Beverly Andre receives CUR travel grant

Beverly Andre, a senior pre-med major, receives travel
grant from the Council for Undergraduate Research
Beverly Andre, a senior biology major, pre-medicine option, and chemistry minor, has received a travel grant from the Council for Undergraduate Research (CUR). CUR is a national organization whose mission is to enhance opportunities for students and faculties to engage in investigations that make an original intellectual contribution to their discipline. Over 900 colleges and universities, including Bloomsburg University, are members of CUR. The CUR travel grant will support Beverly's attendance at the annual conference of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in New Orleans, LA in January 2017. Bloomsburg University's College of Science and Technology will provide a matching grant. Beverly will present a poster entitled: Sublethal Stress Associated with Apiary Treatments for Varroa Mites.  The presentation is co-authored with Beverly's mentors,  Drs Cindy Surmacz and John Hranitz. and with collaborators Drs. Ibrahim Cakmak and S.Cakmak from the Beekeeping and Development Center in Bursa,Turkey. Honeybees have experienced global declines, most pronounced in the USA and Europe, linked to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). While CCD may be caused by many factors, Varroa mites strongly influence hive health and persistence, directly as an ectoparasite and indirectly as a disease vector. Beekeepers control infestations with acaracides, pesticides applied to bee hives to kill mites.  Beverly's work examines the hypothesis that acaracides may cause sublethal stress in honeybees and uses the intracellular chaperone heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) as a biomarker for sublethal stress. in honeybees. This research has the potential to inform beekeepers on the pesticide types and dosages that will control mite infestation while minimizing stress to the honeybees.


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