After all the airline delays, I finally arrived in Anaheim, California around midnight to attend the American Chemical Society (ACS) 277th National Meeting. It was a pleasure for me to attend this meeting and present at one of the largest undergraduate conferences in the nation. There were a variety of talks and poster sessions that related to chemistry such as: environmental chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, analytical chemistry, biochemistry, and biomedical chemistry.... From all the presentations I attended, tissue engineering and stem cell differentiation were my favorites. I also liked the nanotechnology sessions, but it was way small for me!!!! (ha, ha)

More than 1000 undergraduate students presented. This year my poster was entitled “The Effect of Bacteria and TLCK on Hemocyte Morphology of Manduca sexta.” The first thing I was asked was why I study M. sexta, the tobacco hornworm? Because my research is on innate immunity, and I use the tobacco hornworm as a model to study. How is insect immunity related to vertebrate and human immunity specifically? Well, in the vertebrate immune system, there are two different types of immunity: adaptive and innate systems. Adaptive immunity relies on the random generation and highly diverse repertoires of T- and B-cells antigen receptors. The innate immunity provides the first line of immune defense by detecting the immediate presence and nature of infection. Based on evolutionary history, the innate immune system is an ancient immune defense, which exists in plants, insects, and vertebrates. Because insects' and vertebrates' innate immunity is closely related, I use M. sexta to further understand human innate immunity. Overall, my poster presentation went very well.

Besides presenting my research and attending talks, I also visited some local sites. I skipped Disneyland and went to Knott's Berry Farm. It was a scary experience but enjoyable. Although my friends and I did not intend to go to Disney Downtown, we lost our way back to the motel and somehow wound up in Disney Downtown after the award ceremony for chemistry clubs. It turned out to be entertaining to walk through Disney Downtown; I really enjoyed the Latin music there. It was a great experience to attend the ACS National Meeting and Anaheim itself is fantastic.

Hung Tran, UBRPer in Dr. Elizabeth Willott’s lab, Entomology