research

K Science Majors Present at Undergraduate Research Conference

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Six students who presented at the West Michigan Regional Undergraduate Science Research Conference
Scientific presenters at the West Michigan Regional Undergraduate Science Research Conference included (l-r): Carline Dugue, Josh Abbott, Amanda Bolles, Mara Livezey, Kelly Bresnahan, and Chelsea Wallace. Not pictured are Erran Briggs, Michael Hicks, Nicolas Sweda, and Associate Professors of Chemistry Laura Lowe Furge and Regina Stevens-Truss.

Nine Kalamazoo College science majors and two chemistry department faculty members (Regina Stevens-Truss and Laura Lowe Furge) attended the recent West Michigan Regional Undergraduate Science Research Conference in Grand Rapids. The students were Carline Dugue ’12, Chelsea Wallace ’13, Nicholas Sweda ’12, Mara Livezey ’13, Michael Hicks ’12, Kelly Bresnahan ’12, Josh Abbott ’12, Amanda Bolles ’14, and Erran Briggs ’14. Hicks and Wallace are biology majors; the others are majoring in chemistry. They presented results of their summer and academic year research experiences, including Senior Individualized Project work for Dugue, Bresnahan, Sweda, and Abbott. More than 170 posters from colleges across West Michigan were part of the conference’s poster session, and some 400 people participated in the conference. Dugue’s research focused on semiconductor quantum dots and charge transfer; she worked with Western Michigan University professor Sherine Obare. Abbott’s work focused on the role of a specific liver enzyme (CYP2B6) in the way the body processes the cancer drug cyclophosphamide. He did this work in the lab of Professor Paul Hollenberg at the University of Michigan. Bresnahan completed her SIP at the University of Michigan laboratory of Professor James Woods. She worked on animal models for testing of molecules called cholinergic receptor agonists for aid in smoking cessation studies. The other six posters described research done at Kalamazoo College. Sweda presented ongoing studies from Professor Stevens-Truss’s lab on suramin selective inhibition of nitric oxide synthases, part of a chain of events that affects production of nitric oxide in the human body. An excess of nitric oxide is associated with conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. This work is the basis of a manuscript in preparation with Sweda and Alyssa McNamara ’11 as co-authors. Wallace’s research (with Associate Professor of Biology Blaine Moore) showed that BCL-2 is able to rescue neuroblastoma cells from ethanol toxicity. Livezey, Hicks, Bolles, and Briggs each presented individual posters with results of three projects from Professor Furge’s lab on the interactions of inhibitors with human cytochrome P450 enzymes. These enzymes metabolize compounds, including medicines, in the liver, and the inhibition of those enzymes may influence the effectiveness of current and new medicines. The work presented by Bolles and Briggs is currently being prepared in a manuscript for publication with both students as co-authors along with Livezey. The posters presented by Hicks and Livezey are the basis of a current NIH grant renewal to support ongoing opportunities for student research in the Furge lab. In addition to the poster sessions, students attended several lectures and were able to meet with graduate school recruiters.

K Grad Studies Desert Fish With a Far Eye Cast to Cancer

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Claire Riggs ’11 received a pre-doctoral fellowship from the National Science Foundation, a prestigious award that allows her to continue research on killifish embryos as she works on her doctorate at Portland State University. Her research was the subject of an article (“Life in the Extreme”) by Maya Seaman that appeared in the publication, Vanguard. Killifish embryos can survive pretty tough conditions–in extreme heat, without water, and, believe it or not, without oxygen. Riggs studies the role of the fish embryos’ microDNA in their ability to go dormant and survive in anoxic environments. For killifish embryos, such dormancy is characterized by a reduction of metabolism, inhibition of cell development, and stoppage of the heart beat … up to 90 days … without harm! Clues to how this process works, should it ever prove applicable to humans, could eventually have important potential for cancer therapy and treatment of heart attack and stroke.

“I Went to Kalamazoo College!”

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Dan Blustein, Joel Haas, and Tess Killpack have a great deal in common. They’re classmates (2006); they’re working on their doctorates; and they’re finalists in a video contest! “Dan entered us in an NSF fellows video contest (of course he did…),” wrote Tess to Professor of Biology Paul Sotherland, “and we made it to the finals.” The contest celebrates the 60th anniversary of the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Dan, Joel, and Tess share that too; each is an NSF GRF. The title of their video is “Sharing Our NSF GRF Skills With the World.” “We took a little different approach from most of the other entries and did a collaborative entry filming on our own and working over the Internet,” said Dan. “Judges pick winners, and there is one People’s Choice award determined by online votes.” There’s great variety in their research work and geographic dispersion—robot lobsters, cellular energy balance, and avian immune system development, in Boston, San Francisco, and Madison (Wis.) for Dan, Joel, and Tess, respectively. In true K fashion, they do much more than their research. Each works on issues important to science and society, including effective teaching, diversity in the sciences, and scientific policy. Congratulations, Dan, Joel, and Tess. And good luck in the finals.

