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MCC Daily Tribune

Scholars' Day Preview

PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR AND ATTEND MCC SCHOLARS' DAY 2019

What if some inquisitive and productive minds at MCC got together for a day and freely shared their diverse constellation of discoveries and creations with everyone?

That day is Tuesday, May 7th, 2019. All members of the MCC community are urged to spend some time in building 12 on the Brighton campus exploring the insights and achievements shared by students and faculty in poster, oral presentation, and debate formats. (The debate will be in building 3's atrium.)

No matter what your interests and experience, you are guaranteed to find something fascinating and come away inspired. You have the power to add meaning to the endeavors of these hard-working scholars by showing your interest in their work.

One of the upcoming presentations is described below. Watch for additional examples from other disciplines in future announcements.

Mycoflora of Greater Rochester

Presenter: Clay Secrest

Sponsor: Professor Charles Wuertzer (Biology)

Of the estimated 3 million extant species of fungi approximately 95% of fungal species remain to be discovered. This project is investigating the diversity and distribution of fungal species in the greater Rochester area with the goal of identifying unique or unknown species. This is part of the North American Mycoflora Project, which includes over 100 similar projects Nationwide. We have curated 30 fungal samples using their morphological, macrochemical and ecological characteristics. DNA from each specimen has been sequenced by the Sanger method, through Genewiz, using ITS1F-LR3 primer combination for DNA barcoding analysis. DNA results have been used to perform BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) analysis against the Nucleotide Database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), part of the US National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institute of Health (NIH). DNA sequencing results, metadata collected in the field, and dried specimens will be made available to the scientific community through the online platforms: MyCoPoral, MycoMap, iNaturalist, and the CUP Herbarium at Cornell University. Through analyzing BLAST results we have been able to identify rare species, species growing outside of their normal geological area, and potentially a novel species.

For more information on Scholars' Day, visit https://www.monroecc.edu/events/scholars-day/

Attached Files:
2019 Scholars Day Poster - Rev. 4.23.2019.pdf

Michelle Parker
Scholars' Day Committee
04/24/2019