Biochemistry major receives multiple awards

Sarah Harris, a senior biochemistry major, recently received two awards in local and national poster contests for research related to her recently completely honor’s thesis, “Investigation of binding patters and function of a uridylated histone mRNA degradation intermediate”

In the undergraduate poster competition at the annual meeting of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Orlando, Fla., Harris’ poster received an honorable mention and was one of five posters recognized in the “DNA” category at the poster session. There were more than 50 entries from institutions across the country.

Harris’ work was also recognized as the Best Undergraduate Poster for the second year in a row at the annual banquet and awards ceremony of the Penn Ohio Border Section of the American Chemical Society.

Harris poster, "Uridylated Histone mRNA degradation intermediates bind SLBP and 3'hEXO both individually and together," was completed over the last two years under the mentorship of Dr. Patrick Lackey in the Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry. The project focuses on characterizing unique interactions between proteins and mRNA that are vital to the proper packaging of DNA in the cell.

Harris is planning to pursue her Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in their Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program. She is a daughter of Timothy and Melody Harris of Hermitage and a graduate of Hickory High School.

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