Six University of Kentucky students took honors at the Kentucky Academy of Science (KAS) Annual Meeting held Nov. 3-4, at Murray State University. With more than 500 scientists and students in attendance, hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students from Kentucky and regional colleges and universities participated in the research competitions.
The UK students who won awards in the KAS student competitions are as follows:
The University of Kentucky recently announced the 16 undergraduate winners of the 53rd annual Oswald Research and Creativity Competition.
Established in 1964 by former UK President John Oswald, the Oswald Research and Creativity Program encourages research and creative activities by undergraduate students at UK. The objectives of the program are to stimulate creative work by undergraduate students and to recognize individuals who demonstrate outstanding achievement.
Single molecule measurements of membrane receptor assembly, trafficking, and function are complicated by the inherent properties of the native cellular environment. We utilize a combination of nanoscale plasmonic devices and cell-derived vesicles to isolate single membrane receptors in their native lipid bilayer membrane. This provides a method to extend single molecule studies to proteins that cannot be purified from the cell. This approach also allows us to compare populations of the same protein residing in different organelles such as the endoplasmic reticulum and the plasma membrane.
We applied these methods to determine how nicotinic receptor ligands alter the assembly of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Exposure to nicotine led to increased fractions of the high sensitivity stoichiometry of α4β2 during synthesis in the endoplasmic reticulum showing that nicotine alters the assembly of nascent receptor subunits. The use of nanoscale plasmonic devices and cell derived nanovesicles serves to defeat the concentration barrier associated with single molecule imaging extending these methods to physiological environments.
Students from the STEAM Academy will be presenting their ideas and designs on how space travelers could survive a 1,000 year trip. The focus will be on creating sustainable ecological systems necessary to maintain generations of space travelers as they travel through the cosmos towards their final destination. This poster session should be educational and thought provoking as students share the insights they discovered while planning for this trip.
Who wants to live forever? Four scientists have discovered the fountain of youth in a new stem cell procedure. Little do they know that the oldest member of the team is trying to destroy their project. In one night they question history, women’s place in science, and the value of time as they wrestle with the fate of an overcrowded earth.
Timeless: A Scientific Comedy, by Raegan Payne, won the biennial Prize for Women Playwrights and will have its world premiere on November 2-4 at the Farish Theater, Lexington Public Library, 140 East Main Street.
Innovations in stem cell technologies have long been a fascination for the playwright. Payne started college as a pre-med student at Sewanee: The University of the South, and only later discovered a love of playwriting. Her script was blindly chosen from over 180 entries from 31 states in the U.S. plus Canada and New Zealand. She lives in southern California but was born in Murray, Ky., and raised in Louisville. She will hold a conversation with the audience after the Saturday matinee.
The play is produced and directed by Eric Seale and Jessica York, in collaboration with the University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences, and stars Debbie Sharp, Forrest Loeffler, Bailey Preston, and Darius Fatemi.
Tickets are $15 general admission/$10 students/$8 students 15 minutes before curtain. Tickets may be purchased at the door or in advance at this link:
