Do you know what lactate dehydrogenase is? Neither do I.
Deanjay Knight knows. She’s a student at Benedict College. Her project as part of the SCICU Undergraduate/Faculty Research Program was, “Lactate Dehydrogenase as a Biomarker of Poultry Wood Breast Syndrome.”
This year, thanks to generous donors, SCICU funded Deanjay’s and 25 other projects from 13 SCICU member institutions. These students have the opportunity to conduct graduate-level research while still undergraduates.
Margaret Leonard, a student at Presbyterian College, investigated “The Potential Correlation Between IL32 Gene Expression and Secreted CXCL2/3 Level in SUM159PT Breast Cancer Cells.”
Deanjay and Margaret don’t just conduct research – they must present their findings. The program culminates with the SCICU Research Symposium, which for the last 10 years has been held at the Milliken & Company Headquarters in Spartanburg. My deepest thanks to the Milliken team for their hospitality.
I can’t think of a more appropriate, and inspiring, venue for the Symposium than Milliken, where research finds its way into products which we all come into contact with every day. Whether it’s textiles and clothing, agriculture, health care products or even the floor you walk on, Milliken makes your life better.
I don’t want to give you the impression that the Research Program and Symposium is all about the sciences. Speaking of textiles, Sharon George from Erskine College studied “Holy Textiles: The Methodist Episcopal Church, South and Textile Mill Villages in Upstate SC, 1899-1939.”
Ella Ziel from Converse University presented on “The Research and Application of Traditional Japanese Theatrical Forms’ Influence on Brecht’s work.” The only thing I know about Brecht is that he co-wrote “Mack the Knife.”
The achievements of these and all the other student researchers wouldn’t be possible without their faculty mentors. They provide the professional guidance, academic support and encouragement that help the young scholars take their studies to the next level.
One of my favorite parts of the Symposium is lunch because I have the opportunity to chat with the participants. But what I enjoy even more is watching the young researchers and faculty members interact, not as students and teachers, but as peers with a common interest.
In this moment I don’t see undergraduates. I’m witnessing the emergence of our next generation of great thinkers who will bestow upon us new ways of understanding our world.
Who knows? Maybe one of them will make the next great discovery at Milliken.