Keystone students attend national research conference

Three Keystone College science majors recently presented research projects at the prestigious National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Long Beach, Cal.

Keystone seniors Casey Stratton, Ellicott City, Md.; Beri Kihdze, Piscataway, N.J. and Victoria Mainero, Buenos Aires, Argentina, attended the conference along with Keystone Assistant Professor of Biology Nicole Diette, Ph.D. All three students are members of Keystone’s field hockey team.

“Attending the conference has been an incredible opportunity for these young women,” Dr. Diette said. “They have worked really hard throughout their time here and were excellent representatives of Keystone at the conference. I hope their experiences provides inspiration to younger students by demonstrating all that is possible with research opportunities at Keystone.”

Ms. Stratton presented her work titled “Inhibiting the growth of Cutibacterium acnes with the Streptococcus salivarius M18 probiotic.” Ms. Kihdze presented her work entitled “Investigating the anti-cancer effects of resveratrol in the SK-MEL-24 melanoma cell line” and Ms. Mainero presented “Investigating the effect of UV light on skin microbe cell survival.”