Halie Larsen Presents at Buena Vista University's Thirteenth Annual Scholars Day

2017 May 1

Buena Vista University's (BVU) thirteenth annual Scholars Day was held Saturday, April 29. The event provided students from all disciplines an opportunity to present their best original research, academic posters, artistic creations and performances to their peers, professors and the public.

This year's Scholars Day event featured 63 presentations from 120 students, exploring topics from literature and business to science and history.

Halie Larsen, a senior biology major from Storm Lake , was one of the students who participated. Larsen's presentation was titled "Evaluating the effects of age on spatial memory in the model Danio rerio," and the project's abstract is as follows:

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) contributes many devastating factors into one's life, including alterations to spatial memory. Spatial memory is observed through various methods, including behavioral and genomic analyses. The focus of this research is to see how age affects the spatial memory of Danio rerio, zebrafish. A behavioral analysis is performed by observation of fish swimming patterns towards an object within the designated trial tank. The fish are assessed in groups of threes; three fish are removed from the tank, placed in the behavioral observation tank, then sacrificed for analysis of gene expression. To examine the effect of age in this experiment, there is only one group of fish analyzed each week. Two objects are placed in the behavioral analysis tank: a novel and a familiar object. Gravitation towards the novel object in the tank shows the fish remembers the familiar object and wants to explore elsewhere whereas movement towards the familiar object shows the fish does not remember the familiar object and thinks it is exploring a new one. Gene expression was analyzed by RNA extraction, reverse transcription and real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Genes associated with aging and/or AD were examined in fish of different ages.

The keynote speaker for the event was Adrienne B. Haynes, a 2010 BVU graduate, who is an attorney and business woman who specializes in helping entrepreneurs develop sustainable infrastructure and business practices. Haynes is the managing partner of SEED Law, a business law firm, and owner of SEED Collective, a consultancy. She is the founder of the nonprofit, the Construction Business Institute, and is active in both the Multicultural Business Coalition and Black Female Attorneys network. Haynes is also a member of the BVU National Alumni Association Board of Directors.

"This is a special event because it gives students' a real-life platform where they can showcase their success beyond exams and grades," said Dr. Steven Mills, assistant professor of Spanish and chair of the events committee who organized the event. "With a Scholars Day presentation, students take their hard work and form it into a new medium or method for discussion. They become experts on their topic and then stand in front of peers and become teachers about what they have done and how it adds to the greater corpus of knowledge in their field."

This year marked the first time Scholars Day and the annual Student Recognition Dinner - which was held later that evening - were combined.

"For the first time, those who presented as part of Scholars Day received an invitation to the dinner and were recognized alongside all the others receiving honors and awards for academic excellence," added Mills. "They deserved to be a part of the celebration of hard work and dedication."