Maheen Gull, Ph.D.
Synthetic chemistry/origin of life sciences/geochemistry/organic chemistry researcher at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
Websites: www.maheengull.com, https://earth.rpi.edu/people/maheen-gull
Citizenship: United States
Work Experience
1. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (12/2024- Present)
Research Scientist (12/2024-Present)
Prebiotic chemistry, minerals-organic interactions, solvents of life, prebiotic phosphorylation, P-N compounds formation.
Undergrad. Research mentor ((12/2024-Present)
Research training for undergrad students, to get actually involved in on-going research projects, instrumental techniques learning, research paper write up
2. University of South Florida (07/13/2011-12/2024)
Research Scientist (05/2016- 12/2024)
Prebiotic phosphorus chemistry, meteorite phosphorus chemistry, inorganic condensed phosphates formation, prebiotic organic synthesis
Visiting Chemistry Instructor, Dept. of Chemistry (08/2015-05/2016)
General Chemistry 1 (CHM 2045) and (CHM 2045 L), Fundamentals of physical sciences (ISC 3403)
Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Geosciences (07/2011-08/2015)
Prebiotic phosphorylation reactions on the early Earth, deep eutectic solvents and various other ionic solvents, mineral catalysis and the origin of life
3. NASA/NSF’s Center for Chemical Evolution (09/2012-08/2015) (Joint appointment)
Prebiotic chemical evolution, http://centerforchemicalevolution.com/
4. University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore, Pakistan (03/2006-06/2011)
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Chemistry (01/ 2010-06/2011)
Inorganic chemistry and general chemistry courses
Research Interests: Prebiotic phosphorus chemistry, reduced oxidation state P compounds, phosphorylation, mineral catalysis, habitable worlds, early Earth redox chemistry, origin of life, phosphorus analysis, rocks and natural samples, P-N compounds, meteoritics, glucose chemistry, amino acids, wet-dry cycling, synthetic chemistry.
Instrumentation techniques: NMR, mass spectrometer, HPLC, XRD, Raman and UV spectroscopy, atomic absorption spectrometer and glove box
Specialized software skills: Chemdraw, ACD labs, Spinworks, Sigma Plot, Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and word
Education & Professional Preparation
09/2006- 06/2010 Ph. D. (Chemistry), State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis & Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, China
01/2003-11/2005 M. Phil (Inorganic Chemistry), Institute of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
01/2001-12/2002 MS (Organic Chemistry), Institute of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
01/1999-12/2000 BS (Zoology, Botany, Chemistry) Queen Mary College, Lahore, Pakistan
Patents
Matthew. A. Pasek and Maheen Gull. Phosphorylation of organics in a deep eutectic solvent (Provisional Patent)
Graduate Dissertations
Ph.D. Prebiotic Mineral Catalysis and Hydrothermal Synthesis of Some Biologically Important Phosphate Compounds (Bio-inorganic Chemistry/Astrobiology)
M.Phil. Metal complexes of antibiotic Amoxicillin and its antimicrobial properties (Bio-inorganic chemistry)
M. S. Esterification reactions of Molasses (Organic Chemistry)
Selected Research Contributions, Honors & Awards
Appointed as ‘Courtesy assistant professor ‘by USF
Travel grant by CCE (Center for Chemical Evolution) to present my research work at Gordon Origin of life conference 2014
NASA travel grants (2012, 2013 and 2014) to present my work at NASA astrobiology graduate conferences (California 2012), (Canada 2013) and (Troy, New York 2014)
Travel grant by USF post-doctoral association to present my research work at Astrobiology Science conference 2012 (Atlanta)
(China) June 2010, Roll of Honor granted by Jilin University, College of Chemistry, as my PhD thesis was ranked among top 10
(China) 2006-2010, Cultural Exchange Scholarship: Granted by Chinese Scholarship Council for Ph.D. studies
(Pakistan) 2003-2004, Higher Education Commission Scholarship
(Pakistan) 2003-2004, Roll of Honor: By Queen Marry College, Lahore, Pakistan
(Pakistan) 2001-2002, Govt. Merit Scholarship: By University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
Undergraduate Research students mentoring
RPI
2026 Maoming Wang: Phosphorylation in soda lakes, Pyrophosphate formation under prebiotic geochemical scenarios
Manav Seth: (Visiting undergraduate research scholar, University of Wisconsin-Madison), phosphorylation in soda lakes
2025: Edoardo Gallazzi, Fenton chemistry raections
2025: Annika Seeley, Project AMP decomposition studies
USF
2015: Lyle Garong, Project: Prebiotic Phosphorylation reactions
2013: Greg Maurer, Project: Prebiotic chemistry in simulated tidal environments
Jilin University, China
2009: Wang Yu, Project: Hydrothermal synthesis of glycerol phosphates
Additional services
External reviewer of various NASA research proposals
Peer reviewed journals such as Geochmicia et. Cosmochimica Acta., Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere, Life, Sci, Science Advances, Catalysts, Sci, Geology, Processes and Astrobiology
NASA Research Reviews Panel member
Topic Editor of the journal Life and Catalysts, editorial board member of Discover Chemistry