Interdisciplinary NSU Team Presents Research in Philadelphia

Group photo in front of the Love Statue in Center City Philadelphia. Bottom Row (left to right): Akshata Sastry, Alina Poothurail, Emily Schmitt Lavin, Luzcarime Saco Vertiz, Caroline Roy, Sanjana Vadlamudi, and Isadora Rocha De Abreu. Top Row (left to right): Varun Andrews, Ryan Luib, Espélancia Bell, Pujita Julakanti, Carol Manikkuttiyil, Rajin Persaud, Alexander Lavin.

A team of 23 NSU delegates representing the College of Psychology neuroscience major, Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine public health major, Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine, Halmos College of Arts and Sciences (HCAS) biology and chemistry majors, Farquhar Honors College and the Nova (K-12) Public Schools traveled together to present their research as part of the NSU Chapter of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB).

They joined thousands of presenters including coauthors from Grandview University, Xavier University, Ursinus College, Rochester Institute of Technology, and University of Florida. The conference brought together five national scientific societies at the 2022 Experimental Biology conference held in Philadelphia, Pa. (April 2-5) https://www.experimentalbiology.org/. Research was presented at a variety of poster sessions and at a Spotlight Session on Teaching Strategies and Lessons Learned During COVID-19 chaired by HCAS Assistant Professor Arthur Sikora.

HCAS biology major Rachel Keating received the ASBMB Society Travel Award. Projects were funded by the National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative and the Sigma Xi Science, Math, and Engineering Education Grant. HCAS Assistant Director of Graduate Admissions, Megan Troy, presented the Master of Science in Biological Sciences Health Studies and Research Concentrations at graduate program fairs held by the ASBMB and the American Physiology Society (APS).

The projects presented by the team were the following:

  • Arthur Sikora, Bonnie Hall, Steven Mills, Rebecca Roberts, and Paul Craig. You gotta work, BASIL! Reimagining an established CURE to provide high-quality digital learning experiences that are intentionally equitable, inclusion and accessible for all students.
  • Emily Schmitt Lavin, Varun Andrews, Espélancia Bell, Kenneth Bui, Vincent Do, Neha Joshi, Alexander Lavin, Carol Manikkuttiyil, Shashank Nutalapati, Alina Poothurail, Caroline Roy, Sanjana Vadlamudi, Shawn McQuaid , Michele Parsons, Aarti Raja . The Nova Hydroculture Project: Bringing a community of science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) learners together to grow a unique garden.
  • Isadora Rocha De Abreu, Allison Barkdull, Travis Craddock. A computational analysis of colchicine structural analogs as potential microtubule destabilizing agents.
  • Rachel Keating , Luzcarime Saco Vertiz, Victor Manly, Akshata Sastry, Santanu De , Arthur Sikora. Quantification of Learning Gains in a Science CURE: Leveraging learning objectives to substantiate and validate the benefits of experiential education.
  • Emily Schmitt Lavin, Lyla Abbas, Aisha Abdool, Jordan Nichole Carreras, Jose Diaz, Seethal Doki, Rachel Harris, Heidi Hellenbrand, Pujita Julakanti, Brianna Lacasse, Sanjana Likki, Ryan Luib, Rathika Manikandan, Carol Manikkuttiyil, Saimi Reyes, Isadora Rocha De Abreu, Vibha Sankavaram, Tassnime Sebaei, Chino Villanueva, Arthur Sikora. Creating a learning model where students practice the scientific process through protein modeling.

NSU had additional research presented by groups from the College of Pharmacy (Abstract 532.8) and the Rumbaugh-Goodwin Institute for Cancer Research (Abstract 576.6) at the Conference.

Posted 04/24/22

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