All About Me

Dana Levine has been a proud member of the Ponce Group and the Gray Nation since 2006. Her research has focused on the optimization of lanthanide-sensitized luminescence for the detection of dipicolinic acid, the unique chemical signature of bacterial spores. With the opportunity to bring her bench work into the field, Dana participated on the 2007 expedition to the Atacama Desert in Chile, studying the potential for life in extreme environments analogous to Mars. More recent efforts have been directed toward the adaptation of our lanthanide detection scheme to other medically relevant compounds such as catecholamines, amino acids, and microbial metabolites.

On campus, Dana was an active member of Ricketts House, working as treasurer, health advocate, and upper-class counselor. She also served as the president of the chemistry club and thoroughly enjoys rocking out at open mic nights. Dana is currently pursuing her passion for chemistry in graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley.

education

B.S. Chemistry, California Institute of Technology, 2009

Study Abroad: Chemistry, University College London, U.K., 2007

publications

Detection of bacterial spores with lanthanide-macrocycle binary complexes.  Cable, M.L.; Kirby, J.P.; Levine, D.J.; Manary, M.J.; Gray, H.B.; Ponce, A.  Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2009, 131(27), 9562-9570. [PDF]

Spectroscopic analysis of ligand binding to lanthanide-macrocycle platforms.  Kirby, J.P.; Cable, M.L.; Levine, D.J.; Gray, H.B.; Ponce, A.  Analytical Chemistry, 2008, 80(15), 5750-5754. [PDF]

conference proceedings

Levine, D.J., Cable, M.L, Kirby, J.P., Manary, M.J., Gray, H.B., Ponce, A. Use of lanthanide-macrocycle platforms for the detection of dipicolinate and other analytes. Division of Chemical Education, 236th American Chemical Society National Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, 2008.