Pitt-Greensburg’s biology national honor society won an Outstanding Chapter of the Year award

Members of Pitt-Greensburg’s Theta Pi chapter of Beta Beta Beta Biology National Honor Society attended the organization’s NE-3 Regional Meeting in Fairmont, West Virginia, and returned with an impressive list of awards.

Out of more than 650 chapters nationwide, Pitt-Greensburg’s chapter was awarded the Berthold Award as the Outstanding Chapter of the Year for their activities during the 2023-24 academic year. The award recognizes the chapter that has best promoted the aims of the organization, based on member activity in conducting and publishing research, participating in district and national conventions, chapter programming, and maintaining orderly record-keeping and communication with the National Office.

Pitt-Greensburg’s group was also sent the largest group to the meeting, claiming those bragging rights for the second consecutive year. Several students presented talks and posters during the meeting, with several winning awards for their work:

• Junior biochemistry majors Charlotte Boyle of Altoona, Pennsylvania, and Ben Tominsino of North Huntington, Pennsylvania, won first place for their poster “Superinfection Study on Novel Arthrobacter globifomis Lysogen Isolated from Arthrobacter Phage DreamEater.” Their advisor was Assistant Professor of Biology Sarah J. Swerdlow.
• Junior biochemistry major Mackenzie Taylor of Connellsville, Pennsylvania, (pictured) won first place for her poster “Effects of Lithium Chloride and Mithramycin in C. elegans: Potential Therapeutic Treatments for Huntington’s Disease.” Her advisor was Associate Professor of Biochemistry Olivia Long.
• Alayna Beam of Irwin, Pennsylvania, and Justin Crookston of Jeannette, Pennsylvania, won second place poster awards for “Investigating How JazF-1 Acts As a Functional Bridge Between Histone Modifying Complexes and Nuclear Hormone Receptors” and “Modeling Endometrial Stromal Sarcomas using JAZP1 Gene Fusions,” respectively. Both were advised by Assistant Professor of Biology Logan Johnson.

“Traveling with students to a regional meeting is always exciting,” said Assistant Professor Swerdlow. “Having so many students attend, present, and win awards showcases their hard work and further develops their excitement for research.”  Swerdlow and Long serve as co-advisors for the chapter.