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Carthaginian Honored on Capitol Hill

Laura Potter, '10, is photographed at the Posters on the Hill event in Washington, D.C., with Carthage chemistry professor Kevin Morris, left, and Dr. Joseph S. Francisco from Purdue University. Dr. Francisco is the president of the American Chemical Society.

For the second consecutive year, a Carthage student was selected to participate in the prestigious Posters on the Hill event in Washington, D.C.

Posters on the Hill is an annual event sponsored by the Council of Undergraduate Research intended to help lawmakers understand the importance of undergraduate research programs. Students from across the country are invited to present their research to members of Congress, their staffs, and representatives from federal funding agencies. More than 400 students apply each year; approximately 60 students are selected to participate.

Laura Potter, '10, a biology major from Sussex, Wis., was chosen for this year's event. She is studying beta-blocker drugs used to treat heart disease and glaucoma, and has been working with Kevin Morris, Klingenmeyer Distinguished Professor of Chemistry.

Prof. Morris and his students conduct research in pharmaceutical separation techniques. Drugs contain molecules that may be mirror images of each other but with drastically different properties, he explained. "Drugs have a handedness, like your right hand or your left hand. Depending on whether they're right- or left-handed, they can have very different physical effects on the body."

The right-handed molecule may be active, but the left-handed molecule may be toxic, meaning people cannot take a mixture of the two, he continued. "Pharmaceutical companies have to separate them and then sell you the one that works. ... There is a real need for good techniques to separate different forms of the same drug."

Laura studied how beta-blocker molecules interact during the separation process. Prof. Morris said she is "very, very bright and a good researcher. I was very impressed with the amount of research she produced and the quality of research she produced on her project. She really took ownership of it."

The event was April 12-13. Laura and Prof. Morris met with members of Congress, other scientists, and participated in a Poster Reception.

"I'm very excited I was chosen for this opportunity," Laura said. "When I was finishing high school, Carthage was my dream school. I fell in love with the atmosphere once I met with students here. I like the personal attention, I didn't want to be lost in a crowd."

In her research, "I'm getting to use both my fields of knowledge," she said. She plans to study biochemistry at the graduate level before pursuing a career in medical research, and hopes to attend the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Last year Rebecca Woiteshek, '09, presented her senior thesis, "Dire Straits: Using Geographic Information Science (GIS) to Better Identify and Serve the Urban Poor," at the Posters on the Hill event. Her research used GIS to analyze and identify the urban poor in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles; specifically, how Watts changed from a predominantly African-American neighborhood to a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. She detailed the needs of the Spanish-speaking community as it is isolated in an English-speaking culture.