LSAMP Summer Research Poster Session

At the beginning of the Summer, a group of faculty took on a larger group of students to mentor them in summer research projects funded by the LSAMP (Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation) arm of the National Science Foundation. Today those students (and others) presented their work in a morning poster session (that's just one of them pictured) after eight weeks of experimental design, trouble-shooting, data collection, and analysis.  Congratulations to all of these students for their hard work.  We hope that they will be inspired to continue researching during their undergraduate career and perhaps even pursue a career of research in the near future.

Ebenezer Barinda - Computer Science major
HPS: A Web Application that Uses GPS Tracking to Improve Parcel Delivery Services (Hossein Hakimzadeh's lab) 

Grace Berney - Biochemistry major
Molecular signatures that distinguish IPS cells from their cells of origin (Murli Nair's lab)
 

Angel Garcia-Simental  - Physics major
St. George Detector Simulation (Jerry Hinnefeld's lab)
 

Alexis Glasper - Biology major
Effects of Antidepressant Drugs on Aquatic Plants and Levels of Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria Isolated from Nectar (Deb Marr's lab)

Brianna Jones - Chemistry major
Phenolic Compounds and Mineral Content Determination in Organic and Conventional Blueberries: A Comparison Study (Grace Muna's lab)
 

Patricia Medrano - Biology major
Pollination Ecology of Iris virginica and Penstemon digitalis: Pollinator Diversity, Pollen Limitation, and Nectar Microbial Diversity (Andy Schnabel's lab)

Chris Mochel - Chemistry major
Method Development for Detection of Aminothiols in Biological samples (Grace Muna's lab)

 

Amber Owens - Biology major
The Effect of Paroxetine, an SSRI drug, on Gammarus, a freshwater crustacean  (Deb Marr's lab)

 

Andrew Vila - Biology major
Optimization of Bismuth Deposition Conditions on Glassy Carbon electrode for Detecting lead in Water and Soil (Grace Muna's lab) 

 

Summer Research with Muna

Associate Professor Grace Muna (second from the left) has three students working in her laboratory this summer on different projects.   Brianna Jones (far left) and Andrew Vila (far right) will both be juniors next year. Jones is a chemistry major and plans to go to pharmacy school when she graduates. Vila is a biology major and is considering to pursue an MD-PhD degree. Chris Mochel (second from the right) is a rising senior in chemistry who plans to attend graduate school. Jones, Mochel, and Vila have been working hard all summer and are currently preparing posters to present the results of their fruitful labor for all to see on the walls of the chemistry hall (and possibly a conference next semester). The students describe their individual research projects as follows:

Brianna Jones (funded by an LSAMP grant)

My research project is aimed at developing analytical methods that will be used to analyze the nutritional value of conventional and organic blueberries and compare them. To do this end, I have been working on developing a calorimetric method to determine phenolic compounds in the blueberries, as well as a microwave plasma atomic emission spectroscopy method to determine mineral content in the blueberries. The question we are trying to answer is whether there is any difference in nutritional values between conventional and organic blueberries. The developed analytical methods are being used to analyze and compare organic and conventional blueberries for their phenolic and mineral content.

Christopher Mochel (funded by a SMART grant)
The goal of my research, “Detecting Aminothiols in Biological Samples”, is to develop methods that can measure the concentrations of cysteine, homocysteine, and glutathione.  These aminothiols are important biomarkers found in the human body and having too much or too little of any or all of these aminothiols can indicate vulnerability to a wide range of diseases.  We are working on developing a colorimetric method to measure total aminothiols in urine by utilizing the ability of aminothiols to reduce iron(III) to iron(II) which complexes with o-phenathroline to form a colored complex. To selectively measure aminothiols in urine and plasma we are developing a method that combines HPLC with electrochemical methods using glassy carbon electrodes modified with gold nanoparticles.

Andrew Vila (funded by an LSAMP grant)
We are currently working on a project to compare different methods of depositing bismuth nanoparticle films on glassy carbon electrodes to be used to detect lead in water and soil. Although the government guidelines allow up to 15 ppb in public water supply, we have been working to detect the lowest concentration possible in order to avoid any lead contamination. The methods that are being used to deposit bismuth naoparticles on glassy carbon electrodes are cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. These techniques will be tested for their performance in lead detection. The analytical methods will be compared in terms of sensitivity, linear dynamic range and limit of detection to conclude which is the best method to determine lead in water and soil samples.