Maryline Kerlin (Ferrier) is a radiochemist and staff scientist in Materials Science Division at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Prior to LLNL, she performed a first postdoctoral appointment at Los Alamos National Laboratory for 3 years evaluating structural environment in trivalent actinides (Ac, Am and Cm) using X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy technique. She then spent a year at the Medical Center of the University of Washington Seattle working on the production and purification of At-211 for pre-clinical and clinical trials as well as some isotope productions and radiolabeling R&D. Maryline joined LLNL in May 2019 as a postdoctoral researcher and since then worked on various radiochemistry projects such as chemistry development for massless isotopes separation from irradiated targets for capsule doping used for NIF shots, evaluation of mercury (homolog for heavy element chemistry) with thiacrown ligands, and particle size distribution of historical debris particles. As staff scientist she now works on small scale plutonium metal production, low-valent uranium organometallics synthesis, laser-driven thermal degradation of various material, and organogel/hydrogel synthesis.

 

 

Research Interests

Maryline’s interests are focused on developing fundamental concepts that advance radiochemistry approaches on actinide chemistry in various fields, such as material science, separation, radiopharmaceuticals, isotope production, etc. As such, her research lies at the intersection of radiochemistry, organic and inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry, and laser-driven chemistry.

 

News Highlights

Uranium takes an alternate pathway under extreme conditions

Ph.D. Radiochemistry, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2014

M.S. Chemistry, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées, Rouen, France, 2008

M. G. Ferrier, B. C. Childs, C. M. Silva, M. M. Greenough, E. E. Moore, A. J. Swift, S. A. Di Pietro, A. A. Martin, J. R. Jeffries, K. S. Holliday, Unconventional pathways to carbide phase synthesis via thermal decomposition of UI₄(1,4-dioxane)₂, Inorganic Chemistry, 61(44), 17579-17589, 2022

M. G. Ferrier, C. A. Valdez, S. K. Singh, S. Hok, D. Ray, L. Gagliardi, J. D. Despotopulos, Unsaturated Sulfur Crown Ethers can Extract Mercury(II) and Show Promise for Future Copernicium(II) Studies: A Combined Experimental and Computational Study, Inorganic Chemistry, 61(2), 807-817, 2022

E. Balboni, D. Zurong, J. Matzel, M. G. Ferrier, K. Knight, Chemical and structural characterization of particulate fallout isolated from air-filters, Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 331(12), 5371-5379, 2022

M. G. Ferrier, Y. Li, M.-K. Chyan, R. Wong, L. Li, S. Spreckelmeyer, D. K. Hamlin, T. Mastren, M. E. Fassbender, C. Orvig, D. S. Wilbur, Y. Li, Thorium Chelators for Targeted Alpha Therapy: Rapid Chelation of Thorium-226, Journal of Labelled Compounds and Radiopharmaceuticals, 63(12), 502-516, 2020

M. G. Ferrier, K. N. Kmak, W. M. Kerlin, C. A. Valdez, J. D. Despotopulos, Transactinides Studies with Sulfur Macrocyclic Extractant using Mercury, Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 326(1), 215-222, 2020

M. G. Ferrier, V. Radchenko, D. S. Wilbur, Radiochemical aspects of Alpha Emitting Radionuclides for Medical Application, Radiochimica Acta, 107(9-11), 1065-1085, 2019

M. G. Ferrier, B. W. Stein, S. E. Bone, S. K. Cary, A. S. Ditter, S. A. Kozimor, J. S. Lezama Pacheco, V. Mocko, G. T. Seidler, The coordination Chemistry of Cm^III, Am^III, and Ac^III in Nitrate Solutions: an Actinide L₃-Edge EXAFS Study, Chemical Science, 9(35), 7078-7090, 2018

E. R. Birnbaum, M. E. Fassbender, M. G. Ferrier,‡ K. D. John, T. Mastren,‡ Actinides in Medicine, chapter in “The Heaviest Metals: Science and Technology of the Actinides and Beyond” in Encyclopedia of Inorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119951438.eibc2563

M. E. Fieser,‡ M. G. Ferrier,‡ J. Su,‡ E. R. Batista, S. K. Cary, J. W. Engle, W. J. Evans, J. S. Lezama Pacheco, S. A. Kozimor, A. C. Olson, A. J. Ryan, B. W. Stein, G. L. Wagner, D. H. Woen, T. Vitova, P. Yang, Evaluating the Electronic Structure of Formal Ln^II Ions in Ln^II(C₅H₄SiMe₃)₃^1- Using XANES Spectroscopy and DFT Calculations, Chemical Science, 8(9), 6076-6091, 2017

M. G. Ferrier, B. W. Stein, E. R. Batista, J. M. Berg, E. R. Birnbaum, J. W. Engle, K. D. John, S. A. Kozimor, J. S. Lezama Pacheco, L. N. Redman, Synthesis and Characterization of the Actinium Aquo Ion, ACS Central Science, 3(3), 176-185, 2017

M. G. Ferrier, E. R. Batista, J. M. Berg, E. R. Birnbaum, J. N. Cross, J. W. Engle, H. S. La Pierre, S. A. Kozimor, J. S. Lezama Pacheco, B. W. Stein, S. C. E. Stieber, J. J. Wilson, Spectroscopic and Computational Investigation of Actinium Coordination Chemistry, Nature Communications, 7, 12312, 2016

• Physical and Life Sciences Directorate Award, Excellence in Publication in Science (2023)
• LANL distinguished postdoc performance award FY2016 (2017)
• Glenn T. Seaborg Postdoctoral Fellowship at Los Alamos National Laboratory (2015 – 2017)
• Glenn T. Seaborg Institute Summer Fellowship at Los Alamos National Laboratory (2014)