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Students Invited to the American Society of Cell Biology National Meeting

Posted on Monday, December 15, 2014

Westminster College biology students and their professor were invited to Philadelphia, Pa. to present their work at the American Society of Cell Biology (ASCB) National Meeting, some receiving awards for their travel to the event. 

According to their mission statement, ASCB is an inclusive, international community of biologists studying the cell, the fundamental unit of life - advancing scientific discovery, advocating sound research policies, improving education, promoting professional development, and increasing diversity in the scientific workforce.

Karen Resendes, PhD, professor of biology, received the ASCB Women in Cell Biology Childcare Award, which covers extra childcare costs for working parents to attend the meeting. Her presentation, which was presented in an educational poster session, studied HeLa cell stress response to introduce first year students to scientific method, laboratory techniques, primary literature and scientific writing.

"At the event, I attended numerous sessions in my educational and cell biology areas of expertise, which was extremely helpful both for my teaching and my research," shares Resendes. "Most importantly, the conference made me reaffirm the top quality cell biology research my undergraduate students are able to do at Westminster that is on par with work done by graduate students at larger institutions."

Lance Jubic, senior molecular biology and biochemistry major, is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Gregory and Mary Jubic and a graduate of Kiski Area High School. He was awarded an ASCB undergraduate competitive travel award supported by Worthington Biochemical Corporation and the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Biology division competitive travel award. He presented his work, the treatment of hydraulic fracturing contaminated water using closterium moniferum: growth rate, nuclear integrity and Ba elemental analysis of algal biomass. This work represents Lance's interdisciplinary honors project.

"There were so many people at the event that I've only seen on paper," shares Jubic. "I liked being able to put an author's face to the papers and books I've read."

Becca Anderson, senior molecular biology major, is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth and Miriam Anderson, Jr. and a graduate of Palisades High School. She was awarded the ASCB undergraduate competitive travel award and the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Biology division competitive travel award. Christy Campbell, senior biology major, is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas and Amy Campbell and a graduate of Dubois Area Senior High School. She was awarded the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Biology division competitive travel award. Anderson and Campbell combined their senior capstone projects to present the active nuclear transport is disrupted before nuclear envelope breakdown during chemotherapy induced apoptosis in HeLa cells by 5-fluorouracil but not camptothecin and its derivatives.

"After going over our poster in depth with one graduate student, she wanted to discuss and compare what graduate school is like at different institutions," shares Anderson.  "We had to tell here we were only undergraduates and that in fact all of our research was done by undergraduates."

Nathaniel Schramm, senior molecular biology major, is a son of Mr. and Mrs. David and Christine Schramm and a graduate of Central Catholic High School.  He presented his work, "Determining the function of the protein PCID2 at the centrosome" which represented his honors project.

To learn more about the ASCB or the biology program at Westminster College, contact Resendes at resendkk@westminster.edu or (724) 946-7211.

Becca Anderson and Christy Campbell
The Biology Group
Nathaniel Schramm
Becca Anderson