April 9, 2004

Biology students shine at 14^th annual research symposium

The day had finally arrived. It was time to show off to faculty, family, and friends the results of all the hours spent researching, working, and preparing. For the 14th year, students majoring in biology presented their independent, original undergraduate research papers at the Department of Biological Sciences symposium on March 26.
After a brief meet and greet, Department of Biological Sciences Chair Donald Hauber began with introductory remarks. Raquel Barrera and Miriam Ducruet started the presentations with "Genetics of a Chagas Disease Vector in Central America." Caroline Champagne presented the "Survival of the Finless: Effects of Fin-Clipping on Brown Darters (Etheostoma edwini)," and Lillian Zamora's paper was titled "Reproductive Life History of Fat Sleepers (Dormitator maculatus) in the Mississippi River Delta."

After a 15-minute break, Christopher Gabler offered "Dynamics of the Mississippi River Delta: Wetland Accretion and Productivity," and was followed by Misty Cook who presented "Opioid Receptors in the Medial Preoptic Nucleus Regulate Sexual Receptivity in Rats." Christine Brownyard presented "Cadherin 11 Expression in the Developing Chick Embryo Using In Situ Hybridization and RT-PCR," and Katherine M. Smith made the final presentation, "The Role of HTLV-I Tax in Cell Transformation."

After the students' extraordinary presentations and a display of focused knowledge, it was time to relax by pinching tails. A crawfish boil under the big cypress in front of Monroe Hall gave everyone an opportunity to unwind and revel in a job well done.

Much of the financial support for the research presented in the Undergraduate Research Symposium comes from the Mullahy Biology Endowed Fund. The fund is named after the Rev. John Mullahy, S.J., first chair of the biological sciences department. In the 1950s, long before the current national trend of undergraduate research, Mullahy was instrumental in establishing the department's emphasis of involving undergraduate biology students in research. Faculty and staff in the biology department thanked the continued support of alumni and friends, and gratefully acknowledge Mullahy's foresight in establishing this emphasis and tradition in research, as well as the longstanding and continuous financial commitment of the benefactors of the Mullahy Biology Endowed Fund.