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BIORESOURCE RESEARCH NEWSLETTER FALL 2008 4017 Agricultural and Life Sciences Oregon State University Corvallis, OR 97331-7304 (541) 737-2999 Bioresource Research is an interdisciplinary sciences major leading to a Bachelor of Science degree. The centerpiece of BRR is a comprehensive mentored research experience in biological, environmental, agricultural, forestry, food, or health sciences. This differentiates BRR from all other OSU science and natural resource majors. OSU is internationally recognized for its research strengths – BRR students are part of the best of OSU.

Congratulations to the 2008 Graduates!

Biotechnology Option Jeff Burnett – Microbiology double major and chemistry minor. Thesis Title: Genetic Variation of Renibacterium salmoninarum Genes in Infected Salmonids. Mentors: Dr. Daniel Rockey and Dr. Ling Jin, Biomedical Sciences, Veterinary Medicine. Jeff spent the summer working as a research assistant in the Rockey Lab prior to moving to a new job with the National Institutes of Health in Maryland.

Environmental Chemistry Option Jess Holcomb – Soil Science and Chemistry dual minors. Thesis Title: Effects of Land Management of Carbon and Nitrogen on New Zealand Soils. Mentors: Dr. Kate Lajtha, Environmental Sciences Program, Botany and Plant Pathology, and Dr. Markus Kleber, Crop and Soil Sciences. Jess is pursuing his MS in Crop and Soil Sciences at OSU.

Plant Growth and Development Option Nikki Marshall – dual Toxicology Option and Chemistry minor. Thesis Title: Potential of Eradicating Noxious Weed Seeds from the Soil with Heat and Carabid Seed Predators. Mentors: Dr. Ed Peachey, Horticulture, Dr. John Parmigiani, Mechanical Engineering, and Mr. Greg Fitzpatrick, The Nature Conservancy.

Toxicology Option Andrew Colburn - Chemistry minor. Thesis Title: Toxicogenomic analyses of chitosan based hemorrhage control patches. Mentors: Drs. John Mata and Timothy Hazzard, Biomedical Sciences. Andy and wife are moving to Las Vegas for physician’s assistant and nursing training.

Matthew Wenning - Toxicology minor. Thesis Title: Developing the Zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a model to evaluate the toxicity of chlorinated and non-chlorinated solvents. Mentors: Drs. Robert Tanguay and David Williams, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology. Matthew works at OSU with the National Pesticide Information Center.

Visit the BRR ScholarsArchive for electronic theses: http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/dspace/handle/1957/456

Presentations:

Tammy Winfield received a professional development award from the BRR Professional Development Summers Endowment to assist with travel and expenses to attend the Urban Ecology and Conservation Symposium held at Portland State U. for her invited poster presentation: The potential of extensive green roofs to provide urban arthropod habitat.

First Student Seminar for NEW Water Resources Option:

Nichole Cespedes, Sustainable Ecosystems Option and Honors College graduate with Oceanography Minor, gave her seminar on August 26: Two advances in practical alternative energy: thermotolerant hydrogenase purification and methane hydrate grain size proxies. Faculty Mentors: Dr. Roger Ely, Biol & Ecol Engineering Dept. and Dr. Anne Trehu, College of Oceanic & Atmospheric Sciences. Nichole will submit her final thesis after she and new husband Joseph return from their honeymoon!

Publication:

Jeff Burnett coauthored a paper in the prestigious Journal of Bacteriology: G. D. Wiens, D. D. Rockey, Z. Wu, J. Chang, R. Levy, S. Crane, D. S. Chen, G. R. Capri, J. R. Burnett, P. S. Sudheesh, M. J. Schipma, H. Burd, A. Bhattacharyya, L. D. Rhodes, R. Kaul, and M. S. Strom. The genome sequence of the fish pathogen Renibacterium salmoninarum suggests reductive evolution away from an environmental Arthrobacter ancestor. Congratulations to Jeff and Dr. Rockey along with lab group!

