The Department of Biological Sciences
PRESENTATION AND PUBLICATION OF RESEARCH
While carrying out research has its own rewards, progress in science requires that research findings be disseminated. Our students and faculty regularly attend scientific conferences, where they interact with the broader scientific community and present their research findings.
Kristen Rennoll ('07), Sherri Rennoll ('09), Meghan Feltcher ('07) and professor Alan Hale attended the 107th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (May 21-25, 2007) at the Metro Toronto Convention Center in Toronto, Ontario. This meeting is the primary meeting of ASM, the largest single life science membership organization in the world. The students and Dr. Hale presented their poster entitled, "Variability of hemolytic activity and cytotoxicity of environmental isolates of Chromobacterium violaceum." The focus of this research and that of other projects in the Hale Lab is to further the understanding of the pathogenic nature of disease-causing agents and to determine how widespread these pathogens are in nature. The ASM poster received a good bit of attention; ever since the full genome of Chromobacterium violaceum was completed by a Brazilian group in 2003, interest in C. violaceum and its association to pathogenicity has grown considerably. The Hale Lab happens to be sitting on a gold mine of strains of this species.
Rachel Vereneck ('08), Danielle Skinner ('08) and Melinda (Mindy) Sandridge ('09) attended the 3rd International Conservation Genetics Symposium (Sept. 27-29, 2007), along with professors Richard Kliman and John Cigliano. The 3-day meeting was held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Rachel and Mindy presented a poster describing their current findings from research on the ecological genetics of the queen conch, Strombus gigas (R. Vereneck, M. Sandridge, P. Miller, J. Cigliano and R. Kliman, "DNA sequence variation within and among populations of queen conch in Belize"). The aim of their research, along with Danielle's, is to determine if conch populations are genetically distinguishable. While their research relates to broader questions in marine biology, the data are shared with stakeholders in Belize who develop policies to maintain the stability of the economically and culturally important conch fishery.
