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  The Edge of Evolution

  Michael Behe PhD and Southern Adventist University

  "The Edge of Evolution" by Michael Behe, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry at Lehigh University.

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  Oral Microbial Community Dynamics and Virulence

  Hansel Fletcher PhD and Southern Adventist University

  "Oral Microbial Community Dynamics and Virulence: Strategies for Survival Under Oxidative Stress," by Hansel Fletcher, PhD, Dean of Basic Sciences, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University.

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  Bill Hayes - A Sting to Die For : Venom Composition and Venom Expenditure in Scorpions

  Southern Adventist University

  Venomous animals often possess complex venom delivery systems that are designed to inject their toxic secretion into the tissue of prey and/or predators. Effectiveness of venom deployment depends on two critical factors: composition and quantity of venom delivered. To better understand the venoms of scorpions and how it is used, we conducted a series of behavioral and chemical studies to investigate the venoms of two North American species (the desert hairy and the dune scorpions) and one African species (the South African fattail scorpion). Venom is a complicated secretion and we have observed its' use to be more sophisticated and varied than previously thought.

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  Jennie Janssen - Whale Sharks, Mantas & Jellies : Oh My! From Happy Valley to a Career in Public Aquaria

  Southern Adventist University

  You know what you love, but can you make a living at it? When your dream is to have a job where you can swim with sharks every day, not only do people think you're crazy, but you too recognize the impracticality of such an aspiration. But, life sometimes plays out unexpectedly and dreams can suddenly become reality. In my 20+ years working in public aquaria, I've logged over 750 dives (most with sharks), opened the world's largest aquarium, conducted the first physicals on whale sharks, participated in coral restoration, discovered a new species of box jellyfish, and am currently collaborating with the Smithsonian and National Geographic. This presentation will revisit some of my journey's highlights and the lessons I've learned along the way.

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  Krista Bonney - All the Things No One Ever Told Me About Going To Medical School

  Southern Adventist University

  I will be sharing stories about my path to medical school, what I wish I had known, and what has helped me the most along the way. I will then briefly discuss what you can be ding now to be ready for applications, the transition from undergrad into medical school, and what well-meant advice you can ignore. To make this the most helpful it can be, I expect people to come with questions.

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  Marcus Ross - (Mostly) Dry Bones: What Fossils Can Tell Us About the Flood

  Southern Adventist University

  Scripture lays out a clear case that Noah's Flood covered and destroyed the entire planet, wiping out all land-dwelling, air-breathing animals and people. While most paleontologists see the fossil record as a multi-billion-year sequence of life, there are many powerful evidences that fossils instead point to a recent, short-duration, world-destructive flood.

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  Penelope Deurksen-Hughes - Faith and Science: My Journey from Childhood to a Career in Science

  Southern Adventist University

  In this presentation, Dr. Deurksen-Hughes will recount how her understanding regarding the connections between her faith and her passion for science has changed from her early childhood into a career as a professional cancer researcher.

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  Student Research Presentations

  Southern Adventist University

  Thesis and research students present their original research.

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  Suzanne Phillips - Bacterial Locomotion : The How's and Why's

  Southern Adventist University

  Motile bacteria navigate their environment via chemotaxis systems. These systems consist of a sensor that communicates to the flagellar motor through a two-component signaling mechanism. Research in Vibrio cholera shows a unique sensor proten with two PAS Heme ending domains. Our research concentrates on understanding the role of the Che II operon in Vibrio cholera, Vibrio vulnificus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as well as elucidating the signaling mechanism of the Aer2 sensor.

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  Timothy Trott - Plants, the Other Eukaryotes

  Southern Adventist University

  Plants are often overlooked as the less exciting eukaryotic cousins of animals. They are, in fact, fascinating examples of eukaryotic diversity as the plant kingdom includes many examples of biochemical pathways and anatomical structures not found in other forms of life. As a cell and molecular biologist, the biochemistry and physiology of plants have always provided an endless source of fascination. This presentation will give an overview of the use of model plant systems in several ongoing research projects being conducted by Southern Adventist University students. Projects include: (1) Characterizing he phytoremediation capabilities of Coriander sativum. (2) Quantitating the levels of berberine in over-the-counter herbal supplements. (3) Determining the best DNA preparation kit for extracting DNA from mature oak tree leaves for downstream sequencing applications. (4) Quantitation of the antibacterial affect of berberine from whole root extracts of Goldenseal.

