2023年7月31日

Thirteen 浩博体育app student 研究ers participated in the Susquehanna Valley Undergraduate Research Symposium, with one student’s presentation rising to the top with the help of a common baking ingredient: yeast.

Samit Barua Chowdhury ' 24, a 生物化学 major from Bangladesh, won the Best Poster Award in the Natural and Life Sciences category for his 研究 into the role of a particular protein and its impact on cellular activities in baker’s yeast cells.

From literature and p牧师ious experiments, Chowdhury and his faculty mentor, 迈克尔Parra,香港大学副教授 化学,确定感兴趣的蛋白,组蛋白H2A.Z, plays a role in regulating the expression of certain genes involved in key processes in yeast cells, 比如生长和营养吸收.

“Through a series of experiments, we found that the gene that codes for the H2A.Z protein interacts with other genes and that the deletion of this gene could lead to an increased sensitivity of the yeast cells to antifungal drugs and genotoxic stressors,乔杜里解释道.

他和帕拉培育了不同种类的酵母细胞, 每个都有一个独特的突变, to help them identify and understand how the presence or absence of one or a set of genes could alter the overall expression of other genes. Chowdhury said their findings could be used to further understand the roles of these histone proteins in other multicellular organisms.

组蛋白, 真核细胞中包裹DNA的蛋白质, 调控DNA模板化过程,如DNA复制,帕拉说. “Understanding this helps us understand how cellular division works. 因为酵母的过程和人类相似, 这将有助于我们了解癌症.”

研究报告的好处

The Susquehanna Valley Undergraduate Research Symposium brought together more than 100 students from Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, 巴克内尔大学和联邦大学, 以及盖辛格健康系统. Posters were entered for awards in four categories — arts and humanities, social sciences; engineering and computing; natural and life sciences; and studies of health and wellness across disciplines. Winners were determined based on criteria from a team of three to four faculty judges per discipline.

“The culmination of scientific 研究 is the dissemination of the information. The Susquehanna Valley Undergraduate Research Symposium allows students to practice this skill,Para说. “They are asked to give a two- to five-minute summation of their 研究 and present it in the form of a poster. 这项技能对科学界至关重要.”

Every step of Chowdhury’s 研究 resulted in a lesson learned, he said.

“不管我重复实验多少次, I am just getting better at it and discovering ways I can improve,他说. “Being constantly in a lab environment gave me the experience of what it’s like working full-time as a 研究er and exposed me to obstacles and hardships unique to the setting; failures are a common thing while doing 研究, and success will only be seen once the failures are gracefully embraced and carefully examined.”

Chowdhury is still determining his next steps after graduation by weighing graduate school or industry options.

“研究生院的一切都是研究, so getting that experience early on at an undergraduate level helped me grow accustomed to working in a lab for long hours,他说. “同样的, the skills learned in the lab are incredibly useful when considering a career in medicine or pharmaceuticals. Being exposed to experimental techniques and procedures just makes it easier to settle down in a much bigger institution at a higher level.”