Biology-Chemistry Club starts off strong

We aren't even a month into the Fall semester, and yet the Biology-Chemistry Club is full of action. The events actually started toward the end of summer session II when the club organized a community outreach program at the Riverpark Library called Rock Candy Romp! The event was held on July 31, and while it lasted just one hour, it was a very intense time of science fun. Our students prepared a volcano and set up some dissecting microscopes for kids to look through. Club members also helped kids make rock candy - an early introduction to recrystallization to prepare them for organic chemistry lab (in the far future). 

Next there was the Fall Semester Kickoff at the end of the first week of classes held at Lang Lab in the evening. Professors and students got a chance to mingle and relax before the onslaught of test-taking (for students) and grading (for faculty). Thanks to the club for generously providing the pizza.  The collage above is a collection of photos taken that night. 

The club also sponsored "Research Night" on September 10th during which students got a chance to hear about the research that faculty are conducting on campus. Students can get involved in such activities for course credit (such as CHEM-C 409 Chemical Research) or even for pay (as a work-study student during the Fall and Spring semesters or funded by a SMART or LSAMP grant during the Summer.

 

The next plan that is in the works is another science outreach event, this time planned for the children at the Ronald McDonald House Charities at Memorial Hospital. If you are interested in helping with this activity or wish to join the Biology-Chemistry Club, please contact any one of the biology or chemistry faculty and they'll put you contact with someone from the club.

Students return from summer research

 

While many of our students worked on campus this summer researching the faculty here, three of our biochemistry majors researched elsewhere.  One of these was Sandy Ho who won our campus's RC Med Review Research Fellowship last spring.  She worked with Professor Laurie Littlepage at the Mike and Josie Harper Cancer Research Institute which is a collaboration between the IU School of Medicine and the University of Notre Dame.  Ho studied how oxidative stress affects breast cancer cells in the presences or absence of a specific aquaporin (a channel protein that allows water and glycerol to flow across the cell membrane).

Hunter Richman attended the University of Delaware REU program sponsored by the National Science Foundation. He researched the kinetics and thermodynamics of post synthetic ligand exchange in Cu(II) metal organic cages with graduate student Garrett Taggart in the group of Professor Eric Bloch. Richman enjoyed the hands-on research experience and the preview into what graduate school might be like. He stands by his research poster (on the right) beside his professor in the photo below during a symposium at the end of the summer. You can find their abstract HERE.

Maggie Fink who was funded by the National Science Foundation REU program to work at the University of Notre Dame in Dr. Shaun Lee's biology lab.  Fink describes her work and experience in the paragraph that follows. She is pictured second from the right in the photo above.

 

"I worked with Streptococcus pyogenes, the human pathogen responsible for strep throat and necrotizing fascitis. Specifically, I investigated the role of streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin B (SpeB) in virulence through interactions with Streptolysin S. SpeB is a protease with a large number of known substrates and no definite link to its activity correlates to the severity of infection. Streptolysin S is toxin responsible for red blood cell lysis and serious infections. Understanding the interactions between the two, if any even exist, could provide insight into how S. pyrogenes can cause a range of infection severity in hosts, from remaining commensal to a life threatening illness. Participating in the REU program at Notre Dame challenged me as a scientist to think creativity and critically when deisgning experiments and analysing data. Additionally, working with graduate students in a larger lab gave me a better idea of what going to graduate school will be like and helped solidify my desire to pursue a PhD and career in research."
 

Summer research, whether on- or off-campus, has a wide range of benefits.  It is often a paid position so you can earn money gaining experience rather than waiting tables, and it can help you decide whether research is really what you want to do. It used to be that undergraduate research helped you stand out from the crowd when applying to graduate school; nowadays, it is becoming the norm, so that you may be at a disadvantage if you lack research experience.