Hannah Hart participated in Celebration of Learning

2012 May 7

More than 75 Augustana students from all academic areas shared their advanced research projects on Saturday, May 5, at the Celebration of Learning. This on-campus research symposium annually gives students an opportunity to show off their academic accomplishments to their families and the Augustana community.

Among the students involved:

Hannah Hart, a senior from Saint Anthony, Minn., majoring in biology. The research was titled Cloning, Annotation, and Complementation of a Meiothermus ruber HisB Gene. This project, part of the Meiothermus ruber Genome Analysis Project, incorporated both bioinformatics and functional genomics to support or refute the inclusion of the HisB gene (coding for imidazoleglycerol phosphate dehydratase) in the histidine biosynthesis pathway of Meiothermus ruber. The gene in question was cloned and transformed into E. coli, after which a complementation assay was performed to support or refute the predicted function of the gene. The online program IMG-ACT was used to annotate the gene of interest. Bioinformatics programs were also used in an independent research component involving the catalase gene and the possibility of its being overexpressed in its host organism. This project contributes vital information to the Genomic Encyclopedia of Archaea and Bacteria, part of the Department of Energy and its Joint Genome Institute, which seek to gain a deeper understanding of prokaryotes-such as Meiothermus ruber-about which biologists know relatively little.

Celebration participants presented their research through a poster display or an oral presentation. Many students expounded on the results of their Senior Inquiry, a multiple-term research project required for most academic programs. Other students shared honors capstone projects or student-faculty research findings. Because of the advanced level of research involved, most of the presenters are upperclass students.

Anne Earel and Stefanie Bluemle, Augustana reference librarians and the event's co-directors, said the Celebration of Learning provided an outlet for students to showcase their accomplishments.

Presentations topics varied greatly and included anthropology, biology, physics, geography, gender studies, theater and more.