OBU science students win research awards
November 10, 2009 - Meg Gosser
Two Ouachita Baptist University students recently won awards at the Arkansas INBRE
Research Convention in Fayetteville. Max Ford, a sophomore chemistry major from Arkadelphia,
earned first place in the chemistry and biochemistry poster competition and Lauren
Nelson, a senior biology major from Russellville, Ark., was awarded second place in
the biology oral presentations competition.
Ford and Nelson both competed against other undergraduate students from across the
state for their awards. INBRE is the IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence.
It is funded by a grant from the National Center for Research Resources under the
Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Program of the National Institutes of Health.
“Overall, it was a rewarding experience to win. It was nice to see how my work and
dedication toward this project paid off,” Ford said. “I think I won because my research
topic was interesting and I felt as though I presented it well on my poster.
“In a nutshell,” Ford explained, “I did computational modeling of 4-nitroanisole with
the 3E6I crystal structure of the enzyme CYP2E1.”
Nelson’s project explored whether “cannabinoids could induce death in retinoblastoma
cells so that they could potentially be used to treat retinoblastoma,” she explained.
“It was a great honor to win this award after putting so much time into this project
and presentation,” Nelson added. “I worked on this project for about 10 weeks through
the OBU summer research program.”
In March, Ford and Nelson will attend the American Chemical Society National Convention
to present their work.
By Meg Gosser
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