Hampton University News April 18, 2012 HU Assistant Dean of Science to Present STEM Research on Capitol Hill Dr. Michelle Fletcher Claville, assistant dean at the Hampton University School of Science was selected by the Council for Undergraduate Research to present at the Posters on the Hill Conference on April 24 on Capitol Hill. Her research, titled "A New Use for an Old Method: Nitrite Determination by the Ferrous Oxidation-Xylenol Orange (FOX) Assay," is one of 74 posters out of 850 applications that were accepted to present at the event. Claville is a 2009 recipient of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER). The grant has enabled her to engage undergraduates in researching the generation and subsequent fate of specialized radicals in peptides, sub-units of proteins, which may derive from single-election oxidation, or ionizing irradiation of these biomolecules. "The results of this work will be beneficial to numerous scientific inquiries including DNA damage and effects of gamma irradiation on food substances," stated Claville. Claville, along with a team from Southern University (SU) which included, Satvika Uppu and Ardrene Logan, undergraduate and graduate students at SU and Dr. Rao Uppu, professor at Southern University; discovered limitations of a well-known and heavily used analytical biochemical method known as the FOX assay. They determined that the assay, which typically detects hydroperoxides in biochemical systems, proves to be inadequate in the presence of a nitrite ion. This finding prompted their successful modification of the method for use in systems that generate the nitrite ion. Claville and Uppu will present their work alongside researchers from all over the country. They will also have the opportunity to discuss their work with U.S. senators and representatives from the states of Virginia and Louisiana. They will make a compelling case for continued federal funding of undergraduate research. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-520-0593 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children. Register now http://www.hbculibraries.org/html/2012meeting-form.html for the October 21-23, 2012 HBCU Library Alliance 5th Membership Meeting and the Photographic Preservation Pre-Conference in New Orleans, LA. The Pre-Conference and Membership meeting are open to directors and other librarians.