WKU News

Congratulations to the following FUSE Grant awardees!

Bobby Voyles is a Biology major and is expected to graduate in the Fall of 2013.  His mentor is Dr. Chandrakanth Emani.  The title of his project is Using rise as a non-human model to study the molecular and clinical basis of the monoamine oxygenase (MAOA) gene.  The purpose of this research is to provide evidence that rice can be used as a non-human model in the study of the monoamine oxidase gene (MAOA).

Katelyn Dotson is a Biology major and is expected to graduate in the Spring of 2015.  Her mentor is Dr. Noah Ashley.  The title of her project is Research of the enzymes of stomach acid in the black vulture (Coragyps  atratus) and  turkey vulture (Cathartes aura).  The purpose of this project will be to determine the pH of the stomach acid of black and turkey vultures and to assess how their stomach acid affects growth of bacteria.  The goal is to see if such  stomach acid can destroy different strains of Escherichia coli bacteria.

Brandon Charles Farmer is a Biology and Chemistry  double major and Spanish minor.  He is expected to graduate in May 2015.  His mentor is Dr. Ken Crawford.  The title of his project is Endothelin-1 Induced phosphorylation in bovine corneal endothelial cells.  This project is an investigation into using the protein endothelin-1 (ET-1) on corneal endothelial cells to increase proliferation rate and in turn increase corneal endothelial density.

Amy Ni is a Biology major; she is expected to graduate in 2014.  Her mentor is Dr. Michael Smith. The title of her project is Effects of growth hormone antagonist on auditory hair cell regeneration in zebrafish.  In order to test the effects of GH on zebrafish auditory hair cell regeneration, tests will be performed through injection, sound exposure, dissection, microscopic analysis and statistical analysis.

Kimberly Baugh is a Chemistry major and is expected to graduate in the Spring 2014.  Her mentor is Dr. Cangliang Shen.  The title of her project is Cooking inactivation of non-0157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli in moisture enhanced non-intact beef by double pan-broiling grill.  This research will examine the effects of cooking temperature on the inactivation of non-0157 E. coli strains contaminated in moisture-enhanced non-intact beefs.