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CORBIN PRESENTS RESEARCH AT ‘SCIENCE IN THE MOUNTAINS’
Joshua Corbin, a 2011 graduate of Mars Hill College, was invited recently to present research he had done as part of a capstone undergraduate research assignment at the “Science in the Mountains” event at Asheville-Buncombe Technical College, April 18 and 19. Corbin is a native of Franklin, NC.
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| Josh Corbin works in the lab with Dr. Kari Loomis | ||
Science in the Mountains is a forum which allows student and faculty researchers to share their research and explore opportunities for collaboration with industry and governmental leaders from throughout the region. The event is held at the Enka campus of AB Tech, and is designed to promote a culture of intellectual property creation, protection and commercialization.
According to Dr. Kari Loomis, Mars Hill College assistant professor of biology, Corbin’s research was of a quality and complexity that is unusual for an undergraduate student. Corbin, whose career goal is to be a physician, completed his senior biology research project on the characterization of the expression and cellular localization of beta-catenin in canine skin tumors. Beta-catenin is a protein which is thought to promote the growth of skin tumors.
“Josh is a highly intelligent, motivated and caring young man,” Loomis said. “He has embodied the fine character of strong inquisition and industriousness in learning which has gained him significant academic success during his time here at Mars Hill College. Those same qualities will serve him well in his pursuit of a medical degree and career as a physician. This project went well above and beyond the requirements for his degree and his performance was exemplary in every respect.”
According to Loomis, research like Corbin has done this year has implications for real-world medicine. “If doctors can better characterize the expression of a gene that is known to negatively impact cancers and therefore improve their prognostic abilities when analyzing a tumor, it could potentially lead to improved treatments for specific types of cancers,” she said.
Corbin said he became interested in cancer research while taking a cellular and molecular biology course under Dr. Loomis during his sophomore year. “Like many, I have lost people that I loved dearly to cancer. Knowing cancer’s prevalence and its deadly nature, I wished to start using my love and knowledge for cell biology to become involved in cancer research. This project has been a great starting place for me. Dr. Loomis has been a great mentor, and I am so thankful to have had this opportunity at Mars Hill College,” he said.
Corbin plans to continue his education at Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine.