The Kenneth L. Weik Undergraduate Life Sciences Research Symposium

Tuesday, November 10th   4:30-6:30

Johnson Bridge, Johnson Science Center

Sponsored by Beta Beta Beta and the Lake Forest College Biology Department

visit the event website:   http://www.lakeforest.edu/academics/programs/biol/weiksymposium09.asp

Questions?

Please contact: 

Clare Culkin Conlisk, President Beta Beta Beta conlicc@lakeforest.edu

The Kenneth L. Weik Undergraduate Life Sciences Research Symposium will highlight the scholarship of 36 undergraduates and recent alumni. Richter scholars and senior thesis students will present scholarly work that spans the breadth of biology, from molecular biology to ecology, and even connect biology with art. Specific topics include investigation of fossil records, telomere biology, addiction and brain adaptation, learning and memory, stress and emotional behavior, and molecular mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, American Parkinson Disease Association, Parkinson Disease Foundation directly support some of student work done at the College or off-campus.

Student Presentations and presenting authors include:

Motor-skill learning in a running wheel paradigm is mediated by the striatum

Pascal Accoh ’12 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Heinz Steiner, Rosalind Franklin)

The time course of the effects of stress on affective behavior in rodents

Derek Atchley ’10 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Amiel Rosenkranz, Rosalind Franklin)

The exploration of early cretaceous (90 million years ago) fossils in central Utah

Stephanie Sobieraj ’12 and Tommy Biesiada ’11 (Faculty sponsor: Dr.Terry Gates)

Role of potassium, chloride, and taurine during volume regulation by rainbow trout red blood cells

Daniella Brutman ’12 and Paulius Kuprys’12 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Doug Light)

Cortical metabolic neuroadaptation after repeated cocaine injection and withdrawal depends on the postnatal age by which drug exposure onset is given

Daryn Cass ’10 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Kuei-Yuan Tseng, Rosalind Franklin)

Analysis of neuronal phenotype in the ventral tegmental area

Stephanie Feld ’10 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Michela Marinelli Rosalind Franklin)

Insight into Parkinson’s disease: Do certain protein modifications doom cells?

Michael Fiske ’10 and Keith Solvang ’11 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Shubhik DebBurman)

Female preference for novel males in guppies Poeciliareticulata: Does a fresh face matter?

Robin Graber ’12 and Madhavi Senagolage ’12(Faculty sponsor: Dr. Anne Houde)

Analyzing splicing differences in genes associated with Alzheimer’s disease

Paige Keasler ’10 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Michelle Hastings, Rosalind Franklin)

Independent component analysis: A new method for the neural cocktail party

David Konefal ’11 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. William Frost, Rosalind Franklin)

Insight Into Parkinson’s disease: Autophagy to the rescue?

Alina Konnikova ’11 and Danny Sanchez ’11 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Shubhik DebBurman)

Insight in Parkinson’s disease: Is a-synuclein degraded by endocytosis?

Jaime Perez ’10 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Shubhik DebBurman)

Molecular basis of stabilizing an RNA duplex essential to ribosome biogenesis

Ashleigh Porter ’11 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Carl Correll, Rosalind Franklin)

Measuring fungal ends: Does length vary with reproductive mechanism?

Saajidha Rizvydeen ’12 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Karen Kirk)

Maturation of NMDA receptor synaptic function in the prefrontal cortex emerges during the adolescent transition period

Natalie Simak ’11 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Kuei-Yuan Tseng, Rosalind Franklin)

A method to study the subcellular localization of micro-RNAs diagnostic of breast cancer

Brittany Stern ’11 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Dominik Duelli, Rosalind Franklin)

C. elegans: A model for development

Anneliese Szutenbach ’12 and Carlos Becerra-Meneses ’10 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Pliny Smith)

The blending of art and science

Natalia Wilkins ’11(Faculty sponsor: Dr. Lindsay Zanno, The Field Musuem)

Using nematodes to find gene locations related to Muscular Dystrophy

Shabana Yusufishaq ’12 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Hongkyun Kim, Rosalind Franklin)

If you need any special accommodations to be able to participate in this event please contact Teryn Robinson at robinson@lakeforest.edu or 847-735-5167, at least 72 hours in advance.