The Young Scholars Program (YSP) is a six-week residential Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) program for exceptional FL high school students. The students engage in both academic classes and research under the mentorship of an FSU STEM faculty sponsor. This event affords the Young Scholars an opportunity to showcase the impressive research they have been conducting under the guidance of their faculty sponsors. Dr. Tara Stewart Merrill, one of ABSI's faculty members, has three YSP students wrapping up projects in her lab:
Miaohan Lin’s project is investigating whether a N-halamine disinfectant can help us clear the parasite, dermo (Perkinsus marinus), to develop parasite-free experimental oysters. She is comparing the number of parasites in the tissue of a group of oysters that received a 24-hr treatment with the N-halamine to a control group that received no treatment.
Stella Xu’s project is comparing the findings of a paper* on the parasites in the Apalachee Bay area from 1961 to the parasites found today. She is looking at the parasites found in the marsh periwinkle (Littoraria irrorate) and the ladder hornsnail (Cerithideopsis scalariformis).
*Holliman – 1961- Larval trematodes from the Apalachee bay area, Florida, with a checklist of known marine cercariae arranged in a key to their superfamilies
Nate Levy’s project is looking at the prevalence of an oyster gonad parasite, (Bucephalus cuculus), found in intertidal oysters compared to subtidal oysters. This will help direct future research into the next intermediate host for the parasite’s life cycle.
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