A diverse group of students, mentors, and a few others were on campus August 7 to attend the poster presentations of this year’s undergraduate research projects conducted under the summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Biology program and the year-round Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology program.
An uninformed person might think a “poster presentation” has something to do with art class, but in the scientific world, it’s the culmination of months of independent research conducted in the lab or field. The chunks of text, photos, and charts neatly arranged on large poster boards explain the serious scientific work performed by the 16 students participating in this year’s programs. Standing beside their posters, students gave quick summaries of their projects and answered questions in a “show and tell” style.
UMEB student Leah Ross tested Boston city playgrounds for arsenic in the soil near climbing structures that were treated years ago with chromated copper arsenate. Using portable x-ray fluorescence techniques, she collected samples that did indeed contain high levels of both arsenic and lead (possibly from lead paint) in Dorchester playgrounds. Her mentors are Daniel Brabander and Robert Beattie of the Environmental Studies Program.
To study multiple addictions to street drugs, REU student Zachary Waldon microinjected morphine and amphetamines into rats and then measured their desire for more of each stimulant. Typical of most research, obstacles arose. “At the present time, no results have been obtained,” Waldon’s poster says, because the rats developed pneumonia before he and his mentor, behavior neuroscience professor Tiffany Cunningham in the psychology department, could obtain definitive findings.
“Research is a challenge,” acknowledges Waldon. “It’s a big mystery. I love research, but I haven’t lost my desire to go to medical school. This was going to be my honors project, but the REU program was good enough to help me get started on this early.”
Some students did reviews of all recent studies related to their topics. Jeremy Morris, working under biology professor Michael Rex, analyzed to what extent deep-sea organisms adapt by becoming smaller over many generations.
Other projects took place entirely in professors’ labs. Hugh Doherty and Rea Lardelli worked under biology professor Linda Huang to look at how cells regulate their size and shape. They examined the gene that makes a protein that causes starving yeast cells to produce spore walls.
Research took REU student Safiya Hamit to Costa Rica where she collected samples of an unusual species of flower that has two breeding systems. Her hypothesis, developed working under Professors Rick Kessili and Kamal Bawa, was that the hermaphroditic variety was evolving to the gender-specific variety. To prove this explanation, she compared the volume of fruit production for each variety, expecting the female flowers to produce more fruit than the male-female composites.
“But we found no difference,” Hamit says. “It was getting kind of frustrating. It was contradictory to our thinking. Now we’re banging our heads to figure it out.”
Over the summer, students attended weekly meetings on topics relevant to biological research, such as keeping a laboratory notebook, research design, and ethical issues in conducting research.
This summer’s program was the third year for these two grants, both funded by the National Science Foundation and run under the direction of biology professors Joel Gindhart and Rachel Skvisky.
Other UMB students participating in the program are Julianna Campos, Glenda Politis, Quazi Sadruzzaman, Akochi Agunwamba, Jenifer Crouse, Catherine Reyes-Spencer, Nancy Rodriquez-Sheridan, and Rosemery Soris.