Printer Friendly
Two students earn top awards for research
22-Oct-09
FREDERICK, Md.--Two Hood students earned top honors for their research at a recent symposium for undergraduates from colleges in the mid-Atlantic region.
Senior Colin Reitman was awarded first place for his investigation of the enzyme peroxidase, which is produced in plants infected with soybean dwarf virus, at the 12th Annual Undergraduate Symposium at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He conducted the research with Oney Smith, Ph.D., associate professor of biology. This project is part of a long-term collaboration between Hood College and Vern D. Damsteegt, Ph.D., plant pathologist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service at Fort Detrick, which is investigating the biology and control of plant viruses.
Junior Katelyn Horn was awarded second place for her studies on the distribution of an invasive rusty crayfish in the Monocacy River. She worked with Eric Annis, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology, as part of an ongoing collaborative effort with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to better understand the distribution of harmful crayfish and their impact on the local ecosystem.
Eleven other Hood College students, assisted by four professors and two collaborating scientists, submitted six posters presenting results of undergraduate research projects in chemistry and biochemistry that employed a wide range of technologies, including bacterial expression of recombinant proteins and applications of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and Raman spectroscopy.
The award-winning projects in biology were supported by a grant from Life Technologies Foundation, which funded Hood's 2009 Summer Science Research Institute, an eight-week, research-based, faculty-student collaboration held each summer in Hood's laboratories or in the field. Additional funding for crayfish research was received from the Washington Biologists Field Club.
The Undergraduate Symposium is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. This year, attendees represented 50 colleges and universities from nine states and the District of Columbia.
Student research includes:
"Expression and Purification of the Myxoma Virus Leukemia-Associated Protein Zinc Finger Domain" by Bryan Hahn '10, biochemistry; Rebecca Asiamah '09, biochemistry; Dominic Esposito, SAIC-Frederick, collaborating scientist; Dana Lawrence, assistant professor of chemistry.
"Cloning, Expression, and Purification of Zinc Finger Antiviral Protein Zinc Binding Domain" by Shannon Barton '11, biochemistry; Christina Zimmerman '09, biology; Dominic Esposito, SAIC-Frederick, collaborating scientist; Dana Lawrence, assistant professor of chemistry.
"Distribution of Native and Invasive Crayfish in the Monocacy River" by Katelyn Horn '11, environmental science and policy; Eric Annis, assistant professor of biology.
"Analysis of Peroxidase Levels in Soybean Plants Infected with Three Strains of Soybean Dwarf Virus" by Colin Reitman '10, biology; Oney Smith, associate professor of biology.
"Analysis of Mixtures with Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry" by Michael Cahill '11, chemistry; Rebecca Hunter '09, biochemistry; Kevin Bennett, associate professor of chemistry.
"Time-Resolved Spectroscopy of [FeFe]-Hydrogenase Model Compounds" by Casey Kohnhorst '10, biochemistry; Glenn Van Meter '11, chemistry; Edwin Heilweil, NIST-Germantown, collaborating scientist; Christopher Stromberg, assistant professor of chemistry.
"Introduction of Raman Spectroscopy Across the Undergraduate Curriculum" by Peter Wilson '11, chemistry; Kathryn Klauenberg '10, chemistry and archaeology; Christopher Stromberg, assistant professor of chemistry.
"Raman Spectroscopy in Archaeology" by Kathryn Klauenberg '10, chemistry and archaeology; Jennifer Ross, associate professor of art and archaeology; Christopher Stromberg, assistant professor of chemistry.