Leadership:

Vananh Nguyen, elected Region VI Undergraduate Vice President of Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) at the National Conference, has been invited to attend the Presidential Inauguration by the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. This is a remarkable opportunity as shown in the invitation letter: "From January 17 - 21, 2009, you will be honored at the Inaugural Conference as one of the most highly accomplished college students in the nation and recognized along with your peers as one of America's most distinguished future leaders." Participation should be very positive for her and should reflect very positively on OSU, CAS and MANRRS. . The OSU MANRRS Chapter competed and won Region VI Outstanding Chapter Award at the 2008 National Career Fair and Training Conference held spring break in Denver, Colorado. http://agsci.oregonstate.edu/manrrs/ Vananh will receive a professional development award from the BRR Summers Endowment to assist with travel expenses to attend the inauguration.

BRR: THE RESEARCH MAJOR

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Awards:

Jeehye Lee, BRR senior and International Studies dual major, (shown with Kate Field, BRR Director, at the All-University Awards Reception) received the Clara L. Simerville Award for International Education for her “outstanding contributions to cross cultural awareness and service to OSU and the local community.” She was recognized at the All-University Student Recognition Awards Dessert Reception. Miao Zhao, BRR-Biotechnology Option (and COS-Biology and HHS-Nutrition triple major), who is currently conducting her research with Dr. Siva Kolluri, EMT http://emt.oregonstate.edu/faculty/kolluri.htm was selected "as one of the outstanding students from across the country to receive one of three prestigious scholarship in Food Science." She received $3500 to cover travel and program costs to attend University of Arkansas from May 18-July 26, 2008 to work with Navam Hettiarachchy, PhD Biochemistry. Nichole Cespedes and Jeff Burnett were both recognized as OSU BRR Outstanding Students and inducted in the CAS Registry of Distinguished Students at the College of Agricultural Sciences (CAS) Great Achievements of Students Celebration. 5

Congrats CAS Scholarship Recipients: David Bade, Melissa McKenny, Vananh Nguyen, Erika Snow, Anneke Tucker, Katherine Peed, Tammy Winfield, and Joanna Fisher.

Grants and Scholarships: Nikki Marshall and Tammy Winfield received Jaworski summer internship support awards: http://www.science.oregonstate.edu/bpp/Jaworski_Application.htm

Ernest and Pauline Jaworski have established the Ernest and Pauline Jaworski Fund for Summer Research Experiences for Underserved Undergraduates in Plant Science through the Oregon State University Foundation. The fund is established in recognition of their strong interest in plant biology and their interest in providing opportunities to encourage students to pursue careers in the plant sciences. They have a special interest in providing opportunities to help and sustain education, and changing learning environments so that more students have opportunities to learn. Oregon Seed Trade Association provided scholarship support for Jess Holcomb and Melissa McKenny. For info. Contact Peggy Mullett, Crop and Soil Sciences Dept. peggy.mullett@oregonstate.edu.

Student Stories:

Nikki Marshall

Year and discipline: Senior, Bioresource Research

Hometown: Portland, Oregon

Scholarship: The Jaworski Scholarship has opened up

opportunities for me in sustainable, organic farming and ecosystem

restoration. Financially, it has enabled me to pay for childcare for

my daughter. (Note: Marshall has also received the E.R. Jackman

Scholarship, support from the Oregon Seed Trade Association and

an award from the American Seed Trade Association with Future

Seed Executives.)

Inspiration: My daughter Trinity is 8 years old. She is always

asking questions and giving me hope.

Career goal: To own a farm and to restore lands harmed by

invasive species or toxic chemicals.

Academic focus: I have been learning how to control seeds

through heat treatments and consumption by beetles. Seeds of

invasive species and other weeds pose problems for agriculture

and environmental restoration.

http://oregonstate.edu/terra/2008winter/features/air.php

Read more student stories in Terra on above link.

