Contact: James Carskadon

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Three Mississippi State students who conducted faculty-guided research projects throughout the current school year took top awards this month at the 12th annual MSU Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Program symposium.

First-, second- and third-place winners each garnered Downer Undergraduate Research Awards that honor Professor Emeritus Donald N. Downer of Starkville, a former longtime department head. Recipients include:

FIRST—Sara Tyrrell, a senior biological sciences major from North Augusta, South Carolina. Her project “RNA-Templated Transcription in Viroid Replication: Alternative Splicing and Transcription Factor IIIA” was completed under the guidance of Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Ying Wang.

SECOND—Amber Travis, a senior microbiology major from Ocean Springs. Her project “Classifying the Activity of SP1466 protein in Streptococcus pneumonia” was completed under the guidance of Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Justin Thornton.

THIRD—John C. Vines, a senior biological sciences major from Philadelphia. His project “Characterizing the RTG2 promoter: Using Rtg2ΔA411 to investigate the mechanism controlling RTG2 transcription” was completed under the guidance of Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Donna Gordon.

Each winner received an engraved plaque and cash award. As the first-place recipient, Tyrrell also was presented with an engraved MSU cowbell.

Wang received the First Place Mentor Award for his support of undergraduate research.

Dr. Cooper Brookshire, an MSU alumnus and clinical instructor of shelter medicine in MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, served as the keynote speaker for the symposium at Harned Hall.

Part of the College of Arts and Sciences, MSU’s Department of Biological Sciences is online at www.biology.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.