The King's Connection Magazine Volume 23 Number 1//Summer 2012 | Page 14

FEATURED ARTICLE

Campus News
Student wins prestigious fellowship

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lgae, that tiny, slimy plant life that clouds lakes and makes
walking on rocks at the beach tricky has a new role in
helping our environment - powering cars. It can be used to
produce biodiesel, an environmentally friendly and renewable fuel
source. King’s student, Kristen Versluys, is spending her summer
researching how to maximize algae’s production of fats used for
biofuel production.

This is the third time that a student under Dr. Bestman’s
supervision has received this award. The first Summer
Undergraduate Research Fellowship was awarded to a King’s
student in 2006. Past recipients have been approached with
graduate study offers while presenting their research findings at
the annual ASPB conferences.
In July 2013, Kristen, accompanied by Dr. Bestman, will
present the results of her research at the annual meeting of
the American Society of Plant Biologists in Providence, Rhode
Island. In addition, as part of her summer research study she
will be required to give weekly updates to fellow undergraduate
researchers and faculty, and present at the King’s Annual
Undergraduate Research Symposium held each September.

Versluys, a second year bachelor of science student with a
chemistry major and biology minor, is one of 15 recipients of
the prestigious Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
for the summer of 2012 from the American Society of Plant
Biologists (ASPB), the largest scientific society of plant biologists
in the world. She is the only Canadian undergraduate student to
receive this award.
“Kristen is completing very detailed and comprehensive research
and she is doing it expertly,” says Dr. Hank Bestman, vicepresident academic and professor of biology and biochemistry.
“This summer research study will give her an advantage in the
future over other students applying for graduate studies.”
The award consists of a $4,000 stipend and funds to conduct
research on algae that can be used for biofuel production. In
particular, Kristen will be using the instrumentation in the King’s
Centre for Molecular Structure to trace the accumulation of
carbon from carbon dioxide into fats when the algae are grown
under nutrient limiting conditions. These fats can be readily
converted to biodiesel.
Kristen will be working with Dr. Hank Bestman and Dr. Kristopher
Ooms who have been collaborating on carbon metabolism
research in algae for the past three years. Dr. Bestman, a
plant systems biologist, and Dr. Ooms, a chemist, each bring
their expertise to the study. Dr. Ooms will use his knowledge
of analytic techniques and the equipment in the King’s Centre
for Molecular Structure to track the biochemical changes in the
algae, while Dr. Bestman’s extensive background using computer
modeling helps process the large amount of data accumulated
by the research. Dr. Bestman will also take a lead role mentoring
Kristen throughout the summer, a requirement for the Summer
Undergraduate Research Fellowship.

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Dr. Kris Ooms, Kristen Versluys, Dr. Hank Bestman
14 ///The King’s Connection /// Summer 2012