Student's work wins honor

Monmouth University, West Long Branch, senior Preethi Pirlamarla, a biology major from Freehold, was awarded first place for best research poster presentation at the 39th annual conference of the Metropolitan Association of College and University Biologists (MACUB) held Oct. 28 at Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, N.Y.

According to a press release, 71 posters were presented at the conference and Pirlamarla's work was selected as the best poster presented in the four-year college and university category.

Pirlamarla's poster, "The Role of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1 in Testicular Torsion Injury," described her research conducted with Dr. Michael Palladino, associate professor of biology at Monmouth University. This work is part of a project funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health awarded to Palladino.

Palladino studies the clinical condition in males called testicular torsion which causes reduced blood flow (ischemia) that leads to low oxygen levels (hypoxia) in the testis, according to the press release. Testis ischemia and hypoxia can cause significant cellular damage and cell death in affected testes, including the loss of sperm production. Torsion, which is particularly prevalent in prepubertal and adolescent males, also can lead to impaired fertility or infertility in males.

Pirlamarla is an honors student in the Monmouth Medical Center Scholars Program and began her work with Palladino during the summer of 2005 through the research course "Research in Molecular Cell Physiology," which she completed as her experiential education requirement and a research requirement for graduation as a biology major. She has continued this work as part of her senior honors thesis, which she will finish this fall.