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More Scholarships and Research Grant Awards:

Tammy Winfield was awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (mentor John Lambrinos, Horticulture). She will give a research seminar at the HHMI symposium in September: “Quantifying the value of native plants for improving pollination and biological control in agroecosystems.” http://oregonstate.edu/dept/biochem/hhmi/summerresearch.html Oregon State University is pleased to announce the availability of undergraduate research opportunities in the biological sciences to students who have completed their freshman, sophomore, or junior years of college by June of each school year. Sponsored by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) http://www.hhmi.org/about/ these fellowships give undergraduates unique research opportunities with OSU researchers. No previous research experience is required of students in the program, but each applicant must be sponsored by a faculty member in the biological sciences. Fellowships pay $3800 for 11 weeks of full time research in a sponsoring laboratory, followed by student participation in an end-of-the-summer symposium. The application consists of two documents - one prepared by the student applicant and one prepared by the mentor. Applications are made available in January of each year and are due in early March. Questions should be addressed to Kevin Ahern at 541-737-2305 or ahernk@onid.orst.edu. BRR students are awarded Undergraduate Research, Innovation, Scholarship and Creativity (URISC) Grants: Winter/Spring 2008:

Cespedes, Nichole (Roger Ely; Biological and Ecological Engineering): "Purification of a Thermotolerant Hydrogenase for Production of Biohydrogen as a Source of Alternative Energy" Summer 2008: McKenney, Melissa (Sujaya Rao, Crop and Soil Sciences): "Comparison of Pollination by Native Bumble Bees in Oregon Cranberry"

Winfield, Tammy [Dual Options in Pest Mgmt. & Biology and Sustainable Ecosystems] (John Lambrinos, Horticulture): "Quantifying the Value of Native Plants for Improving Pollination and Biological Control in Agroecosystems" Fall 2008: Malmo, Jay (Jane Ishmael, Pharmaceutical Sciences): "Investigation of Red Sea Microbial Extracts as a Source of Potential Neurological Agents"

Special Announcement: WELCOME Isabella Hope Burnett!

Congratulations to the Burnetts on the arrival of their daughter.

Internships:

A Community Service Center/AmeriCorps Students in Service program internship was awarded to Jeehye Lee for summer work to provide educational outreach and links to sustainable food supplies at Corvallis and Albany Farmers’ Markets for low-income residents.

Lalee Lo spent the summer working for the USDA Forest Service in California as a community-liaison specialist working with cultural and ethnic groups facilitating the use of public forestlands in a responsible and sustainable manner. Lalee secured this internship by presenting his project, ZEBRAFISH RESEARCH: EXPRESSION OF TUMOR NECROSIS FACTOR ALPHA AND INTERFERON GAMMA IN NEMATODE-INFECTED FISH, earning a Certificate of Excellence at the National MANRRS Conference. His mentor is Jan M. Spitsbergen, Salmon Disease Laboratory and Center for Fish Disease

Tuan Huynh interned with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service through their Student Career Experience Program. He is training as a Soil Conservationists and works with public landowners on Wetlands Reserve Program and other conservation technical support areas.

Welcome New Students:

AnnaRose Adams, David Bade, Kerry Bozanich, Joanna Fisher, Tori Grimwood, Dawn Merrill, Dominque Sabedra, Ihadira Lopez de Search, and Rebecca Bathke. We are happy you are here!

Thanks to faculty for sharing their research programs in the BRR 100, Great Experiments course presentations:

Fall 2007: Karyn Bird, College of Veterinary Medicine Tamzen Stringham, Rangeland Ecology and Management John Selker, Biological and Ecological Engineering Erica Bakker, Horticulture Jeff Shaman, College of Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences Lewis Semprini, Chemical, Biological and Env. Engineering

Fall 2008: Jennifer Field, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology Manoj Pastey, BioMedical Sciences Denny Bruck, Horticulture/USDA Agricultural Research Service Jeff Chang and graduate student Jeff Kimbrel, Botany and Plant Pathology We couldn’t do without you!

*Spring Term Dean’s List:* Jay Malmo, Greg Petrossian, Katherine Peed, Nikki

Marshall, Erika Snow, Anneke Tucker, Tammy Winfield...Congrats!

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Alumni News:

Shannon Bell – Applied Genetics and Biotechnology ‘06, currently attending Michigan State University, Biochemistry PhD candidate, received a 2008/09 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship award for up to $30,000 per year for three years.

Bryan Danielson – Biotechnology ’07, currently at Baylor School of Medicine, PhD Virology candidate working on a pilot study to investigate the role of xenotropic murine leukemia virus related virus (XMRV), a novel gammaretrovirus, in prostate tumorigenesis and preparing a few abstracts for his qualifying exams and proposal defense the first week of December.

