Three of Alabama State University forensic students are soon to be on their way to present their cutting-edge research at the National Science Foundation (NSF) Emerging Researchers national (ERN) conference on Feb. 21-23, in Washington, D.C. after having been awarded national travel awards.
Alexis Morgan and Shannon Pittman, graduate students in the ASU Forensic Science Program, and undergraduate forensic biology major Marquis Nelson’s winning abstracts are their collaborative thanatomicrobiome work performed in ASU’s Thanatos Laboratory under the guidance of acclaimed national forensic science researcher, Dr. Gulnaz Javan.
STUDENTS TO ATTEND NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION CONFERENCE
Attendance at the conference provides important exposure to research in the forensic field and to the scientists who undertake that research. For this reason, ERN’s travel awards help with costs associated with attending the meeting, which are conference registration, hotel accommodations, airfare and ground transportation. ERN is an annual conference that highlights the research of undergraduate and graduate students who participate in NSF-sponsored research programs.
MORGAN LOOKS AT POSTMORTEM MICROBIOME
Javan said Morgan’s study was performed in collaboration with Dr. DeEtta Mills, director of International Forensic Research Institute at the esteemed Florida International University in Miami, Florida. Morgan’s project is that screen postmortem microbiome is to generate a community DNA profile using capillary electrophoresis. This approach is advantageous because it provides a rapid genetic pattern of the microbes present in a sample, which is an important factor to consider when selecting samples for further sequencing processing.
“This is such a great honor and opportunity for these students to showcase their hard work and scientific knowledge. These awards not only support our future scientists but epitomizes collaborative research and STEM educational goals,” Mills said.
NELSON'S RESEARCH
Nelson’s work is a collaborative effort headed by his research mentor Dr. Sheree Finley of ASU’s Physical Sciences Department. It was funded in part by the Department of Education Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program (MSEIP) led by Dr. Komal Vig, director of MSEIP at ASU. Their thanatomicrobiome studies seek to uncover the putrefactive microorganisms in cadaver internal organs to provide advanced molecular identification tools for forensic investigations.
STUDY BY PITTMAN
Pittman's study, Javan said, is a thanatomicrobiome study that focuses on the consequences of corpse death on microbial signatures for corpses discovered in the United States and Finland. This study is the first of its kind to use next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics techniques to compare postmortem microbial diversity of corpses from two different geographical locations. Pittman collaborated with the University of Pavia in Italy for her project.
Dr. Douglas Strout of ASU’s Forensic Science Program encourages the winners to “make the most of the opportunity.”
This is the fourth year in a row that students from the Thanatos Lab have received travel awards for abstracts submitted to the ERN competition, with six of Javan’s students having received this coveted prize.
“Our students are being exposed to some of the most advanced research projects which prepare them for successful careers in the field of forensics,” Javan said.
Posted By: Reginald Culpepper
Wednesday, January 23rd 2019 at 2:04PM
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