Hannah Bonser of Lehighton, PA, Presents at Annual Pennsylvania Academy of Science Conference

2023 Mar 23

Hannah Bonser of Lehighton, PA, was one of fourteen Cedar Crest College students who presented their data at the 98th Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science this weekend.

The Cedar Crest College Department of Biological Sciences is proud to acknowledge the accomplishments of its research program.Over 100 presentations were made by undergraduate and graduate students from 31 universities, colleges, and institutions, and the twelve posters and talks from Cedar Crest College placed us at the top of the list for total number of presentations.

The conference concluded with an awards ceremony where travel grants, research grants, and the Anne Spychala Presentation Awards were distributed. Cedar Crest College received thirteen total awards: 4 presentation awards (Bonser & Edwards, Jaber, Delgado & Heiney, Large & O'Donnell), 3 research grants, (Franzone, Spagnola, Wolfinger), and 6 travel grants (Bonser, Franzone, Jaber, Jones, Lay, Nemec) were awarded to Cedar Crest students, as further detailed below.

Oral Presentations given by students:

• Katherine Franzone (research advisor: Andre Walther): Analyzing the effect of RPA phosphorylation on genetic and physical interactions with DNA repair proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae - PAS Travel Grant Recipient; PAS Research Grant Recipient
• Khoula Jaber (research advisor: K. Joy Karnas): Enterobacteriaceae species and antibiotic resistance: enhanced expression of efflux pump genes - PAS Travel Grant Recipient

Poster Presentations given by students:

• Hannah Bonser and Alison Edwards (research advisor: Andre Walther): Examining Replication Protein A interactions with the cancer-associated proteins Ddc2p and Mec1p using the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae - 1^st Place Spychala Award for Women in Science, PAS Travel Grant Recipient (HB)
• Audra Bratis (research advisor: K. Joy Karnas): A qPCR-based method to differentiate impact and expirated blood spatter using the human oral microbiota
• Juliana Delgado and Kendall Heiney (research advisors: Andre Walther and Lindsey Welch): Using the oleaginous fungus Cryptococcus neoformans as a source of lipids for the production of biodiesel fuel - Spychala Awards Honorable Mention
• Khoula Jaber (research advisor: K. Joy Karnas): Testing the model: exploration of a predictive mathematical model for antibiotic resistance in bacteria - Spychala Awards Honorable Mention
• Sydney Jones (research advisor: K. Joy Karnas): Comparative study of genetic mutations observed in independently isolated triclosan-resistant strains of Cronobacter muytjensii - PAS Travel Grant Recipient
• Ashley Large and Reagan O'Donnell (research advisor: Andre Walther): Using quantitative PCR with high resolution melt analysis for rapid genotyping of brewery yeasts - Spychala Awards Honorable Mention
• Nancy Lay (research advisors: K. Joy Karnas and Larry Quarino): Crime scene saliva: distinguishing human vs canine contributors - PAS Travel Grant Recipient, Spychala Awards Honorable Mention
• Ryleigh Nemec (research advisor: Jennifer Hayden; coauthor: Whitney Cabrera): What's hiding on our lab floor? Student sourcing antibiotic discovery - PAS Travel Grant Recipient
• Lily Spagnola (research advisor: Audrey Ettinger): Influence of social group size and habitat density on the development of Rocio octofasciata (Jack Dempsey) cichlid fish behavior - PAS Research Grant Recipient
• Madison Wolfinger (research advisor: Andre Walther; coauthor Khushali Vyas): Optimizing a PCR-based technique to examine telomerase regulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae - PAS Research Grant Recipient