UBRPer Summer Blunk Presents at Society for Developmental Biology Regional Meeting

In November I had the opportunity to attend the Southwest Regional Meeting for the Society for Developmental Biology in Austin, Texas. The conference was held on the University of Texas Austin campus. The campus is absolutely gorgeous with an enormous amount of buildings and even an on-site conference center!

I have previous experience presenting posters at a conference; I was able to attend the international SDB conference in Vancouver, Canada earlier this summer. However, my poster for the Canada trip was mostly based on someone else’s work.  Fortunately, for this poster, I really was able to showcase some of my own data!  My lab project focuses on the two transcription factor encoding genes, engrailed and invected in the beetle Triboilum castaneum. My own project has taken a detour and I am currently researching the effects of the loss of these two genes on the cell death pattern in beetles. My preliminary data shows that wildtype beetles do undergo significant cell death patterning throughout their ventral midline, central nervous system, and limb buds throughout development and I am currently working on a knockdown model to which to compare these results.

One of the great things about going to a conference is that you get to meet other scientists who are just as excited as you are about biology…not only other undergraduates but also Ph.D. students and professors in your field!  Conference experiences have helped me realize how in love with science I truly am and how ready I am to dive even further into research.

UBRP has truly helped me gain so many skills that have helped me become a better scientist. I am able to effectively communicate my research with others and I am able to digest what others’ research projects are. I can definitely recommend any student who does research to attend a conference.  The UBRP conference in January is a great opportunity and I cannot wait to once again present my research findings!

I would like to thank UBRP for the Student Travel Award, without this award I would not have been able to attend this out-of-state conference. I would also like to thank my PI, Dr. Nagy. She has been an amazing mentor; she convinced me to go ahead with this conference and gave me the confidence to present my own research findings.