3 Pitt-Greensburg student researchers won awards at a regional biology convention

Student biology and biochemistry researchers from Pitt-Greensburg earned top honors at the district Northeast 3 convention of Beta Beta Beta (TriBeta) a national biological honors society.

Ten Pitt-Greensburg students presented their research at the April 1 conference, which 13 institutions attended. More than 40 undergraduates gave oral or poster presentations.

Michelle Gresser, left in the photo above, a senior biochemistry major, won first place for her oral presentation, “Weaving through the Web of DMD: Using Spider Venom to Improve Muscular Movement in C. elegans.”

Kelsey Murphy, right, a senior biochemistry major, won first place for her poster presentation, “The Effectiveness f Manuka Honey in Treating Staphylococcus aureus in C. elegans.”

Both Gresser and Murphy also received a $900 travel award to present at the next national TriBeta convention.

Oanh Nguyen, center, a senior biological sciences major, won second place for her poster presentation, “Brain Morphology and gene Expression Changes of Drosophila melanogaster in the Brain and Nervous SystemResulting from Misregulation of Jazf-1.”

The University’s Theta Pi chapter of TriBeta also earned the Outstanding District Chapter Award for engagement and focus on research. Pitt-Greensburg also had the most delegates at the conference, with 21 attending, and earned second place for the chapter’s scrapbook.