2023 Murdock Presenters

SPU students and faculty gather at the 2023 Murdock Conference
(Front, from left: Yu-Jin Youn, Eloisa Nguyen, John Lee, Krysta Reese, Gum Nau, Ashley Goss, Dr. John Douglass
Back, from left: Spencer Raymond, Dr. Wade Grabow, Meridiana Mendez, Ethan Wood, Olivia Brooks, Hannah McSwain, Itzel Aparicio, Lay Paw and Stacey Bondarchuk)

The 2023 conference was held in Vancouver, WA, Nov. 10-11, 2023, and was co-hosted by Pacific University. Congratulations to the following students, who represented SPU!

Aparicio Saldivar, Itzel. Glucose and fructose differentially regulate microglia-neuronal interactions​. Student co-authors: Lay Paw and Bella Camarillo. Advised by Dr. John Douglass, Assistant Professor of Biology.

Bondarchuk, Anastasiya. Learning in Locomotion. Student co-authors: Mackenzie Garrett and Ellie Jancola. Advised by Dr. Cara Wall-Scheffler Professor of Biology.

Brooks, Olivia. Photophysical Studies of Under-chelated Lanthanide Complex systems in the Presence of Various Anions of Biological Importance. Advised by Dr. Minhee Lee, Associate Professor of Chemistry.

Goss, Ashley. Circadian Feeding behaviors of acorn barnacles in Blakely Island. Student co-author: Felicity Young. Advised by Dr. Cara Wall-Scheffler Professor of Biology.

Lee, John. Design, Synthesis, and Characterization of False Fluorescent Aspartames as Potential Fluorescent Ligands for GPCRs. Advised by Dr. Minhee Lee, Associate Professor of Chemistry.

McSwain, Hannah. Differences in monoterpene composition among island and mainland conifer species.. Advised by Dr. Ryan Ferrer, Professor of Biology.

Mendez, Meridiana. Identifying Risk Factors for Same Day Elective Operating Room Cancellations. Advised by Dr. Kathleen Kieran, Seattle Children's Hospital.

Nau, Gum. Optimizing the Synthetic Route for the Synthesis of Two Cobalt(III) Complexes of Strong N-Donors with Sulfonamide Links. Student co-author: Lay Paw. Advised by Dr. Nerissa Lewis, Assistant Professor of Chemistry.

Nguyen, Eloisa. Sympathetic recovery within humans during acute stress from predator-prey simulation.. Student co-authors: Bella Camarillo, Niyah Thurman, Ivy Vargas-Hernandez and Ashley Diloreto. Advised by Dr. Cara Wall-Scheffler Professor of Biology.

Paw, Lay. Assessing the Efficiency of ɑ-Difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) as an Inhibitor of Gammaherpesvirus Replication. Advised by Dr. Tracie Delgado, Associate Professor of Biology.

Raymond, Spencer. Succession and forest maturation decreases population density of black-tailed deer on Blakely Island, WA. Advised by Dr. Eric Long, Professor of Biology.

Reese, Krysta. Coral Restoration Efforts in Les Village (Bali, Indonesia). Advised by Dr. Tim Nelson, Professor of Biology.

Wood, Ethan. Antigenic Variation in Mycoplasma genitalium: Construction of a Locked Strain. Advised by Dr. Gwen Wood, University of Washington.

Youn, Yu-Jin. Changes in energy expenditure when head-load carrying in social situations. Advised by Dr. Cara Wall-Scheffler Professor of Biology.