Eastern Student Lauren Atkinson of Harwinton Presents at Northeast COPLAC Conference

2016 Oct 27

Twelve students from Eastern Connecticut State University presented their research and creative activity at the Northeast Regional Research Conference of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC) on Oct. 21-22. Hosted by the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA), eight colleges in the COPLAC consortium participated in the undergraduate conference.

Lauren Atkinson '19, a Biology major from Harwinton, delivered a poster presentation titled "Isolating Antibiotic Compounds Produced by Soil Microbes." Atkinson was mentored by Biology Professor Barbara Murdoch.

"The discovery of antibiotics revolutionized medicine," said Atkinson. "Inexpensive and widely-available, antibiotics treated bacterial infections and diseases previously incurable. Today pathogens formerly easy to control are rapidly evolving resistance to antibiotics due to their widespread unnecessary use. Their decreased efficacy hinders our ability to stop infectious diseases and to address complications among vulnerable patients. Furthermore, during the past decade, pharmaceutical companies have limited their efforts to develop new antibiotics. The Small World Initiative, which this study is part of, is a novel global project that uses crowdsourcing to discover new antibiotics from soil bacteria. The purpose of this study is to isolate antibiotic compounds that may be used to create new antibiotics to which these bacterial pathogens are not resistant. We isolated and cultured on various media the bacteria in two soil samples taken from Church Farm, an Eastern research space in Ashford, CT. Bacterial isolates were characterized by morphology and tested for antibiotic activity against non-pathogenic bacteria."

"We are here to showcase and celebrate the talent, insight, collaborative spirit and inquiry of students from our COPLAC campuses in the Northeast and to recognize the support and guidance they receive from their dedicated faculty," said MCLA President James Birge.

"Undergraduate research is one of the best aspects of an Eastern liberal arts education," said Carmen Cid, dean of Eastern's School of Arts and Sciences. "It provides our students the ability to develop their talents in a meaningful and successful career path. Those who present at COPLAC represent the leaders of tomorrow for Connecticut."

Established in 1987, COPLAC is dedicated to the advancement of high-quality liberal arts education in a public college setting. COPLAC represents a distinguished sector in higher education consisting of 30 colleges and universities in 28 states and one Canadian province. Eastern is Connecticut's designated public liberal arts university and joined COPLAC in 2004.