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AVON PARK, Fla. – April 20, 2022 – Six South Florida State College (SFSC) students presented research at the 2022 Florida Academy of Sciences annual meeting that was held on Friday, March 11 in a virtual format. During the meeting, SFSC student Alejandro Torres won first place in Undergraduate Research Posters in the Medical Division for his presentation on “Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition as Biomarker for Early Detection of Metastasis in Colorectal Cancer.”
The Florida Academy of Sciences is the Florida affiliate of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The Academy sponsors the Florida Junior Academy of Science to encourage young scientists; publishes the quarterly journal, “Florida Scientist”; and sponsors an annual meeting to give members an opportunity to present papers, honor their peers, and participate in multidisciplinary scientific exchanges.
Although most undergraduate researchers presenting at the Florida Academy of Sciences meeting were from state or private universities, SFSC students came from one of two Florida state colleges that made presentations, the other being St. Petersburg College.
The SFSC students’ scientific research presentations for the annual meeting were varied. Devam Patel researched “Sugar: A Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease.” Syed Quadri and Amanda Money presented a poster on “Identification of compounds present in Ziziphus celata Fruit by Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry.” Nylla Wilder’s poster was on “Early Studies on the Effectiveness of Industrial Hemp as a Phytoremediator of Polluted Water.” Angela Huang researched “The Circadian Clock-Linked Hormone Melatonin Inhibits MDA-T41 Thyroid Cancer Cell Death.”
Torres became involved in research at SFSC after his Biology I instructor, Dr. Mintoo Patel, mentioned it to her class. “I didn’t know that research was done at state and community colleges, so I thought I’d ask about it,” Torres said. “I didn’t have much experience with lab work.”
According to Dr. Patel, Torres’ mentor for his research, “Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a disease in which cells of the colon or rectum grow out of control. CRC is one of the most preventable and treatable cancers if diagnosed in early stages. Our project aims to establish biomarkers for early detection of cancer as well as metastasis. We studied human colorectal cancer tissue specimens to identify molecular patterns seen in cancer cells that enable them to detach from the colon or rectum tissue and start migrating to secondary sites in the body. This type of information, in addition to routine histopathological evaluations, helps in early detection of metastatic potential of the cancer and can be used in tailoring a personalized treatment plan for CRC.”
Torres is a senior at Hardee Senior High School and a student in SFSC’s dual enrollment program. He graduates this year from high school and from SFSC. His plans going forward are to major in biomedical sciences at the University of South Florida and, eventually, go to medical school. This year, Torres participated in three other scientific conferences: The Florida Undergraduate Research Conference, the Florida Undergraduate Research Leadership Summit, and the Florida Collegiate Honors Council Annual Conference.
“It’s lighting the fire for learning,” Dr. Patel said about undergraduate research at SFSC. “We give the students project-based learning, where they pick up the project and go have fun in the lab. It’s not stressful. It’s not just textbook learning where you read the chapters, come to class, take the exam. This is going deeper into the whys and hows. It sparks curiosity in the students so that they know how to ask proper questions.”
“Alejandro has a goal of going into the medical field and now he has so much knowledge about what diseases he has to learn about — how do the diseases arise and what we can do,” Dr. Patel said. “He’s getting in-depth knowledge. Our students are trained at the College, so that when they go to the university, they are much better candidates to get into the labs. They’ve already done the work, they’ve gone to conferences, and they’ve seen what research their peers are doing.”
For more information about undergraduate research at SFSC, contact Dr. James Hawker at 863-784-7329 or james.hawker@southflorida.edu.