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  Benjamin Wildman - The Dewey Decimal System of Bone: An Epigenetic Pathway that Controls Bone Growth In-Vivo

  Southern Adventist University

  There are over 53 million individuals in the United States that suffer from, or are at high risk of getting osteoporosis. With very few effective methods to treat this bone disorder, it is important to discover new therapeutics. One method to identify new treatments is to better understand the cells that build bone: osteoblasts. We have identified an epigenetic pathway in osteoblasts that regulates bone growth in mice. By better understanding how osteoblasts develop to build bone, we seek to identify strategies to more effectively treat bone loss disorders like osteoporosis.

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  Brian Dickinson - Becoming a Veterinarian: A Journey of Passion and Perserverance

  Southern Adventist University

  In this lecture, Dr. Brian Dickinson will discuss his personal journey from Southern Adventist University (graduated '97) into his career as a small animal veterinarian. He will detail some of his obstacles, hardships, and successes in the pursuit of his dream.

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  David Lindsey - Listening To the Conversations of a Social Amoeba

  Southern Adventist University

  Cells communicate with each other by sending and receiving signals. To regulate group size and coordinate activities, such as, cell proliferation, cells use rather complex signal vocabularies to communicate. We use a social amoeba as a model to understand the nature of these conversations.

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  David Nelsen and Aaron Corbit - Research in the Nelsen/Corbit Lab: Ecology, Toxinology, and Venomous Organisms

  Southern Adventist University

  Dr. Nelsen and Dr. Corbit will present their original research. Highlighting past and current projects including: spider venom, spider silk, animal behavior, rattlesnake bite epidemiology, rattlesnake ecology, and the impact of hiking trails on forest biodiversity.

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  David Wollert - The Fascinating and Controversial New Science of CRISPR

  Southern Adventist University

  Already hailed as the greatest discovery of the century, CRISPR is a powerful biotechnology tool giving scientists unprecedented access to the genetic makeup of all living organisms. It originally evolved as an adaptive immune system in bacteria, but when artificially harnessed in the laboratory, CRISPR allows scientists to accurately and precisely edit genes almost as it using a word processor. The potential applications are exciting and widespread, but they also open an enormous range of bioethical questions regarding how and when the technology should be used. This presentation will explore how CRISPR was discovered and how it is already revolutionizing the field of biology.

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  Jim Nestler - Sea Cucumbers: Rotting and Regenerating Zombies of the Sea

  Southern Adventist University

  The California Sea Cucumber (Parastichopus californicus) is a commonly-known echinoderm on the west coast of North America with a little-known seasonal cycle. In late fall, animals stop moving and experience complete degradation of their internal organs; they become little more than apparently dead bags of skin. Several weeks later, with no external signs of life, the internal organs regenerate and animals regain their activity. Dr. Nestler will describe current molecular, physiological, and ecological research he and his students are conducting on this bizarre phenomenon, and implications their findings may have for loss and regeneration of human internal organs.

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  The Rattlesnake's Deadly Bite: Venom Metering, Venom Composition, and Snakebite

  Southern Adventist University

  William K. Hayes spoke at Southern Adventist University on rattlesnake venom for the E.O. Grundset lecture series.

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  Thomas C. Jones - A Hundred Heads Are Better Than One : Crowdsourcing Research Into the Classroom

  Southern Adventist University

  Original title: Spiders on the Clock : Pushing the Limits of Circadian Biology. Circadian rhythms are endogenous oscillations, which become synchronized with the daily cycle regardless of external temperature. It is believed that these internal rhythms are advantageous, allowing organisms to anticipate regular changes in the environment: transition from day to night. Thus, there is a presumptive advantage to having an internal clock similar to a 24-hour day. However, we have discovered a species of spiders with internal clocks different from 24-hours, including species with the longest and shortest known circadian rhythms. This presentation will review what we know about spider circadian rhythms, and argue for spiders as a model into the fundamentals of chronobiology.

