Ashland science students present honors research and head off to graduate school

Two senior science majors gave successful defenses of their honors thesis research this past week and will both be starting PhD programs in the Fall.

Lindsey Knapp and Steve Fenster

Senior Biology major Lindsey Knapp conducted her research project with cell biologist Steve Fenster to develop the zebrafish as a model species for examining the function of an important brain protein called piccolo.  Lindsey discovered that this protein, which is involved in human mood disorders, comes in various forms in the zebrafish where it likely plays similar roles as in humans.  Lindsey also conducted summer research projects at Johns Hopkins University and UC Berkeley.  She will be entering the Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology program at Emory University this Fall to begin work on her PhD.  Lindsey is a College of Arts and Sciences Scholar.

Jeff Weidenhamer, Jared Baisden
and Robert Bergosh

Senior Biochemistry/Biology double major Jared Baisden's research with chemists Jeff Weidenhamer and Robert Bergosh characterized a toxin in wilted red maple leaves that damages the red blood cells of horses when the leaves are ingested.  This work required the development of novel purification methods and numerous instrumental methods to discover the structure of the toxin.  Jared will be pursuing his PhD in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Jared is a Choose Ohio First Scholar at AU and recently received a national scholarship from the American Chemical Society.