Don't be scared to reach out to faculty. Talk to your chemistry/biology/math instructors. If you think research can be a part of your career, you should definitely give it a try early on
Samantha Velasquez Rivertte
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Undergraduate Research in the Neighborhoods
Hypovitaminosis D is highly prevalent in pregnant women and infants worldwide. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) serves as an indicator of vitamin D status in most animal species. The recent identification of its C-3 epimer, 3-epi-25 hydroxyvitamin D3 (3-epi-25(OH)D3), in blood serum has been reported for both pregnant women and infants; however, because pf its recent discovery it has yet to be fully elucidated. Given its prevalence in pregnant women, it was hypothesized that 3-epi-25(OH)D3 may serve as a predictive biomarker of pregnancy in dairy cattle. In Samantha’s study, she validated an LC-MS/MS method to measure the mono-hydrovitamin D metabolites 25-hydrovitamin D2 (25(OH)D2), 25-hydrovitamin D3 (25(OH)D3), and 3-epi-25(OH)D3, in bovine serum and then analyzed serum collected from dairy cows at six stages of pregnancy. While not predictive of pregnancy during the early phases of gestation, the elevation of 3-epi-25(OH)D3 is consistent and appears to mimic previous observations with mid-to-late gestational increases in estrogen concentration found in dairy cattle. Samantha’s study confirms that the epimerization of 25(OH)D3 is conserved in pregnant dairy cattle.
Learn more about this and other research in the STEM Teaching and Learning Facility.
.png)