K Psychology Professor and Student Publish Collaborative Research

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Siu-Lan Tan, John Baxa and Sally Warner in the Olmsted Room at Kalamazoo CollegePsychology professor Siu-Lan Tan and K alumnus John Baxa ’09 published a book chapter on their video game research in the book Interdisciplinary Advancements in Gaming, Simulations, and Virtual Environments (published in 2012 by IGI Global, edited by R. Ferdig and S. de Freitas). Their research focuses on the role of music and sound effects on video game performance in gamers with different levels of expertise. It is based on collaborative work between Tan and Baxa beginning in his sophomore year, continuing through his Senior Individualized Project, and extending beyond his graduation. Baxa is currently a graduate student pursuing a degree in Entertainment Technology at Carnegie Mellon University, where he will learn video game design and may be able to implement their research on sound design in future video games. Baxa (right) is pictured with Tan (center) last April, at her Lucasse teaching award presentation. Also shown is Sally Warner ’08 (left), who worked with Tan for three years to co-organize service-learning projects and assisted her on a book manuscript. Warner is currently working on a Doctorate in curriculum, instruction, and teacher education at Michigan State University.

K Connection Spans 30 Years in Internship

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Cassandra Fraser and Michael Paule-CarresCassandra Fraser, Class of 1984, is a chemistry professor at the University of Virginia. This summer she hosted Michael Paule-Carres, Class of 2014, in her laboratory, where he did research for his Senior Individualized Project. “It was kind of scary to contemplate that 30 year gap!” wrote Fraser, who had a good antidote for any mild “gap fear.” The formula included the excellence of the lab work Paule-Carres conducted. “He synthesized and characterized a luminescent polymer that will be used to make oxygen nanosensors for wound diagnostics, tumor hypoxia imaging, and other medical uses,” Fraser explained. And for extra measure, a few funny photos were added. “We took some research group pictures, including some of Mike (right) and me together, the Kalamazoo College chemists. We even attempted to make K’s with our bodies, not so successfully mind you, but maybe it’s the thought that counts.” Mike has returned to campus for the beginning of men’s varsity soccer practice.

 

K Professor and Students Publish Encouraging Science on the Search for a Useful Bio-Indicator

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Maintaining good human health depends in part on reliable markers. Think blood pressure in cardiovascular medicine or blood sugar and triglyceride levels in determining the effects of diet on metabolic disorders. Reliable markers are important for ecological health as well, which is why science seeks them. Associate Professor of Biology Ann Fraser and five Kalamazoo College undergraduates recently published peer-reviewed science (“Evaluating Multiple Arthropod Taxa as Indicators of Invertebrate Diversity in Old Fields,” The Great Lakes Entomologist, Vol. 45, Nos. 1 – 2) that advances efforts to find a manageable indicator of the effect invasive species have on biodiversity.

Like most good science, the journey was both years long and collaborative—as well as a great example of the kind of professor-student partnerships that make science education at K great—a matter of “more in four years.” The idea for the project began with some preliminary data gathered during a lab exercise in Fraser’s Organism Diversity class. That field work took place at the College’s Lillian Anderson Arboretum, where the class sought to test whether the invasive plant species known as spotted knapweed was affecting ground-dwelling invertebrates (mainly insects). Joe Waller ’06 followed up on the preliminary class data with a more in-depth study for his Senior Individualized Project. He used pitfall traps to collect invertebrates in areas with varying densities of knapweed but was soon overwhelmed with huge numbers and types of insects to sort through. He shifted the focus of his SIP to determine whether a certain insect or other arthropod species, such as spiders, might be a proxy or reliable marker for general invertebrate diversity. He spent most of his summer sorting through and classifying thousands of specimens. In late summer a second round of pitfall sampling was conducted and the project’s torch was passed to other undergraduates.

The sorting, identification, and matching of this second sample with the first sample were conducted by Alyssa Bradshaw ’08, David Hyman ’08, Michael Johnson ’06, and Rob Morrison ’06. “We were able to identify several insect groups as promising indicators of larger invertebrate diversity in old field habitat,” said Fraser. “More work across a greater number of field sites is needed to confirm their usefulness as bio-indicators, but this is an encouraging first step in finding manageable ways to assess the impact of invasive plant species on invertebrate diversity.”

