The Missouri Academy of Science (MAS) Annual Meeting was held April 12-13 at Northwest Missouri State University.

Several biology and cooperative engineering students presented at MAS.

Dr. Kyoungate Kim’s lab

Students from Dr. Kyoungate Kim’s lab presented their research:

• Onika Olson: Dynamin-assisted proteoliposome fusion
• Deborah Ehie: TEAB and TEPB: Gene therapy alternatives
• Mya Ly: Type 5 Myosin for trafficking of Snc1 and Vps10 cargo
• Kafayat Yusuf: The use of palladium (Pd) and platinum (Pt) cyanoximates in the treatment of cancer cells, initiating a new approach to cancer chemotherapy
• Ehsan Suez: Novel function of Vps1 on membrane fusion

Kim says this conference has no competition or awards, making the students more relaxed. They can practice presenting without the added pressure.

In addition to presenting, students could meet other researchers, find mentors and network.

Kim also found the conference beneficial. Instead of focusing on research, he focused on teaching techniques.

“I love learning from others,” Kim said. “I attended an education talk about how the presenter harnessed self-made YouTube videos to motivate students’ learning opportunities. This actually motivates me to do a similar approach for my students.”

Dr. Babur Mirza’s lab

Six students from Dr. Babur Mirza’s lab went as well. Though he was unable to go, he was excited for his students to attend.

Three students from Mirza’s lab presented.

One student who attended, Parris Mayhood, liked presenting to people who were interested in her research.

Femila Manoj, who is starting her graduate work next year, also thought the conference was beneficial outside of science.

“My favorite part was re-meeting with people I have previously met at other conferences,” Manoj said. “It was really cool to see how their projects had progressed since the last time we spoke. I also loved being able to represent Missouri State University.”

Dr. Chris Lupfer’s lab

Several students from Dr. Chris Lupfer’s lab attended the conference as well.

Dr. Sanjay Tewari’s lab

Erin Bereyso and Chris Thorsen from Dr. Sanjay Tewari’s lab attended the conference. Tewari is adjunct faculty for the cooperative engineering program.

“They both gained hands-on research experience in my environmental analysis and water quality lab in PCTR,” Tewari said.