Liberty University Biology Department Students, Professor Earn Virginia Academy of Science’s Top Award

Lynchburg, VA (PRWEB) May 30, 2014

Liberty University Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Gary Isaacs and four of his former students received the J. Shelton Horsley award at the Virginia Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting on May 16 at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va. The award is the highest honor conferred by the academy for original research.

The team received the award for an article published in a recent issue of the Journal of Alzheimers Disease.

This is truly exceptional for students to be involved in this level of research as undergraduates, said Dr. David DeWitt, professor and chair of the Department of Biology & Chemistry. For the study to be recognized with an award demonstrates the results of faculty and students committed to excellence in their endeavors.

Isaacs called Noor Taher (13) the driving force behind the article. Taher just completed his first year of graduate school at Dartmouth University, where he is working on his Ph.D. Courtney McKenzie (12), who has completed her second year of veterinary school at Virginia Tech, and Rebecca Garrett (12), who is a lab technician at the University of Virginia, provided initial research at Liberty before Matthew Baker (14), who will start medical school at George Washington University this fall, also assisted with experiments and the writing of the manuscript.

For the third year in a row, Liberty undergraduate students also received recognition at the meeting for best poster and best oral presentation in the biology/microbiology category.

Competition is not limited to undergraduate students; half of the submissions are from masters students, Ph.D. students, professors, and research technicians. Judges reviewed published articles, posters, and oral presentations from hundreds of students and faculty members from schools across the state.

Rising senior Amanda Hazy, working under Isaacs supervision, won for her poster illustrating how genes being turned on and off in the brain can be analyzed using cells from blood samples as indicators.

Ryan Montalvo, who graduated May 10 with a B.S. in cellular and molecular biology, won for his talk on how laboratory, commensal, and probiotic E. coli adapts to the intestine and competes with the intestinal microbione. He received research direction from Associate Professor of Microbiology Dr. Andrew Fabich.

Hannah Drown ('14), a pre-med student who graduated with a B.S. in Biomedical Sciences, was also awarded honorable mention for her poster produced under the supervision of Fabich. Drowns research focused on the rise of novel antibiotic resistances by bacteria in the intestine. Cassandra Black, Abigail Lenz, and Matt Bingham also presented their research with Fabich about their work understanding how pathogenic E. coli causes disease.

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Liberty University Biology Department Students, Professor Earn Virginia Academy of Science's Top Award