COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

The Department of Biological & Irrigation Engineering saw four undergraduate research students present their projects in the Rotunda of the State Capitol on Thursday, January 29 at the Research on Capitol Hill event, now in its ninth year.

Leslie Mounteer, Victoria Kmetzsch, Eric Monson, and Andrew Vanderwerf were four out of thirty-three USU undergraduates to join over two-dozen of their peers from the University of Utah in displaying research posters.  These students, from Utah's two public universities, were on hand to show and discuss their research with state legislators and other visitors.

 

Kmetzsch and Mounteer's PEG Surface Modification for Bacterial Chemotaxis Quantification looks at bacteria in bioremediation, and how polyethylene glycol (PEG) and its derivatives reduce bacterial adhesion on glass microslides.  Specifically, they want to find a way to make it less likely for bacteria to adhere to the slides.  They are advised by Assistant Professor of Biological Engineering, Dr. Anhong Zhou.

Eric Monson and Andrew Vanderwerf are researching how to copy a human genome by using special enzymes that replicate DNA in a cost-effective manner.  Human DNA is difficult and expensive to obtain.  Application Design for the Removal of Bias from Multiple Displacement Amplified DNA for use in Copy Number Variation Genetic Assays is a cross-departmental collaboration facilitated by Dr. Anthony Torres, M.D., Director of the Biomedical Laboratory at the Center for Persons with Disabilities at USU.

Images from the Utah State Capitol Rotunda    

    By Jennifer M. Carroll
    Published February 5, 2009