MSUM Hosts 9th Undergraduate Research in the Molecular Sciences Meeting

The 9th Undergraduate Research in the Molecular Sciences (URMS9) meeting was held on the MSUM campus October 3 and 4, 2014. The meeting included 110 participants from 11 colleges and universities. URMS9 included 42 oral and poster presentations by undergraduates competing for travel awards to the national meetings of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) and the American Chemical Society. Travel award winners from MSUM were:

• Rachel Walsh, Biosciences
o Population Health of Horseshoe Crabs (Limulus polyphemus) at Harvested and Unharvested Beaches in South Carolina
• Whitney Swanson, Chemistry & Biochemistry
o Na+-H+ Exchanger Isoform 1 (NHE1) Phosphorylation is Essential for Lysophosphatidic Acid (LPA) Stimulation of Cell Proliferation and Migration.
• Clarice Wallert, Chemistry & Biochemistry
o Calcineurin B Homologous Protein Isoform 2 (CHP2) Expression and Activity in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

All three travel award winners will be presenting their research as part of the Undergraduate Poster Competition at the ASBMB national meeting held in Boston, MA March 28 through April 1, 2015.

One of the highlights of URMS9 for MSUM students was when President Anne Blackhurst visited students posters at the meeting.

The conference is sponsored by the MSUM College of Science, Health & the Environment, Concordia College, the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the Red River Valley Chapter of the American Chemical Society.