Congratulations to the 2018 BioFest winners!

BioFest is an annual Department of Biological Sciences tradition where new students are welcomed and current students present their research via a poster colloquium. We are proud of our talented and hard-working students and pleased to acknowledge these winners:

1st place – Identifying Epigenetic Modulators of Neuronal Resilience in the C. elegans Dopaminergic System. Anthony L. Gaeta, Nathan A. Moniz, Dr. Kim A. Caldwell, and Dr. Guy A. Caldwell.

2nd place – Constructing a graphical (network) model of the Drosophila melanogaster metabolome. Vishal Oza and Dr. Laura K. Reed.

3rd place – Investigating the Role of Mitochondrial Calcium Homeostasis in an Environmental Contributor to Parkinson’s Disease: S. venezuelae in C. elegans. Jennifer Thies, Hanna Kim, Dr. Guy A. Caldwell, and Dr. Kim A. Caldwell.

Honorable mentions:
The Nasty Neighbor: D. discoideum mix performance linked to geography. Louis Bubrig, Dr. Elizabeth Ostrowski (Massey University), and Michael Miller.

Determining the influence of gut microbiota composition on the metabolic phenotype in Drosophila melanogaster. Owen Cunneely, Kara MacIntire, Andrei Bombin, and Dr. Laura K. Reed.

Plastid phylogenomics of the genus Hosta. Michelle L. Lewis, Sarah. T. Blakely, and Dr. Michael R. McKain.