Saturday, May 24, 2014

24/5/2014: UofL Student Wins Worldwide Alltech Young Scientist Competition


Some excellent news from the Irish knowledge 'economy' (society, really) front:

Gillian Johnson, from the University of Limerick, was the winner of the undergraduate competition run by Alltech Young Scientist Program. Johnson’s research work focused on comparative genomic identification and characterisation of a novel β-defensin gene cluster in the equine genome.

Gillian won in the field of more than 8,500 participants, representing the future generation of animal, human and plant health scientists from around the world.

In the graduate category, winner was Lei Wang, originally from China and currently completing her PhD studies in the United States with the University of West Virginia. Wang’s research work focused on novel functional roles of oocyte-specific nuclear transporter (Kpna7) in relation to developmental competency of rainbow trout oocyte and early embryo.


To participate in the program, students wrote a scientific paper that focused on an aspect of animal health and feed technology. The first phase of the program included a competition within each competing country, followed by a zone competition. The winners of each zone moved on to a regional phase and the regional winners competed in the global phase.

The Alltech Young Scientist Program is currently taking applicants for its 2015 competition. To enter, visit www.alltechyoungscientist.com.

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