From studying the effects of Coca-Cola on appetite to comparing soil composition between urban and rural areas of Maryland, AGNR graduate students stacked up their skills against some of the top scientific minds on campus during the annual Bioscience Research and Technology Review Day held November 18 inside the Stamp Student Union.
Bioscience Day is a special event that features research talks, presentations, mini-symposia and demonstrations by University of Maryland scientists focusing on how information flow helps shape living systems from DNA to cellular function.
During a two-hour poster session, graduate students were asked to share their most recent work. Samantha Hudgins (pictured left), who is pursuing a master’s degree in Nutrition and Food Science, presented her research on how high-fructose corn syrup in Coca-Cola affects the region of the brain that controls appetite. Elizabeth Kulka (right), a student in the Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences Ph.D. program, demonstrated her study comparing the carbon content of soils from both urban and rural areas near Baltimore as an indicator of climate change. Graduate student Anna Wallis from the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture showcased her research on how vermicompost – a process of composting using various worms – could impact lettuce production in Mid-Atlantic states.
Meanwhile, Dr. Iqbal Hamza from the Department of Animal & Avian Sciences presented a short seminar on his research using bloodless worms as a way to study iron deficiency in humans. Read more about Hamza’s work here.
In all, more than 100 graduate student research projects were highlighted during Bioscience Day. The program invites professionals from different industries and government agencies to meet with university faculty and graduate student researchers, discover the most recent advances in the field uncovered at UMD, network with potential collaborators and recruit employees.
