Recently, Chad Pleasants ’10 presented his senior thesis research at the Southeast Regional Yeast Meeting at the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas. He presented a poster depicting work he has done with Professor Mike Wolyniak on how the cell cycle is regulated in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The meeting was attended by yeast researchers, postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates from colleges around the southeast, including Vanderbilt and Emory. By conducting research in simple organisms like yeast, scientists hope to better understand how processes like cell division occur in higher organisms, including humans. Chad is currently writing his senior thesis to earn department Honors.

Chad and his poster

Chad presenting his project

The Clinton Oval Office

The Clinton saxophone collection