St. Bonaventure University student Audrey Bui received the Excellent Undergraduate Poster Presentation award for her presentation on plant-pathogen interactions at this year’s Rustbelt RNA Meeting (RRM).
The RRM is a meeting among midwestern and mid-Atlantic United States scientists, at which they discuss RNA-related biomedical research. This year’s meeting, held in Cleveland, Ohio, on Oct. 25 and 26, had between 300 and 400 scientists in attendance.
The conference is meant to provide opportunities to junior scientists and feature oral and poster presentations by undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral trainees.
Bui, a junior biology major, gave a poster presentation on “The role of alternatively spliced Serine/Arginine-rich 45 isoforms in Arabidopsis thaliana innate immune response.” She has been working on this research for the past year.
“I was very surprised to receive this award, but it also feels gratifying,” Bui said.
“I am very proud of Audrey winning the poster award. She is bright, and most importantly, she has an excellent work ethic,” said Dr. Xiao-Ning Zhang, biology professor and director of the biochemistry program. “We are lucky that there are quite a few students like her in the program, but Audrey stands out because she also has a strong personal investment to the research project that she is leading. She is articulate, organized, focused and able to pay attention to details. All these are qualities essential for success in research and a great career in the future. The award is just an external recognition and affirmation.”
This year was the fifth year that Zhang took students to the conference. She originally started taking students in 2013.
The recently awarded, four-year $650,000 National Science Foundation project award has provided the funds for this year’s research projects along with expenses for participation and travel to the conference, said Zhang.
The students were selected based on the progress of their research projects and how much they contributed to the projects being presented, said Zhang.
Along with Bui, Claire Schaef, a sophomore biochemistry major, and Anna Hu, a junior biochemistry major, attended with Zhang. Hu gave an oral presentation titled “The Kernel of Truth: The role of ASAP complex in Abscisic Acid Response regulation during Seed Germination and early seedling development in Arabidopsis thaliana,” while Schaef contributed to both projects.
Hu’s talk received compliments from scientists in her field, said Zhang.
Zhang made note of how important research projects are for students’ learning.
“Research is a type of experiential learning that students can benefit a lot from,” Zhang said. “By leading a research project, students not only apply their classroom learning to solving a problem relevant to their major, they can also gain soft skills that they may not get from classroom learning, such as communication, teamwork, leadership, time and resource management, etc. An authentic research experience helps students grow into independent and responsible critical thinkers. It also provides opportunities for students to learn how to handle failures and build their resilience.”
By Natalie Forster, Editor-in-Chief
forstena17@bonaventure.edu