Fraser cited the pivotal role of Morrison in bringing the project to completion and publication, earning him first author on the paper. Such studies are time-consuming but well suited to undergraduate research projects. The K grads continue their science education in various ways. “Rob Morrison is conducting his Ph.D. in applied entomology at Michigan State,” said Fraser. “Joe Waller, I believe, is in a physician assistant program at Michigan or MSU. Alyssa Brayshaw has been working as a research assistant in wildlife biology and is applying to graduate programs in that subject; David Hyman is in medical school at Loyola University in Chicago, and Michael Johnson will begin his Ph.D. in paleontology at the University of Wisconsin this fall. It’s very satisfying to see this collaborative project come to fruition with a peer reviewed publication.”

Kalamazoo Students Intern in Ann Arbor

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Intern Kaitlyn Greiner works in a lab
Kaitlyn Greiner ’15

Several Hornets have settled in Wolverine territory this summer, taking advantage of the resources at a large research university by interning in offices and laboratories throughout Ann Arbor. The Kalamazoo College’s Center for Career and Professional Development caught up with four of them:

Psychology major Megan Martinez ’13 is working to understand links between social, psychological, and physical causes of pain. With the guidance of her supervisor, Ross Halpern, M.D., head of Ross Halpern and Associates Psychiatric Clinic, she is reviewing and analyzing patient files for data connecting childhood abuse, grief, and chronic pain. Martinez said she began her internship thinking that “pain was purely a physical phenomenon, one that should be addressed by doctors and medicine. [However] working in Dr. Halpern’s office has helped me realize that pain, particularly chronic pain, is often influenced by social and psychological factors.” Dr. Halpern has given Martinez plenty of opportunity to take responsibility and guide decision-making on their data project, empowering her to recognize her capacity to conduct independent research and analysis.

Kaitlyn Greiner ’15 is working with Upjohn Professor of Medicine and Oncology Stephen Weiss, M.D., at the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute to identify mechanisms for invasion and growth of brain tumor cells. One of only a few undergraduates accepted into the Weiss research lab, Greiner said she is “learning valuable techniques and tests that I have no doubt I will need to use in my upper-level biology classes,” and is gaining “a great deal of access to both literature regarding my research and people who are very knowledgeable about what they are researching.” Greiner reports that her time in the Weiss lab has allowed her to practice what she learned in her first-year biology classes and “clarified my desire to do medical research.” Greiner has impressed Dr. Weiss with her curiosity and interest, and has already been invited back to the lab next summer.

Chemistry major Sara Adelman ’14 enjoys talking about K with her alumna supervisor, Nichole Hein ’01, M.D., who is “paying it forward” after her own great experiences with undergraduate summer internships. Dr. Hein is hosting her second K-intern this summer while working as a post-doc in the laboratory of John Fink, M.D., a professor in the Department of Neurology and director of the Neurogenetic Disorders Program in the UM Medical School. In her gene sequencing work this summer, Adelman, who impresses Fink and Hein with her “maturity, independence, and drive,” has found and is double-checking a mutation that might be connected to age-dependent neurologic degeneration. Using her K academics in the lab this summer has helped Adelman recognize that “what I’m learning really has relevance in the real world.”

Kathryn Chamberlain ’13 exudes enthusiasm as she describes her internship in the UM Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute where she investigates stimuli-induced dopamine release levels with her supervisor, Jennifer Cummings, Ph.D. “It is a learning experience, it is great skill building, and it is opening doors for future opportunities I may have in the field of neuroscience.” Between describing her new-found prowess at building and calibrating carbon fiber electrodes and showing off dozens of graphs of individual experiments using her tiny glass creations to collect data, Chamberlain said her summer work will become part of her Senior Individualized Project at K, and is a pivotal influence in her decision to seek a research career.

Story and photo by Joan Hawxhurst, director, Kalamazoo College Center for Career and Professional Development.

Alum Keith Crandall Hired to Direct Computational Biology Institute at George Washington University

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Keith Crandall ’87 has been hired by George Washington University to direct its new Computational Biology Institute.

Computational biology combines elements of computer science and biology, and its practitioners develop tools to analyze data generated in researching genetics and genomics, including genetic mapping and DNA sequencing.

Crandall’s research interests have included crustacean biology, biodiversity, and infectious diseases. His B.A. from Kalamazoo College is in biology. At Washington University in St. Louis he earned a Ph.D.in population and evolutionary biology and a master’s degree in statistics. His work at CBI will include an investigation of the impact of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, using gene expression to identify how oil pollutants affect deep sea crustaceans.

Professor Péter Érdi Speaks at European Meetings on Cybernetics and Systems Research

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Péter Érdi, Psychology and Complex Systems Studies, was a keynote speaker and a round table participant at the European Meetings on Cybernetics and Systems Research that took place at the University of Vienna in April.

His talk was a memorial lecture on Luigi Ricciardi, a longstanding participant in the EMCSR, against the background of the development of systems thinking in biology. The round table in which Érdi participated focused on the past, present, and future of cybernetics and systems research.