BALTIMORE, Md. – Three Mansfield University chemistry majors attended and presented at the 22ndannual Undergraduate Research Symposium in the Chemical and Biological Sciences held at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) on Oct. 19.
Seniors Katherine Thompson (Greenville, Pa.), Leanna Hodge (Kendall,
N.Y.) and Kory Wolfe (Sunbury, Pa.) each presented original research at the
symposium and were accompanied by their research advisors, Dr. Kristen Long of
the Biology Department and Dr. Elaine Farkas of the Chemistry and Physics
Department. The students were judged on research content, poster display, and oral
communication and defense of their work. All three students were jointly
advised by Dr. Long and Dr. Farkas in their collaborative research projects.
Thompson’s poster, titled “Analyzing and Quantifying the
Pervasiveness of Microplastic Beads in Mouse Livers, Spleens, and Kidneys”, won
first place in the chemistry category, beating out competition from James
Madison University and Delaware State University. Her project explored the
quantification of microplastics and nanoplastics in mouse tissues from mice fed
controlled doses of plastic beads, which serves as a model for future studies
into human tissues. Thompson has worked with Dr. Farkas for 1.5 years to
develop a protocol for the detection and quantification of these elusive beads,
while Dr. Long’s lab is concurrently exploring the bead-induced tissue damage
in the same mice. Currently, there is no established protocol for mammalian
tissue digestion and plastic quantification at this size scale.
Leanna Hodge and Kory Wolfe are working on a tardigrade
project developed by Dr. Long and Dr. Farkas. Interest in tardigrades has
piqued recently due to their peculiar survival properties during cryptobiosis,
at state at which metabolic activities decrease. Recent literature cites
tardigrade-unique protein expression, evaluated at the messenger (m)RNA level,
as a mechanism for their enhanced survival in stressful conditions. However,
these studies may have overlooked the structural function of proteins coded for
by commonly assigned “housekeeping genes,” which are used to normalize mRNA
expression levels.
Hodge presented her research on “Analysis of Potential
Housekeeping Genes in Tardigrades.” She
explored the expression levels of mRNA for various genes under conditions of
osmostic and desiccation stresses relative to normal conditions in which
tardigrades live.
Wolfe presented fundamental research on tardigrade tolerance
of osmotic stress for different solutes. He probed the LD-50, or lethal dose at
which 50% of a population is killed, for different solutes, and his poster was
titled “Investigating Tardigrade Metabolic and Morphological Reactions to
Osmotic Stresses”. In his research, Wolfe explored the least understood form of
cryptobiosis: osmobiosis. He found that tardigrades have different tolerances
depending on the solute, suggesting avenues for future research into the
molecular pathways of cryptobiosis, which he plans to pursue.
Mansfield’s students were three of nearly 300 abstracts and
poster presentations at this symposium, with students hailing from 35 universities
across six states. Universities in attendance included the University of
Pennsylvania, Yale University, University of Delaware, Duquesne University, and
many other schools with ties to graduate and medical schools. The conference
was a great opportunity for these young scientists to network and explore
active scientific research in their field.
For more information about Mansfield University’s Chemistry and Physics Department and the Biology Department, use the following links: www.mansfield.edu/chemistry-physics, www.mansfield.edu/biology.