In early April, a contingent from Hillsdale’s biology honorary, Tri-Beta, attended the northcentral region Tri-Beta student research conference in Athens, Ohio. Schools from throughout Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio attended. Oral presentations were heard in two divisions: cell/molecular biology and organismal/ecology. As part of the conference, a competition was held to determine the best presentations in both divisions.

Hillsdale was extremely successful. In the Cell/Molecular division,
Kale Manuel took first place with “Conversion of a lacZ reporter strain via recombination with pMarMar plasmids.” Heather Mewes came in third place with her presentation: “Amelioration of Genotoxicity by Açai Berry as assessed by the SOS-Chromotest.”

In the Organismal/Ecological division, Jessica Wasson earned first place for her presentation on “Effects of terrestrial habitat loss on biological stream conditions,” and James Markman took second place with “The importance of the ND2 region of Mitochondrial DNA in distinguishing subpopulations of the southern ground hornbill, Bucorvus leadbeateri.”

Wasson and Manuel also qualified for the national Tri-Beta competition in Puerto Rico.

Vince Alentado, Connie Brandin, Jeremy Davis, and Leila Reynolds also gave outstanding presentations, and Hillsdale was the top overall school at the conference.