According to the Creighton University mission, Creighton offers many opportunities in undergraduate research to allow students “to contribute to the betterment of society and to discover new knowledge.”
Troy Hubbard, a senior majoring in biology, accomplished all this, along with winning one of the top undergraduate research awards in the country: the Frank and Sara McKnight Prize.
The McKnight Prize was given to Hubbard on Nov. 4, 2011 on the University of Texas Southwestern campus at the campus’ medical center.
Hubbard worked with the assistance of Dr. Karin van Dijk, the assistant professor of biology. Together they studied the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae and how it overpowers a plant’s immune system by releasing proteins into the plant’s cells.
“Our work focuses specifically on a specific method the pathogen uses to shut down the plants immune system,” Hubbard said. “We are trying to see if the pathogen modifies plant chromatin in a way that prevents the plant from expressing its defense genes.”
The students selected to compete for the McKnight Prize were narrowed down to five finalists from three categories: chemistry, biophysics and biological chemistry. Because Hubbard was a finalist from the biological chemistry category, he was flown to the University of Texas Southwestern retreat for the biochemistry department.
“We had to present a poster of our work to a series of judges and to the department as whole,” Hubbard said. “It was really exciting to have the opportunity to discuss our work with other scientists, to benefit from their insights and, in some cases, to defend our findings against professional criticism.”
On the last day of the retreat, the award was presented to Hubbard who felt shocked but grateful.
“Research in plant pathology doesn’t always get as much attention as work on human pathogens or other areas with greater clinical relevance,” Hubbard said. “It was really gratifying to see firsthand the benefits of the time I devoted to research. Plus, who couldn’t use a little extra spending money?”
Hubbard did not fail to mention the help he had in his research.
“I work in collaboration with Andrew Karpisek, a laboratory technician here at Creighton, and he and I are equal partners on this project,” Hubbard said. “We also have the benefit of an incredible research mentor in Dr. van Dijk. Without them, I wouldn’t have been there to begin with.”