La Sierra Summer Research Experience goes to Philadelphia

  College of Arts & Sciences   STEM  

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- It’s a long-standing tradition for La Sierra University faculty and students to attend the eminent American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Meeting and Experimental Biology Conference. This year’s event in Philadelphia, a first in-person conference in two years, was no exception.

<p> La Sierra University biology students Ailinh Nguyen, left, and Kaitlyn Mamora present their research during the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Meeting and Experimental Biology Conference in Philadelphia. </p>

La Sierra University biology students Ailinh Nguyen, left, and Kaitlyn Mamora present their research during the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Meeting and Experimental Biology Conference in Philadelphia.

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“It is one of the premier scientific meetings in biochemistry and molecular biology in the United States,” said Marvin Payne, Title V project director at La Sierra University and a biochemistry associate professor. “Covid-19 put the meeting online so it was good to be back in person,” he said.

This year Payne together with Title V STEM Resources Development Coordinator Tabetha Johnson and biology students Kaitlyn Mamora and Ailinh Nguyen traveled to Philadelphia for the conference held the first week of April. Mamora and Nguyen also participated in the university’s 2021 pilot of Summer Research Experience funded by a Title V grant. The new program offers an opportunity for undergraduate students to work in an active laboratory environment while receiving compensation for expenses to facilitate training. The students assist with experiments and research while earning real-life experience in the laboratory. This summer the fledgling program hosted another two students and helped others get into research experiences at Loma Linda University.

During the Summer Research Experience pilot rollout last summer, Mamora and Nguyen conducted research with associate biology professor Eugene Joseph. They presented their analysis and findings with a research poster during a competitive poster event at the conference in April. Their poster represented eight weeks of focused work which took place under stringent Covid-19 protocol as the pandemic surged. They received a $4,000 stipend for their work. “They turned out great research under hard circumstances,” said Payne.

Johnson and Payne also presented a poster during the conference on their study of STEM Bridge, another piloted program funded by Title V which rolled out last summer in addition to an online Math Bridge and Summer Research Experience. STEM Bridge is a holistic, no-cost, two-week summer intensive for incoming first-year and transfer students interested in STEM majors. The program utilizes a state-of-the-art hydroponics Freight Farm in collaboration with the Zapara School of Business Enactus team as a training platform for participants.

“Under challenging Covid-19 conditions, we still piloted our Summer Research Experience and STEM Bridge,” said Payne. 

Payne served on the Experimental Biology Conference’s student chapter committee for many years and functioned as a judge for past research poster competitions. He witnessed the effects of the pandemic on students who entered posters in this year’s event. “Some people had to be virtual. Some got to be in labs. It puts students at a disadvantage. There was more variation in the quality of posters.”

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