BSC Students and Faculty Deliver Presentations at Cytoscape Workshop

BSC Students and Faculty Deliver Presentations at Cytoscape Workshop

It’s a social network much like Facebook or LinkedIn, and it permits researchers to use open source software to visualize molecular interaction networks and biological pathways.  It’s called “Cytoscape,” and Bluefield State College faculty and students are utilizing Cytoscape’s ability to process mountains of data to identify relevant research and data, then incorporate it into the research they’re conducting at BSC.

A BSC contingent of four students, James Walters, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Biology), and Elizabeth Walters, M.S. (Academic Lab Manager and Walters Lab Manager) took part in a recent two-day workshop at Marshall University.  The workshop was sponsored by the West Virginia Network for Biomedical Research Excellence (WV-INBRE).

“The workshop featured two research faculty from the University of San Francisco, one of the nation’s top faculty for molecular biology and informatics,” Dr. Walters noted.  “The majority of attendees were individuals who ran research laboratories, postdoctoral students, graduate school students, and faculty.  Our students included two seniors majoring in Applied Sciences—Heather Price and Stephanie Bryant, and two freshmen—Richard Tandoh and Jada Kennedy, both of whom work as WV-INBRE research fellows in Dr. Walters’ laboratory.

During the Cytoscape workshop, the attendees collaborated in groups of fours to (need details of their project/assignment), then members from each group made a 15-minute presentation to the group.  “Our students’ presentation in front of the entire group was outstanding and impressed the scientists in attendance.  Our undergraduate students conducted and presented molecular biologist-caliber work,” Dr. Walters recounted. 

(cutline)—Bluefield State College students and faculty are pictured during their presentation at the recent Cytoscape Workshop at Marshall University.  Pictured (left to right) are BSC students Richard Tandoh and Jada Kennedy, along with BSC faculty members Elizabeth Walters and Dr. James Walters.  Dr. Walters and his lab present a molecular interaction network of their research at BSC using the Cytoscape software at the workshop.