Dr. Kristen Page is a Recipient of the 2012 Senior Scholarship Achievement Award
Dr. Page was one of six Wheaton College faculty recipients of Achievement Awards at the recent Awards Chapel. She was given the Senior Scholarship Achievement Award in recognition of her active research and passion for teaching.
Dr. Page’s research focuses on the intersection of parasitology and public health. Her work has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed scientific journals, and it has been featured in mainstream venues like Parent magazine and Animal Planet. Dr. Page has a special knack for making her BIOL 252 Research Methods class relevant for her students’ wide range of interests. She seamlessly incorporates her research and travel experiences into her classroom instruction. Students remark on her commitment to excellence and passion in her area of expertise, and they flock to her courses.
Congratulations, Dr. Page!
Biology Majors Anne Poirier '12, David Lee '12 and John Snedeker '13 Attended the 2012 Experimental Biology Meeting in San Diego, CA
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| Anne Poirier |
David Lee |
John Snedeker |
Pattle Pun, Ph.D. |
Three biology majors with biotechnology emphasis, seniors Anne Poirier, David Lee and junior John Snedeker and Dr. Pattle Pun, professor of biology attended the 2012 meeting of Experimental biology held at San Diego, CA from April 21- 25, 2012. The meeting was attended by around 14000 national and international scientists and professionals. They participated with the more than two hundred students in the presentation of research posters for the 16th Annual ASBMB Undergraduate Student Poster Competition Saturday, April 21, 2012. Their poster was entitled Analysis of the Positively and Non-Positively Selected Non-Protein Coding Sequences of Chromosome 16. It is based on the collaborative work between Dr. Pun, Dr. Hayward of the Math/computer Science Dept. and a group at the Hong Kong Bioinformatics Centre, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, SAR, China. In the poster, They propose the flanking sequences of the SNPs from the noncoding regions of chromosome 16 from the human genome recently positively selected (Pos) exhibit regulatory processes different from sequences recently non-positively selected (NonPos) . SNPs from the non-protein coding regions identified from UCSC Genome Browser Collection were screened using Haplotter in the Phase II HapMap Database found within all people groups. SNP flanking sequences from dbSNP build 131 with perfect matches were searched with the PATCH program of TRANSFAC database. Proximity Testing was done on these SNPs by analyzing their distances from nearest known genes. Of the 10537 and 18433 NonPos and Pos SNPs examined respectively, 74% and 76% of each are located at transcription factor related sites; 1.2% and 1.5% are unique. The proximity test rendered statistically significant data: NonPos SNPs are on average closer to genes than Pos SNPs for the total data set. However, variations in proximity are detected at equal distance ranges. There are differences in the classes of regulatory functions between the two cohorts, bearing out their prediction. This work was supported by Wheaton College Alumni Association and the Hong Kong Bioinformatics Center.
During the meeting, they also attended a Christian Fellowship group with around 20 other scientists and visited a local church. Opportunities for graduate studies and potential employments were explored. The trip was fruitful in broadening the students’ horizon for graduate school and employment opportunities as well as gaining professional insights on concluding their research project.