Kendall Dutcher – Toxicology ‘07 returns to OSU this fall (’08) for graduate school in the Science and Math Education program to train as a high school science teacher. She was selected by the graduate school to receive the Thurgood Marshall Graduate Fellowship. http://oregonstate.edu/dept/grad_school/current/marshall.html You may spot her on a nearby rugby field with her fiancée, Derek.

Kelly Helms – Food Quality ‘00 earned an MD at University of Nevada School of Medicine and is currently a resident at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, Arizona.

Pachida Lo – Toxicology ’06 begins her MD training at Oregon Health Sciences University.

Aly Mohamed – Biotechnology ’06, after finishing his MS at OSU, has moved with his new wife to Milwaukee to attend The Medical College of Wisconsin.

Mike Peoples – Biotechnology, Applied Genetics and Animal Reproduction and Development ‘03 attends Texas

A&M and plans to complete his Master’s by the New Year and to continue for a PhD. His research with the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences involves inhibition of Foot and

Mouth Disease virus in vitro using RNA interference, and Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis (BSE), a neurodegenerative disease, and the function of prions.

Matthew Wenning – Toxicology ’07 works at OSU for the National Pesticide Information Center.

We love to hear from graduates! Please keep in touch!

GRADUATE FOCUS

Anne Taylor – Sustainable Ecosystems ‘00 – is in the Deep Subsurface Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Program at Oregon State University. “I completed both my undergraduate and masters degrees at OSU, in BRR and Environmental Soil Science.

Before joining the IGERT program as a student in the Environmental Engineering department I worked as a research assistant in the OSU microbiology department. This IGERT fits me because my research interests involve soil science, microbiology, environmental engineering, genetics and biochemistry. My co-advisors, Lew Semprini in Environmental Engineering and Peter Bottomley in Microbiology, both collaborate extensively with researchers in other disciplines. My research involves the bioremediation of pollutants in the subsurface, particularly chlorinated solvents in groundwater systems. My objectives are to: 1) investigate substrate range, induction, inhibition, and cometabolism of organisms that primarily grow on 2C alkenes, 2) isolate novel ethylene, vinyl chloride and fluoroethylene degrading bacteria to allow a wider comparison of the halogenated ethene degradation ability, 3) characterize phylogenetic and physiological diversity among these organisms to identify genes responsible for substrate range, and 4) determine the degradation potential in sediments obtained from a contaminated site at Ft. Lewis, WA. Read about Anne's research at: http://sbi.oregonstate.edu/news/200701.htm

Jeff Burnett – Biotechnology ’08 – tries to live his motto, "This above all; to thine own self be true." Jeff was awarded two Howard Hughes Medical Institute summer research fellowships, and a national summer research award from the American Society for Microbiology. Jeff also received the Overholser scholarship for outstanding junior in Microbiology, and shared the award for outstanding BRR student. His research projects with Dan Rockey in the Biomedical Science Department were very productive. Not only did Jeff learn a tremendous amount about scientific research and what he wants to do as a career, but he coauthored the publication in the Journal of Bacteriology of the genome sequence of a fish pathogen that causes bacterial kidney disease in salmon, as well as a paper in BMC Microbiology on the host cell interactions of Chlamydia trachomatis. Jeff also feels a tremendous responsibility to his family and his community. A father of two, and the “husband of his beautiful wife, Shauna”, he loves spending quality time with them. When he is not with them, he is busy volunteering, whether as President of the OSU Blood Drive Association, as an assistant wrestling coach at a local high school, or as an interpreter at a low-income health clinic. During a study abroad, Jeff worked in a low-income health clinic in Morelia, Mexico. "The experience was an eye-opener for me, being able to see just how much doctors could do with so little." He also says that his experience helped him pick a career in the biomedical sciences. Jeff says that he wouldn't have all of the opportunities or options that he has now, if it wasn't for the BRR program. He owes his research knowledge and practical experience to the challenging yet worthwhile curriculum, and the mentorship and guidance of the BRR faculty and staff. "Wanda is an invaluable asset to the program, as is the director Dr. Field and former co-director Dr. Anita Azarenko." Jeff encourages anyone to contact him for a student's perspective on the advantages of the BRR program: burnettj@onid.orst.edu