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Williams Student Honored for Biology Presentation - November 14, 2007
WILLIAMSTOWN - Kimberly Elicker, member of the Williams College class of 2009, was awarded the prestigious undergraduate student poster presentation award by the American Association of Anatomists in recognition of her work on the "Characterization of the Zebrafish Small Heat Shock Protein Family."
She was awarded the distinction during the annual meeting of the Society of Experimental Biologists. Her research with Lara D. Hutson, assistant professor of biology, was published in the November journal Gene.
Elicker's research focuses on the small heat shock family of proteins that are produced by cells in response to environmental stressors such as sudden temperature elevation, infection, heavy metal or
alcohol exposure, or excess UV light. Humans have 10 known heat shock proteins, but many of the exact functions of these genes remain unknown. Although her research aims to address human diseases, Elicker and her research partners, Tomoki Kurihara, class of 2007, and assistant professor of biology Lara Hutson, have used the zebrafish in order to closely examine these genes.
Elicker said, "we use zebrafish because their embryos are transparent, so we can stain them and analyze them in real time without the need to fix or section." She presented the results of her research at the experimental biology meeting on April 31, 2007, where she received the
poster presentation award.
For Kim Elicker, exploring the heat shock proteins of one species of fluorescent fish is more than an academic interest. Elicker said, "my uncle was recently diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease," a human neurodegenerative disease linked to one of the human body's heat shock proteins.
For Elicker, this family connection inspires her "to delve deeper into the mystery of these genes, their function, and their mechanism of causing human disease."
Because of this drive, Elicker has decided to continue her research this academic year in Professor Hutson's lab as a Williams College Undergraduate Research Fellow.
When she's not in a classroom or biology laboratory, Kimberly Elicker spends her time leading a new student group known as the Williams Organization for Cancer Awareness and Prevention (WOCAP), which hosted Williams' first Relay for Life on Oct. 12. She also plays the French horn in the symphonic winds and the mellophone in the marching band. Elicker finds time to promote environmental activism as an active member of the Thursday Night Group as well.
Elicker was born and raised in York County, Pa. She attended South Western High School before joining the Williams student body in fall 2005. She was drawn to Williams for its integrated science program but has come to most appreciate the college's emphasis on undergraduate education.
"I've attended conferences where [me and my fellow Williams students] were the only undergraduate students present. The graduate students that we talked to were amazed that we were only undergraduate freshman," said Elicker. "It's then when [I] realized just how lucky [I was] to be an undergraduate at Williams ... the opportunities are just wonderful."
Elicker is a junior biology and mathematics double major. |
| Good story. For people with CMT disease, there's CMTUS at http://www.cmtushope.info | | from: Bodner | on: 11-15-2007 |
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