Musah Research Lab----- Welcome to Rabi Musah Research

Ashton presenting her poster at ASMS in Baltimore, MD.

Justine preparing samples at the bench.

Dr. Musah with Ashton and Justine analyzing plant samples with DART at JEOL.

Max working at JEOL analyzing samples.

Celebrating Ashton's birthday.

Justine checking in on the plants.

Ashton working at JEOL analyzing samples.

Max working at JEOL analyzing samples.

Volatimeship experiments.

Blow fly rearing cage.

Lucilia sericata egg.

Blow flies swarming a carrion flower.

Blow flies swarming a sample in fly behavior studies.

Blow fly with its ovipositor extended.

Cam preparing a sample for MALDI imaging.

Cam preparing MALDI samples with Kristen.

Captive blow flies in fly behavior studies.

Captive blow flies used in fly behavior studies.

Tianyu preparing SEM samples at JEOL USA.

Justine working with carrion insects in Professor Rosati's lab at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Kristen preparing MALDI samples with Cam.

Magnification of a cross section of a Datura leichhardtii seed.

Mimosa hostilis seedling.

Samples for carrion fly behavior tests.

MALDI imaging of psychoactive components in a fingerprint.

LADI-MS set-up.

LADI-MS ion images of inks on paper.

Magnified Mimosa pudica root.

Z. formosa seedling root 4x.

Stapelia gigantea flower bud.

Research

Research interests in the Musah lab fall under the broad heading of bioorganic chemistry, but the studies impact several areas including environmental, forensic, plant chemical defense and medicinal natural products chemistry. These seemingly disparate focal areas are united by the techniques used to investigate them (such as direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry) and/or the plants around which the studies revolve. Areas of focus include:

Psychoactive plant drugs
Plant chemical defense mechanisms
Biosynthesis of organosulfur compounds
Plant organosulfur emissions and their Impact on the environment
Organosulfur materials chemistry
Development of bacterial quorum sensing and biofilm inhibitors
Development of innovations in ambient ionization mass spectrometry by DART-MS
Pedagogical innovations in STEM education and STEM transfer student assimilation
Retroviral nucleic acid/protein interactions

Professor Musah instructs students in her Experimental Methods course.

Teaching

The teaching philosophy of Professor Musah is based on the premise that for a student to learn some chemistry, they need to care to learn chemistry. Chemistry is colorful, odiferous, fast or slow, explosive, fiery, hot or cold, tactile. It is related in wonderful ways to almost everything that is tangible, and it happens everywhere!

STEM Education

Professor Musah's efforts in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education include instituting and serving as Director of the UAlbany Center for Achievement, Retention and Student Success (CARSS). CARSS serves more than 1200 STEM majors each academic year, and offers free tutoring in STEM gateway courses. This has resulted in increased persistence and graduation rates of STEM majors.

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