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  Benjamin Thornton - Research in a Toxicology Lab

  Southern Adventist University

  Jared Lewis reports on his research with Rachel Clark and Dr. Benjamin Thornton entitled "4-Methylcyclohexanemethanol Acute Toxicity to Daphnia and Its Effects on General Esterase and Glutathione S-Transferase Activity in Fathead Minnows", and Michael Baranda, Vanessa Gonslaves, Yalyn Labrador and McKenzie Martin report on their Arboretum Project research.

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  Christopher Brown - Is Autotomy Costly? A Tale of Spiders, of Legs Lost, and of What Comes After

  Southern Adventist University

  Autotomy is defined as the intentional sacrifice of a body part, and is usually done to avoid being eaten after an animal has been grabbed by a predator. This is obviously beneficial, since loosing a body part is better than losing your life! However, missing this body part may prove costly in the future. In this talk I examine leg autotomy in the wolf spider Pardosa valens from Arizona, and show how the loss of a leg can affect this spider's running speed on both its short-term and long-term survival.

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  David Cowles - The Triumphs and Trials of a Photosynthetic Animal

  Southern Adventist University

  Pentidotea resecata is a large, green isopod which lives on eelgrass near Rosario Beach Marine Laboratory during the summer. My students and I have investigated whether, besides providing good camouflage, its green color may be due to chlorophyll and whether the animal may, therefore, be able to photosynthesize. Evidence suggest these animals do have chlorophyll and can perform photosynthesis. I will present evidence for whether or not this is an advantage for the animal; and will explore some of the potential negative consequences of having active photosynthesis. In addition, I will present data that help give us some insight into its life cycle.

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  Hansel Fletcher - Oral Microbial Community Dynamics and Virulence : Strategies for Survival Under Oxidative Stress

  Southern Adventist University

  To survive in the periodontal pocket, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Filifactor alocis and other periodontal pathogens have developed mechanisms to scavenge nutrients and overcome their environment. Recent work demonstrates these activities are under the control of novel regulatory genes. We will highlight some of our observations that are consistent with the hypothesis that the virulence properties of the oral pathogens will enhance their ability to survive and persist in the periodontal pocket and play an important role in infection-induced periodontal disease. This information will provide important clues that will allow for the development of novel therapeutic interventions to aid in the control and prevention of periodontal diseases and other periodontal pathogen-associated diseases.

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  James Gulley - The Road to Bethesda: Search for a Cure

  Southern Adventist University

  Dr. James Gulley (1987) got his start at SAU then trained at LLU, Emory and the NCI to become and internationally recognized cancer immunotherapy physician scientist. He will share some of his experiences with early successes, failure and how he learned from them. His clinical trials have led to approval of Avelumab (a cancer immunotherapy agent) and another clinical trial could lead to approval soon for a second immunotherapy. Dr. Gulley will explain how our incredibly versatile immune system works to fight cancer and will offer science bases advice on how to strengthen the immune system, which could prevent cancer or decrease cancer recurrence.

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  Jose Barbosa - Finding Answers: From Environmental Stress to Human Health Using Molecular Approaches. Theory and Techniques

  Southern Adventist University

  GABA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid), is a non-protein amino acid that accumulates in response to many different types of stress. In order to better understand the different aspects of stress, Dr. Jose Barbosa presents how arabidopsis and yeast respond to different types of stress by studying GABA.

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  Keith Snyder - Taphonomy of a Dinosaur Bonebed

  Southern Adventist University

  Where did dinosaurs live? How did they die? What happened to them? Why are the extinct? Dr. Snyder will cover these and other questions about dinosaurs based on the work he has done on a large dinosaur bonebed in Wyoming. SWAU and SAU work together allowing students to take a science class at the dig, and apply it to their science requirement. Did dinosaurs make it on the ark? Come and find out.