From fireflies to medical treatments: CU Denver’s chemistry nanomedicine lab turns bright ideas into lifesaving solutions

Inside CU Denver’s Chemistry Department, a small lab is doing big work: developing a “Surgical GPS” to guide cancer removal, engineering a therapeutic contact lens to prevent blindness, and creating a rapid-diagnostic device to detect sepsis. Welcome to Professor Jung-Jae Lee’s Chemistry Lab, where students aren’t just studying chemistry—they’re turning research into medical solutions.