9th International Symposium on Recent Advances in Environmental Health Research
This symposium promotes interdisciplinary discussions and international scientific collaborations. The symposium included speakers from several countries, representing all five continents. During the symposium the CBCB students presented posters on their research.
| Name | Award |
| Adesuwa Ekunwe | 1st Place |
| Kaelin Gates | 1st Place |
| Shauna-Kay Spencer | 1st Place |
| Antoniesha Hollman | 2nd Place |
| Kyle Swanier | 3rd Place |
Christopher D. Cathey
Christopher Cathey is a student researcher with the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at Jackson State University. He is a junior Biology/Pre-Dentistry major from Senatobia, Mississippi. Mr. Cathey attended The Eighth Annual Conference of the MidSouth Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Society (MCBIOS) 2011 at College Station, TX, in April 2011.He won the second position in the poster presentation category with his poster titled; “Carbohydrate Utilization Pathways Encoded in the Genome of Dental Pathogen Streptococcus Mutans UA159.” The primary focus of the research was to determine the number and types of carbohydrate utilization pathways encoded in strain UA159. It was analyzed on the gene list that a cluster of 6 genes on the chromosome were involved in carbohydrate utilization. Research is still being done to examine the chromosomal synteny and sequence characteristics of the prioritized genes to further understand the evolution of carbohydrate utilization in streptococcus mutans. Mr. Cathey believes that this research is vital for educating people on oral health. Also, he believes that it is important to understand the role oral hygiene, oral bacteria flora and food consumption plays in oral and general body health.
Tamara Medley
Tamara Medley, a student with the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at Jackson State University received a 2nd place award for her poster titled, “Bacteria Genomes with Tandem Genes Encoding Water/Glycerol Transport and Stress Response” at the 7th Annual Symposium on Recent Advances in Environmental Health Research in September, 2010 at the Marriott. This research focused on discovering which, if any, bacterial genomes had the universal stress protein (USP) and an aquaporin adjacent to each other within a DNA sequence.
Tamara stated that “Chromosomal co-localization is interesting because adjacent genes tend to be expressed together.” There were only five (5) bacteria genomes that had such adjacency or co-localization: Conexibacterwoesei DSM 14684, Streptococcus agalactiae A909, Streptococcus agalactiae NEM 316, Streptococcus agalactiae 2630V/R, and Streptococcus equiequi 4047. Ms. Medley believes that her findings will help to understand how these organisms work and cope with water/glycerol transport under stressful situations.
The Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology congratulates Ms. Tamara Medley on her outstanding research and presentation.
Kafui Edusei
KafuiEdusei, a student at Jackson State University’s Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, was awarded 3rd. place for his poster, “Eating Healthy” at the 10th Annual Conference Eliminating Health Disparities in Mississippi.
Mr. Edusei was awarded a plaque by the Institute for Epidemiology and Health Services Research, Center of Excellence in Minority Health on October 8th., 2010.
Kafui’s poster presentation focused on a visual analytic approach to the study of adolescence and obesity. The study focused on the correlations between frequent physical activities of high school students as compared to the rate of obese high school students. His hypothesis stated that visual analysis of reported data will reveal trends that will give direction to future obesity research and resource saving intentions. Most of Edusei’s supporting data for this research was taken from the 2008 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS).