Record number of students participate in biology symposium

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/biosymposium.jpg” caption=”Dr. Turlough Finan (left), chair of the Department of Biology, with oral presentation award winners and students who received honourable mention. Front row, from left: Bobbijo Sawchyn, Alicia DiBattista, Caitlin Mroz, Sanam Taheri, Fiona Rutka and Christine King. Back row: Jeffrey Kentner, Timothy Soh, Eric Smyth and Juliet Daniel, course co-ordinator. Photo courtesy of Department of Biology.”]The Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, recently held its annual fourth-year Honours Undergraduate Symposium. With a total of 96 students, it was a record number of participants for the annual event.

“The Symposium is a compilation of this year's hard work for Senior Thesis and Project students,” said Juliet Daniel, coordinator of the thesis/project course and associate professor in the Department of Biology. “The level of scientific work and professionalism that is required by these students to complete their theses and projects is a reflection of the expectations that will greet them at the post-graduate level or in the work force.”

The fourth-year thesis course is also fortunate to have the dedication and commitment of many research supervisors and co-supervisors, whose mentoring has guided these students through this intense process of research and thesis development. The symposium gave students the opportunity to not only learn to conduct research, but communicate the results of their research with colleagues and professionals.

Due to the wide range of biological topics covered, the oral presentations and posters were categorized according to research discipline, such as genetics, microbiology and ecology. Students were judged on their oral or poster presentation within a chosen field of interest.

Jeffrey Kentner, supervised by Jonathan Bramson, was one of the winners of the oral presentations in cellular and molecular genetics specialty.

“Participating in the symposium was really satisfying,” said Kentner. “Not only did it give me a chance to talk about this really cool cancer vaccine project I've had the opportunity to work on for the better part of a year, but being there with my class and all the professors, it really started to feel like my degree was culminating into something. Next year, I hope to pursue a graduate degree in molecular genetics at the University of Glasgow, working on the design of enzymes for targeted gene repair.”

Kathy McIntosh, undergraduate administrator in the Department of Biology, added, “The topics covered in these senior theses and projects reflect the diverse talents of both our faculty and students. Congratulations to all the students who persevered and delivered exceptionally professional and high-calibre oral and poster presentations.”