Institute Postdoctoral Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He began his independent career as a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell University in 2015 and In 2024, moved to UCSB.

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This meeting is sponsored in part by Charter Sponsor Community West Bank, Bengal Engineering, Toyon Research Corporation; and Premier Sponsor Minot Enterprises.

• Our monthly meetings are hybrid meetings! You may attend either in pereson or via Zoom. Some speakers will be presenting in person and others remotely. When you register, you can add payment for lunch if you plan to attend in person. Lunch will be a buffet with a selection of sandwiches from Three Pickles, chips and cold drinks. If you have special dietary concerns, please contact Cheryl Ebner at cherebner@gmail.com

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• Have an idea for a future meeting? Please contact Cheryl Ebner 

• January 14, 2026: Trisalyn Nelson, UCSB: Making Maps that Matter