VT College of Science Magazine Summer 2008 | Page 10

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Issue No. 5 suMMeR 2008

C o l l e g e

o f

S C i e n C e

M a g a z i n e

Virginia Tech geosciences Ph.D. student Laura
Hamm looks at images from the atomic force
microscope (AFM) that show the topography
of the calcite surface being scanned.

nSf felloW aiMS to deCiPher hoW aniMalS
forM CoMPleX SKeletal StruCtureS
“The AFM allows us to zoom in on a calcium carbonate
surface at one specific growth site. We watch how the
Laura Hamm, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geosite grows and measure the energies and speed of minsciences at Virginia Tech, has received a National Science
eral formation,” Hamm said.
Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSFGRFP),
one of only four such fellowships awarded in geochem- Using this approach, Hamm is able to vary the solution
istry across the U.S. this year. Her research is focused and protein chemistry that the crystal detects during
on a better understanding of biomineralization — the growth and observe the effects. As calcium and carbonprocesses by which organisms direct the formation of ate ions flow over the surface, some ions are pulled onto
minerals into