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Biotechnology and Molecular Bioscience BS

With the help of strong mentors, undergraduate researchers cultivate critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. Conducting research can help students synthesize concepts they learned in their classes to create something new.

Professor André Hudson, head of the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences, received a $443,583 grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Department of Health and Human Services to isolate, identify, and characterize new antibiotics.

Ten College of Science students received funding to work with faculty mentors on summer-long research projects as part of the HHMI Inclusive Excellence Summer Research Experience. The program is for students who just completed their first year at RIT and helps broaden RIT’s research groups to include a greater diversity of culture.

Marissa Schroeter’s summer undergraduate research explores a global health issue with a local twist. Her work prospects for new antibiotic compounds produced by two bacterial strains collected from Lake Ontario. She will present her findings at the RIT Undergraduate Research Symposium.

A pioneer of one of RIT’s earliest study abroad programs and a founding member of the biotechnology and molecular bioscience program has retired. Professor Robert Rothman from the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences taught his final courses in Genetics and Evolution and Creationism this spring, capping off an RIT career that began in 1984.

Forty members of the inaugural class of Undergraduate Research Scholar Awardees will be honored at this year’s graduation ceremonies. The recognition highlights their accomplishments in a variety of complex and demanding research areas during their time at RIT.

Mohammed Mostajo-Radji ’11 (biotechnology) was appointed as Bolivia’s first ambassador for science, technology and innovation in February. He is typically based out of Silicon Valley, helping to encourage technology investment in Bolivia. But on March 19 he flew back home at the request of Bolivia’s interim president, Jeanine Áñez, to help coordinate his country’s efforts to combat COVID-19’s spread.

KayLee Steiner knows her way around a research laboratory. Her extensive undergraduate research experience made her an appealing candidate when she began applying to Ph.D. programs. After receiving offers from top-notch graduate programs including Duke, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and others, she will pursue her Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine.

Callie Donahue ’18 (biotechnology and molecular bioscience) is helping to test thousands of compounds on human cells infected with live samples of coronavirus in search of medicine that can be effective in deterring the virus’s infection and replication cycle.

Maria Romero-Creel ’17 (biomedical engineering) and Wendy Salamone ’10 (biotechnology) are just two of the people responsible for the analyzer database update launched by Ortho Clinical Diagnostics on April 14. The team is responsible for ensuring that calibrations, precision fluid information and analyzer settings for new assays like COVID-19 are properly entered and working for analyzers in the field.

Learn about the natural world on a molecular level. Find out how biotechnologists are confronting challenges in the real world.

At the end of her first year at RIT, Nicole Cavanaugh began working for the Hudson Lab. Today, she works as a research apprentice at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute where she is preparing for her Ph.D.