Liana Granum (right) and her mentor Dr. Debbie Mustacich preparing research samples
Congratulations to Liana Granum, class of 2012, who won Best Presentation at the College of Veterinary Medicine Research Day. Liana was one of 17 summer research scholars who presented results from their summer 2010 projects. Dr. Debbie Mustacich (Linus Pauling Institute (LPI) and Biomedical Sciences) was Liana’s mentor for her project entitled “Characterization of Xenobiotic Pathway Proteins of the Ovine Placenta”. Liana first fractionated the sheep tissues, optimized the antibodies, and then characterized the protein expression of Cytochrome P450 enzymes and Xenobiotic transport proteins in ewe placenta, ewe liver and fetal sheep liver by western blot analysis. Liana described the pros and cons of utilizing sheep as a transplacental exposure model for humans and that to date very little information is known about the Xenobiotic pathways present in sheep, particularly during development. Thus the findings of her study are both new and essential for the development of future studies determining in utero fetal exposure to environmental toxins and bioactive food components. These future studies will include collaborations between CVM and the LPI with the goal of benefiting both humans and sheep. As the winner of the Best Presentation award Liana will present her work at a national meeting.
