Senior’s research, presentation earns collegiate-level award
Clayton '19 earns Outstanding Undergraduate Presentation Award for his research on repairing broken DNA strands.
by Juanita I.C. Traughber, communications director
Under the guidance of USN parent and Vanderbilt University Director of Graduate Studies in Biological Sciences Katherine L. Friedman, Clayton Jelsma ‘19 has been studying how cells repair their chromosomes when the DNA strand is broken. Mistakes made during DNA repair lead to mutations associated with diseases such as cancer.
Under the guidance of USN parent and Vanderbilt University Director of Graduate Studies in Biological Sciences Katherine L. Friedman, Clayton Jelsma ‘19 has been studying how cells repair their chromosomes when the DNA strand is broken. Mistakes made during DNA repair lead to mutations associated with diseases such as cancer.
“I am investigating non-homologous end joining, one type of repair process that the cells may utilize. Under Dr. Friedman's guidance and alongside undergraduate senior Elise Erman, I am using yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) as a simple model system to study how often mutations occur during repair of a double-strand break,” he explained of the project he has worked on for two years in a Vanderbilt lab.
Jelsma recently attended the Southeastern Regional Yeast Meeting at Georgia Tech in Atlanta in April to present his research and was the top scorer in a field of senior undergraduate students. He returned to USN with the Outstanding Undergraduate Presentation Award.
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Read MoreDuring a fun field trip to wrap up the year, students were able to debate on the House floor during a visit to the Tennessee State Capitol. See more photos from their final lesson here. -
Middle School Quiz Bowl Team competes at National Championship
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2000 Edgehill Ave.
Nashville, TN 37212
Phone: 615-321-8000
Fax: 615-321-0889
Email: info@usn.org
River Campus
1200 County Hospital Road
Nashville, TN 37218
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University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.
University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.