Catawba Senior Wins ACS Prize
A Catawba College student who won a $5,000 undergraduate research award from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center last year has added another major feather to his academic cap.
Nathaniel Griffin, a senior from the Wilkes County town of Boomer, N.C., who is pursuing a double major in chemistry and biology, has won the American Chemical Society's (ACS) 2010 Student Leadership Award.
Griffin will get the award at the 2010 ACS Leadership Institute in Fort Worth, Texas, January 22-24.
He was among 15 students winning the first batch of the Biotechnology Center's Undergraduate Research Fellowship Awards last May for his studies on the effects of Docosahexaenoic acid, commonly known as DHA, on brain development in fetal mice.
DHA is an omega 3 fatty acid available from fish oils and commercially processed algae. It's deemed important for brain function. Low DHA levels have been associated with cognitive decline and severe depression.
Griffin's Biotechnology Center fellowship work throughout this academic year is mentored by Alyssa Gulledge in University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher Steven Zeisel's lab at the North Carolina Research Campus.