{"id":5,"date":"2023-09-06T17:54:08","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T17:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgansternlab\/?page_id=5"},"modified":"2026-02-16T15:23:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T15:23:12","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video aligncenter\"><video height=\"350\" autoplay loop muted playsinline controls=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/02\/Video_4.mov\"><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Effect of electric fields of varying magnitude and direction on the LUMO of the Kemp Eliminase benzisoxazole substrate molecule. Altering the LUMO position and energy affects the rate of reaction.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"266\" src=\"https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/10\/HDAC_TOC-1024x266.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-46\" style=\"aspect-ratio:3.84984496124031;width:701px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/10\/HDAC_TOC-1024x266.png 1024w, https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/10\/HDAC_TOC-300x78.png 300w, https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/10\/HDAC_TOC-768x199.png 768w, https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/10\/HDAC_TOC-1536x398.png 1536w, https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/10\/HDAC_TOC.png 1970w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The long-term focus of the Morgenstern Research Group is to discover new methods for extracting useful information from the electron charge density to aid in molecular design and catalysis, and to test these methods through collaborative projects. Most of this work is centered on the quantum theory of atoms in molecules, QTAIM. QTAIM uses the topology of the electron charge density, \u03c1, to define bonding interactions and determine atomic properties within molecules. Current projects include<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" style=\"list-style-type:1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Quantifying the effect of electric fields on \u03c1 and molecular orbitals during organic and enzymatic reactions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Understanding how the charge density rearranges during directed evolution to make more efficient enzymes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Elucidation of in-source fragmentation of adamantane compounds&nbsp;during electrospray ionization (ESI)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"727\" src=\"https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/11\/2023group_2-1024x727.jpeg\" alt=\"Team in front of UCCS mountain lion statue.\" class=\"wp-image-77\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.408546650247596;width:684px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/11\/2023group_2-1024x727.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/11\/2023group_2-300x213.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/11\/2023group_2-768x546.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/11\/2023group_2-1536x1091.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/11\/2023group_2.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Effect of electric fields of varying magnitude and direction on the LUMO of the Kemp Eliminase benzisoxazole substrate molecule. Altering the LUMO position and energy affects the rate of reaction. The long-term focus of the Morgenstern Research Group is to discover new methods for extracting useful information from the electron charge density to aid in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195,"href":"https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5\/revisions\/195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.uccs.edu\/morgensternlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}