Left to right: Carl Hoegler, professor of Biology; Sharifa Kelly of Monore, N.Y.; Mackenzie Zupko of Montgomery, N.Y.; and James Moran, associate professor of Biology.
Four Mount Saint Mary College students hit the road this month to present their original research in the natural sciences field.
Sharifa Kelly of Monore, N.Y. and Mackenzie Zupko of Montgomery, N.Y. – both Biology majors at the Mount – attended the 76th annual Eastern Colleges Science Conference (ECSC) at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y. Their presentations were based on research they started last year as part of the Mount’s Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE). Also attending were their faculty mentors: Carl Hoegler, professor of Biology, and James Moran, associate professor of Biology.
Zupko presented “The Artificial Oxygen Carrier OxyVita Stimulates Inflammatory Cytokine Expression in Mouse Splenocytes.” Kelly discussed her research, “The Effect of Thyroxine on the Metamorphosis of the North American Gray Tree Frogs (Hyla versicolor).” Last year, Kelly received the Student Research Scholarship Award from the Mount’s Research on Campus Committee (ROCC) for this research project.
Two additional Mount Biology students, Jayda Cavanaugh of Wolcott, Conn. and Mateo Antonio Lopez of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., recently presented their research at the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, held this year in Philadelphia, Pa. They were accompanied by their faculty mentor, Evan Merkhofer, associate professor of Biology and chair of the Mount’s Division of Natural Sciences.
Cavanaugh presented “Genomic Annotation of Chromosome L3 in Drosophilia ananassae” and Lopez presented “Annotation of a Newly Sequenced Genomic Region in Drosophilia ananassae.”