The 2015 Murdock College Science Research Conference was held in Vancouver, WA, and hosted by the University of Portland. This conference featured undergraduate student researchers from universities around the Pacific Northwest, including 15 from Seattle Pacific. The students were accompanied by Assistant Professor of Biology Jenny Tenlen.
Ryan Alcantara: Push it, Push it Real Good: The Energetic Cost of Stroller Running (research mentor: Dr. Cara Wall-Scheffler)
Kaylan Banks: Cellular Assays and Image Analysis for iCHIP Platforms (research mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Wheeler, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
Julian Conn Busch: Tardigrades contain at least six putative proteins involved in gene silencing (research mentor: Dr. Jenny Tenlen)
Laura DeWald: Characterization of a novel RNA tertiary interaction found in the THF riboswitch (oral presentation) (research mentor: Dr. Wade Grabow)
Loa Griesbach: Genome Assembly and Investigation of Agrobacterium F5R19 (research mentor: Dr. Derek Wood)
Elizabeth Knodel: Effect of Internal Torsion on the CH-stretching Overtone Spectra of 2,2'-Substituted Biphenyls (research mentor: Dr. Daniel Schofield)
Jacob Krodel: Assessing the feeding, growth, and energetics of hydrothermal vent gastropod larvae (Shinkailepas n. sp.) (oral presentation) (research mentor: Dr. Shawn Arellano, Shannon Point Marine Center)
Grace Mammarella: Impaired Olfaction Decreases Aggression in California Mice (Peromyscus californicus) (research mentor: Dr. Janet Bester-Meredith)
Sean Morton: Monitoring complex RNA nanoparticle formation using the split-Spinach aptamer (research mentor: Dr. Wade Grabow)
Thao Nguyen: A Dopamine-PABA Adduct Assay Enables Spectrophotometric Quantification of Dopamine Release by the Marine Alga, Ulvaria obscura (research mentor: Dr. Rick Ridgway)
Amber Olander: Abundances and distributions of invertebrate colonists in sandy beach algal wrack (research mentor: Dr. Ryan Ferrer)
Eliot Orando: Old growth forest vs. transmission powerline right-of-ways: variation in avian populations based on habitat differences (research mentor: Dr. Eric Long)
Genny Roberts: Hybrid genome assembly and analysis of Agrobacterium rhizogenes A4 (research mentor: Dr. Derek Wood)
Sierra Sanders: Identifying and characterizing the germline protein Vasa in the tardigrade Hypsibius dujardini (research mentor: Dr. Jenny Tenlen)
Jessica Soderquist: Dopamine Production and Storage Correlate with Acidic Compartments in Living Cells of the Marine Alga, Ulvaria obscura (research mentor: Dr. Rick Ridgway) [Jessica was a Best Poster awardee in the Ecology / Plants / Birds category!!!]