ASU's Lisko receives INBRE Student Travel award for biomedical research work

August 7, 2008 -- Katherine Lisko of Stuttgart, Ark., a student at Arkansas State University, received the Student Travel Award from the IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) Program of the National Center for ResearchResources. Lisko accepted a $1,000 award at the symposium August 6 in Washington, D.C.

The award is based on her work, “Elevated Vitamin C Enhances Growth, Stress Tolerance, and Phytoremediation Potential in Arabidopsis,” authored by Lisko, R. Shea Harris, and Dr. Argelia Lorence, assistant professor of Metabolic Engineering in the Arkansas Biosciences Institute (ABI) on the ASU campus.

Recipients of the award were selected based on rating and peer review of a submitted abstract and were evaluated by the scientific committee organizing the Second Biennial National IDeA Symposium of Biomedical Research Excellence.

In Lisko’s study under Dr. Lorence, she worked with lines of the model plant Arabidopsis, commonly known as mouse-ear cress. These plant lines were engineered by Dr. Lorence’s lab to contain elevated levels of vitamin C, a key antioxidant that is essential for human and plant health.

Lisko has been studying how the high vitamin C lines respond when they are exposed to stressful conditions. The Lorence lab found that plants with elevated vitamin C grow better, are more vigorous, and better tolerate stressful conditions such as heat, cold, salt, high light and the herbicide Paraquat.

R. Shea Harris, an environmental science master’s degree student who also works in Dr. Lorence’s lab, found that these plants are tolerant to pollutants, such as trichloroethylene and pyrene, commonly found in the water and soil of various sites in the United States.

Funding for the project was obtained by Dr. Lorence through a sub-award from the National Institutes of Health Grant from INBRE and the program of the National Center for Research Resources.

Lisko is the daughter of Freddy and Babs Lisko of Stuttgart. She holds a bachelor of science degree in forensic science from Arkansas State and currently works in Dr. Lorence’s lab. She has been accepted into ASU’s molecular biosciences graduate program to obtain her doctoral degree.             

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