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Three bio students chosen for Africa
By Stephanie Riebe
Collegian Reporter
For many students,
the upcoming summer months will consist of internships and summer
jobs. For three biology students, the summer will take them
to another continent.
Senior Angela Hornsby and sophomores Nick
Brouwer and Vesna Pulko will be traveling to Johannesburg, South
Africa, in June with Associate Professor of Biology Dan York.
This is the sixth trip York has taken to Africa for students
to participate in genetic research.
The internship program offers juniors and
seniors opportunities to work on projects such as the reproductive
physiology of endangered species and molecular genetics.
"For the past three years we have studied
the genetics of African lions," York said. "This summer
we might be venturing into new studies of penguins in the Cape
Town area."
The group will leave around the second week
of June and stay in South Africa for three to four weeks at
the South African Centre for Conservation Research in the heart
of the Johannesburg Zoo.
"The zoo will be our home base,"
York said. "We will venture out to different parks and
game reserves while we are there, but we will live and work
at the research center in the zoo."
The research trip has been able to grow and
continue over the years due to the generosity of Bill and Berniece
Grewcock of Omaha, Neb.
Pulko and Brouwer will be traveling with York
for the first time, and this will be Hornsby's second trip.
"I like to take an older student with
me each time to help me organize the lab and assist with the
DNA extraction," York said.
"I think it would be a good experience,"
Pulko said. "Working closely with two different fields
of biology, like seeing animals in their natural habitat that
you can't see in a zoo and genetic research on a molecular level."
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