CEMB George Washington Carver Research Program Concludes 10-Week Program

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Students at the poster session Wednesday.

The 10-week summer George Washington Carver Research Program in Cell and Molecular Biology held a poster competition on Wednesday, July 24, to showcase the research projects of the 10 students in this year's program.

The Research Experience for Undergraduates program is sponsored by a three year grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant was a joint project between the cell and molecular biology graduate program and the Graduate School.

Shani Farr Newton in the Graduate School is the coordinator and director of the Carver Research Program for the campus (http://carver.uark.edu). The George Washington Carver Research Program was begun in 1997 to recruit superior graduates of colleges and universities serving primarily underrepresented students. The Carver Research Program includes agreements between the University of Arkansas and 37 institutions across the south-central and southeast United States. One aspect of the program is to recruit current undergraduates from George Washington Carver Research Program institutions for specific undergraduate summer internship positions.

The poster session for the cell and molecular biology portion of this year's Carver Research Program gave the students a chance to meet with faculty and students across campus to present and discuss their research projects. This year's students and their projects were:

• Adaeze Egolum, Saint Augustine's University: "Genetic Analysis of Chromosomal Regions Affecting Sperm Mobility in Broilers." Mentor: Douglas Rhoads, BISC.
• Kidus Feleke, Jackson State University: "Correlation of Prolactin Genotype with Pregnancy, Growth, and Stress Level in Cattle." Mentor: Charles Rosenkrans, ANSC.
• Ethan Hayman, Northeastern State University "Radio-Resistance in Pancreatic Cancer Cells" Mentor: Yuchun Du, BISC.
• LaFreda Howard, Fort Valley State University: "The activity of novel antimicrobial peptides against Candida species." Mentor: David McNabb, BISC.
• Saira Huff, Grambling State University: "Autoimmune vitiligo in the Smyth line chicken model: altered immune cell profiles in spleens from adult hens without active vitiligo lesions." Mentor: Gisela Erf, POSC.
• Lauretta Ihenatu, Saint Augustine's University: "Evaluation of screening methods for salt tolerance in soybeans." Mentor: Ken Korth, PLPA.
• Charnesia Jackson, University of Arkansas Pine Bluff: "Associations Between Cytochrome P450 Genotypes and Stress in Beef Heifers." Mentor: Charles Rosenkrans, ANSC.
• Taylor Osborne, University of Arkansas Pine Bluff: "ApoE deficiency does not alter IGF-1 signaling during skeletal muscle regeneration." Mentor: Tyrone Washington, HHPR.
• Michael Thomas, Saint Augustine's University: "Integrase genes in antibiotic resistant E. coli isolated from treated effluent and a receiving stream." Mentor: Mary Savin, CSES.
• Derrick Williams, Saint Augustine's University: "The Role of Leucine supplementation on skeletal muscle metabolism during high-fat feeding." Mentor: Jamie Baum, FDSC.

The university's cell and molecular biology program is a graduate degree program comprising 92 faculty in 14 departments and is part of the interdisciplinary programs in the Graduate School. The NSF CEMB REU director is Douglas Rhoads, co-director is Julie Stenken, and senior investigators are Jeannine Durdik and D. Keith Roper.