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Eleven Lafayette students will present research papers with their biology faculty mentors at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science March 30 – April 1 at the Radisson Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Biology major Kevin Cunningham ’08 (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) and Nancy M. Waters, associate professor of biology, looked at how the disruption of water flow in dammed rivers affects energy being processed in biological communities downstream for the paper “Impacts of Hypolimnetic Release from a New Jersey Reservoir on Macroinvertebrate Communities and Leaf Litter Processing.”
Biology major Robert Peoples ’08 (Bear, Del.) has worked with Bernard Fried, Kreider Professor Emeritus of Biology, on the research “Physical and Chemical Factors that Kill Metacercarial Cysts of Echinostoma caproni.”
Two biology students have collaborated with Robert Kurt, assistant professor of biology, on separate projects focusing on medical research. Jackie Golden ’07 (Latham, N.Y.) will be presenting “Production of Chemokines After Stimulation Through TLR2 and TLR4 in Bone Marrow-Derived Dendritic Cells,” and Priyanka Nair ’08(Kerala, India) will present “Expression of Toll Like Receptors by 4T1 Murine Mammary Carcinoma Cells.”
James Dearworth, assistant professor of biology, has advised three biology students conducting studies on the eyes. They are Justin F. Blaum ’08 (Easton, Pa.), “Intrinsic Light Response by the Iris of the Turtle under Different Laboratory Conditions;” Jenna Kelly ’07 (Bethlehem, Pa.), “Blink Response of the Red Eared Slider Turtle;” and Rhae Anna Riegel ’07 (Robbinsville, N.J.), “The Intensity-Dependent Consensual Pupillary Light Response in the Turtle.”
Four students have worked on projects with Elaine Reynolds, associate professor of biology and co-chair of neuroscience, using fruit flies in medical studies. Biology major Bryan Abbesi ’07 (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) and Thomas J. Liberto ’07 will present “Effects of immune system deficiency on the onset and progression of hallmark phenotypes in a Drosophila model for Parkinson’s disease.” Neuroscience major Osarenomase Egharevba ’07 (Bronx, N.Y.) has researched “Sensitization and habituation in a Drosophila model of pain,” and biology major Stephanie Smith ’07 (Matamoras, Pa.) worked on “Characterization of a new seizure mutant in Drosophila melanogaster.”
As a national leader in undergraduate research, Lafayette sends one of the largest contingents to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research each year. Forty students were accepted to present their research at last year’s conference.