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The Lake Forest College chapter of Beta Beta Beta invites the college community to the First Annual Kenneth L. Weik Undergraduate Life Sciences Research Symposium on November 10 from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. at the Johnson Bridge, 2nd Floor, Johnson Science Center. The public is welcome to attend free of charge. Please call 847-234-3100 for more information.

View symposium program and presentation abstracts.

The symposium will highlight the scholarship of 36 undergraduates and recent alumni. Richter scholars and senior thesis students will present scholarly work that spans the breadth of biology, from molecular biology to ecology, and even connect biology with art. Specific topics include investigation of fossil records, telomere biology, addiction and brain adaptation, learning and memory, stress and emotional behavior, and molecular mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, American Parkinson Disease Association, Parkinson Disease Foundation directly support some of student work done at the College or off-campus.

Given its research focus, the biology department takes seriously its responsibility to train students to effectively communicate the significance of their findings. Writing, public speaking, and technological communication are all part of what it takes to be a scientist. “We are delighted to work with Beta Beta Beta in organizing this symposium so we can showcase the exciting original research that a growing number of our students are doing, both on and off campus, including students who have been working in the new undergraduate summer fellows program at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (RFUMS),” says Professor of Biology Anne Houde, chair of the biology department. “The Weik Symposium gives many of our students a first-time opportunity to show off their achievements, and we will be selecting a smaller number to nominate for the spring Student Symposium.”

First time presenter and RFUMS-Lake Forest College summer fellow, biology sophomore Pascal Accoh ’12 states, “The most valuable outcome for me while participating in the summer RFUMS program was being able to make a contribution towards the advancement of neuroscience research. I am looking forward to presenting at the November 10th symposium not only to present some of the interesting things I discovered, but also to talk about the other skills that I developed during my summer research experience.”

About Kenneth Weik, Professor of Biology, Emeritus

The symposium is named after Kenneth L. Weik, Professor of Biology, Emeritus, who for 34 years from 1967-2001 was a mainstay of the biology department and faculty advisor to Beta Beta Beta for nearly 20 of those years.

He continues to contribute after his retirement by teaching some undergraduate courses and participating in a graduate seminar on public policy and the environment. A graduate of Northern Illinois University, Professor Weik achieved his doctorate in botany from Southern Illinois University. One of his great pleasures was introducing his students to field work, an enthusiasm that he also carried to the Associated Colleges of the Midwest’s Wilderness Field Station in Minnesota. In an extracurricular mode, he put his knowledge to great use locally by organizing and supporting projects to restore native plants and trees to our campus.

About Beta Beta Beta

Founded in 1935, the college’s Beta Beta Beta chapter is one of the oldest campus organizations, with 40 current members and hundreds of alumni. Its primary mission on-campus is to stimulate interest, scholarly attainment, and investigation in the biological sciences among Lake Forest students and within the college community. “For nearly 75 years, Beta Beta Beta has had a significant presence in the Department of Biology,” says Professor Weik. “Ever since Lambda Phi Chapter was founded on our campus in 1935, it has recognized and honored students for superior academic achievement in the biological sciences. It continues today in that fine tradition, while we the faculty acknowledge that many of its present members have also become outstanding undergraduate research scientists in their own right.”

President Clare Conlisk ’10 says, “Creating this symposium perfectly supports a key Tri-Beta organizational goal by providing a mechanism that makes scientific knowledge and research accessible to the public. This is one of the greatest challenges in 21st century society, and is the most valuable skill science majors can hope to learn while in college.”

List of presentations and presenting authors:

Motor-skill learning in a running wheel paradigm is mediated by the striatum
Pascal Accoh ’12 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Heinz Steiner, Rosalind Franklin)

The time course of the effects of stress on affective behavior in rodents
Derek Atchley ’10 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Amiel Rosenkranz, Rosalind Franklin)

The exploration of early cretaceous (90 million years ago) fossils in central Utah
Stephanie Sobieraj ’12 and Tommy Biesiada ’11 (Faculty sponsor: Dr.Terry Gates)

Role of potassium, chloride, and taurine during volume regulation by rainbow trout red blood cells
Daniella Brutman ’12 and Paulius Kuprys’12 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Doug Light)

Cortical metabolic neuroadaptation after repeated cocaine injection and withdrawal depends on the postnatal age by which drug exposure onset is given
Daryn Cass ’10 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Kuei-Yuan Tseng, Rosalind Franklin)

Analysis of neuronal phenotype in the ventral tegmental area
Stephanie Feld ’10 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Michela Marinelli Rosalind Franklin)

Insight into Parkinson’s disease: Do certain protein modifications doom cells?
Michael Fiske ’10 and Keith Solvang ’11 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Shubhik DebBurman)

Female preference for novel males in guppies Poeciliareticulata: Does a fresh face matter?
Robin Graber ’12 and Madhavi Senagolage ’12(Faculty sponsor: Dr. Anne Houde)

Analyzing splicing differences in genes associated with Alzheimer’s disease
Paige Keasler ’10 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Michelle Hastings, Rosalind Franklin)

Independent component analysis: A new method for the neural cocktail party
David Konefal ’11 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. William Frost, Rosalind Franklin)

Insight Into Parkinson’s disease: Autophagy to the rescue?
Alina Konnikova ’11 and Danny Sanchez ’11 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Shubhik DebBurman)

Insight in Parkinson’s disease: Is a-synuclein degraded by endocytosis?
Jaime Perez ’10 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Shubhik DebBurman)

Molecular basis of stabilizing an RNA duplex essential to ribosome biogenesis
Ashleigh Porter ’11 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Carl Correll, Rosalind Franklin)

Measuring fungal ends: Does length vary with reproductive mechanism?
Saajidha Rizvydeen ’12 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Karen Kirk)

Maturation of NMDA receptor synaptic function in the prefrontal cortex emerges during the adolescent transition period
Natalie Simak ’11 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Kuei-Yuan Tseng, Rosalind Franklin)

A method to study the subcellular localization of micro-RNAs diagnostic of breast cancer
Brittany Stern ’11 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Dominik Duelli, Rosalind Franklin)

C. elegans: A model for development
Anneliese Szutenbach ’12 and Carlos Becerra-Meneses ’10 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Pliny Smith)

The blending of art and science
Natalia Wilkins ’11(Faculty sponsor: Dr. Lindsay Zanno, The Field Musuem)

Using nematodes to find gene locations related to Muscular Dystrophy
Shabana Yusufishaq ’12 (Faculty sponsor: Dr. Hongkyun Kim, Rosalind Franklin)

Lake Forest College is a national liberal arts institution located 30 miles north of downtown Chicago. The College has nearly 1,400 students representing 47 states and 71 countries.