Lenoir-Rhyne College biology students Cynthia Watts (left) and Anna Grove (right) stand with Dr. Marsha Fanning (center) in front of Watts’ poster at the State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium held recently in Raleigh.

Two Lenoir-Rhyne Students Present Biology Research at State Symposium

Two Lenoir-Rhyne College biology students participated in the State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium, held recently at North Carolina State University.

Anna Grove of Danville, Calif., and Cynthia Watts of Cherryville, N.C., attended the conference with Dr. Marsha Fannning, biology professor and chair of the L-R School of Natural Sciences. Grove researched mutations affecting the bromodomain homology region of the YTA7 gene. The gene encodes a chromatin binding protein involved in heterochromatin barrier function. Grove’s research mentor for this study was David Donze, a biological sciences professor at Louisiana State University. Grove participated in a Howard Hughes funded summer undergraduate research program at LSU during the summer of 2006, where she completed her project.

Watts’ topic was “Differences in Growth of Chaetomium globosum on Three Different Species of Wood.” Chaetomium globosum is a kind of soft-rot fungus that decomposes the lignin and cellulose in wood. In this experiment, the fungus was grown on one-inch squares of three types of wood: yellow pine, tulip poplar and white oak. Her study found that the fungus spread more slowly in the white oak sample. She concluded that it might be valuable to study which components in that type of wood inhibited the fungus.

Grove is a senior in the biology honors program who hopes to attend medical school. Watts is a senior double majoring in biology and chemistry who will graduate in December with honors in biology. She hopes to attend graduate school.

This is the second year of the SNCURCS symposium, whose mission is to recognize the discovery-, creativity- and inquiry-based scholarship and entrepreneurial talents of undergraduate students of North Carolina