When the New Hampshire Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (NH-INBRE) held its annual meeting in early August 2024, 11 students enrolled in community colleges throughout the state presented their exceptional work in the biomedical field. The opportunity to work closely with faculty, conduct cutting-edge research, and share results is a large part of the mission of NH-INBRE, a program funded by the National Institutes of Health to develop a coordinated network of biomedical research and research training in New Hampshire. CCSNH joins with eight other partner institutions and two research-intensive lead institutions – the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and the University of New Hampshire – to build opportunities for students to experience top-level biomedical research and increase biomedical research capacity in the Granite State.
Rowen Barker (MCC), Esther Choi (NCC), and Nathan Clark (MCC) crafted presentations providing an overview of their work with Dr. Won Suh in his biotechnology lab at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester. Their full-time, summer 2024 positions were supported by grants by NH-BioMADE, a project funded by the National Science Foundation to advance New Hampshire’s biomaterials industry through knowledge generation, academic-industrial research partnerships, and workforce development.
Eight other CCSNH students conducted research under the guidance of faculty mentors on our campuses and presented their findings at the meeting. Rachell Pitt (NHTI) received first place for her presentation on Arthrobacter Globiformis Temperate Phages: Chickaboom Infects MaGUCo Lysogens working with faculty mentor Beth Wilkes.
Additional standouts include:
- GBCC’s Madelyn Donahue and Noreen Ward (Faculty Mentor: Deb Audino): Marsh Bacteria as a Source for Novel Antibiotics: A Bioprospecting Study
- NCC’s Cassandra Carvalho and Elizabeth Bangs (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Debra Costa-Nino): Preliminary Research for Murine Macrophage Response to Microplastics Present in Bottled Water
- NHTI’s Amanda Diggins (Faculty Mentor Beth Wilkes): Comparative Cytotoxicity of Equine Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs
- WMCC’s Sarah Woods (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Bonnie Akerman): The Drive to Annihilate Superbugs with the Discovery of a New Antibiotic
- WMCC’s Matt Mignone (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Bonnie Akerman): Mushroom Cultivation: Establishing Lab Protocols for Research
Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs Colleen Rose Jennings congratulated the students and their mentors, saying “These opportunities and the research produced by students are at the core of our institutions’ academic priorities – scholarship in the face of an ever-changing world and the cultivation of future academic leaders!”
