Franklin Pierce University Students and Faculty Present at INBRE’s Annual Meeting
Sep 3, 2014
Franklin Pierce University Biology Professors Amy Piispanen and Susan Arruda, along
with four Franklin Pierce University students, attended the NH IDeA Network of Biomedical
Research Excellence (INBRE) Annual Meeting in August. INBRE gives professors and undergraduate
students access to outstanding research opportunities in the biomedical field.
Dr. Piispanen is receiving research training funds for her work in understanding the
molecular mechanisms of morphogenesis in
Candida albicans.
Dr. Arruda's collaborative project, “Characterizing a novel G protein-coupled receptor
in
Drosophila
vision,” is funded by NH-INBRE and has provided excellent independent research experience
for a dozen Franklin Pierce undergraduates.
Student Bailey Blair, who is working under Dr. Piispanen, presented her poster, “The
role of
STE50
in morphogenesis and pathogenicity of the human fungal pathogen,
Candida albicans,”
at the Annual Meeting. Dr. Arruda’s researchers, Megan Heaney and Gina Pronzati, presented
a poster entitled “Investigation of Rhodopsin Degradation in
Drosophila.”
The three young scientists have been working in their professors’ labs since May on
these independent projects. Kayla Marra, also Dr. Arruda's research student, was selected
to give an oral presentation of her work entitled, “Electrophysiology of the CG7918
Phototransduction Mutant in
Drosophila,”
for which she also gave a poster presentation.
Kayla Marra was subsequently chosen to present her poster from the Annual Meeting
to the External Advisory Committee (EAC) of INBRE at its meeting in November. Additionally,
Marra was selected for the second time to participate in the iSURF program at Dartmouth,
where she conducted research in the laboratory of Patrick Dolph, Ph.D. iSURF is a
ten-week summer research experience for undergraduate students that is designed to
teach the skills and techniques needed in biomedical jobs and graduate studies.
NH-INBRE is funded by the National Institutes of Health to develop a coordinated network
of biomedical research and research training in New Hampshire. Its goal is to increase
the biomedical research capacity in the state by supporting research and research
training activities of faculty, fellows, and students, and to positively impact the
research culture at participating institutions. NH-INBRE aims to identify and fund
outstanding biomedical researchers among faculty members so that they can lead research
programs that will expose students to exceptional biomedical research.
Photo caption: left to right: Bailey Blair, Gina Pronzati, Megan Heaney, Dr. Susan Arruda, and Kayla Marra of Franklin
Pierce University.
