AstroBioChemistry Lab @AstroBioChemLab

Finishing up with Master student Kiara Perez with: "Phospholipid Vesicle-Mineral Interactions in Alkaline Hydrothermal Vent Analogues Implications for Early Cellular Systems" and Post-Bac Shelby Lopez with: Selectivity of Vesicle Membrane Compositions Driven by pH and Salinity

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After that is our undergraduate students Nolan Salinas with: "The Effect of Selective Pressures on Vesicle Membranes" and Dulce Castillo with: " Extraction and NMR Analysis of Organics in Europa-Analog Meteorite Simulants"

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Next we have Doctoral student Mauricio Berazaluce presenting "Development of an Iron Nanoparticle-Based Sensor for Detecting Lunar Regolith Dust Contamination."

Next we had our postdocs Dr. Deepali Singh with her poster: "Simulating Mars: Do Organic Molecules Stand a Chance" and Dr. Mahendran Sithamparam with his oral talk: "Microfluidics in Prebiotic Fatty Acids Chemistry"

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Kicking us off is our master's student Kaelyn Calma who was awarded the Best Poster Presentation for a Graduate Student in Chemistry. She was presenting "Thioesters as a Bridge Between Geochemistry and Metabolism: Evaluating Their Formation Under Prebiotic Conditions."

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This past Friday, the ABC Lab presented all the wonderful work from our undergrads, graduate students, as well as our postdocs at the 2026 UTRGV STEM Research Conference. We would like to celebrate and share the work that all of our lab members successfully presented. #STEM🎉🔬

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Through VITAL, Dr. Camprubi will help develop AI-driven biodegradable sensors 🌱, mentor students, and lead early Mars analog studies ; linking Valley river systems to ancient Martian environments 🪐. Science that protects public health while advancing planetary research! 🔬

Big news from ABC Lab! UTRGV has received a $1.2M NASA grant to lead VITAL, a multi-institution project advancing climate prediction in the Rio Grande Valley 🌎Dr. Eloi Camprubi joins as Co-PI, integrating astrobiology, AI modeling & sustainable sensor tech to aid our community.

When Mahen is not in the lab, you’ll usually find him jogging, playing soccer and badminton, building DIY projects at home, or spending time farming. These hands-on activities that balance out all the thinking about life’s very first steps.

Mahen trained as a chemical engineer at UCSI University and later completed his PhD at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), where he worked on prebiotic polymerization and the assembly of membrane less microdroplets, tiny systems that can do surprisingly life-like things.

🎉 Starting our 2026 lab introductions, we are excited to welcome Mahendran to the ABC Lab as a Postdoctoral Fellow at UTRGV! 🔬 He studies how life may have begun, exploring protocells, vesicles, and how simple chemistry organizes into complex, evolving systems. 🌍🧪

📅 Deadline: 17 February 2026 ⏰ 👉 Abstract submission link: lnkd.in/guR7CJe4 search for P-PS10 #Mars #Astrobiology #Evaporites #JpGUAGU2026

We invite abstracts on: ➡️ Evaporite-rich regions on Mars ➡️ Microbial/organic diversity in evaporitic systems ➡️ Organic-mineral interactions for biosignature preservation ➡️ Models of evaporites in volatile cycling and habitability

Calling all planetary scientists, astrobiologists, and Mars explorers! Dr. Singh will co-convene (with Subham Sarkar) Martian Evaporites: Windows into Ancient Climates and Cradles for Life (Session ID: P-PS10) at the JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2026 from 24–29 May 2026, Japan.

Representing the Europa-Analog simulation teams were Dulce Castillo and James Castro with their posters: 3: Europa-Analog Surface Maturation of Organics and Associated Analytical Methodology 4: Probing the UV Capabilities of Frozen Brines under Simulated Icy Moon Conditions

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Representing our Vesicle team were Nolan Salinas and Shelby Lopez with their posters: 1/2: Synthesis/Assembly and Characterization of Vesicles: Insights to Prebiotic Chemistry. We are very proud of their advances in the field of Astrobiology and Analytical Chemistry 🧪

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We are proud of our ABC Lab undergraduates who presented their research at the 3rd Annual UTRGV School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Undergraduate Symposium! 🧪🔬 Their hard work, curiosity, and dedication truly shined! 🎉

We invite abstracts on: (a) Martian evaporite-rich terrains (b) Microbial + organic diversity in evaporites (c) Evaporite–organic interactions (d) Modeling volatile cycling + habitability If your work fits, submit here 👉 lnkd.in/dfWNHpbB 📅 Deadline: 14 Jan

Their session, “Evaporitic Minerals as Archives of Brine Evolution and Biosignatures Across Planetary Environments” (ID: 276291), explores Martian evaporites + Earth analogs to decode Mars’ past, assess biosignatures, and guide future astrobiology missions. 🪐🧪

📢 Call for Abstracts! We’re excited to share that ABC Lab’s Deepali Singh will be co-convening a scientific session (with Subham Sarkar) at AbSciCon 2026. The NASA–AGU Astrobiology Science Conference is happening 17–22 May 2026! 🌍🔬 Session link: 🔗 lnkd.in/dniirMwK