Jayden Vanterpool

On Tuesday, April 18, 2017, Jayden Vanterpool was selected to be one of the poster presenters at the OU Research Symposium. Jayden is the first student in the history of OAA to receive this honor! He presented a poster entitled “Monometallic Silver Nanoparticles Can Protect Complement C3 from Degradation by Staphylococcus aureus and Serratia marcescens.” alongside OU students and faculty. OAA’s name was represented on the board. He received positive feedback from the OU faculty and students and represented his school well; they couldn’t believe he was an 8th grader! They were impressed that OAA students could make new innovative discoveries. He received a gift for his presentation. He got an abstract publication and poster presentation from this opportunity.

On Friday, April 28, the National Institutes of Health-sponsored IMARI research program hosted a research symposium. A research project which Jayden was engaged in was presented in a poster entitled “Artificial Sweeteners Can Alter the Virulence Factor Expression in Staphylococcus aureus and Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus“. Once again, this was the first time an academy student has been a part of an NIH-sponsored symposium. OAA was represented well. These findings will be presented at the National ABRCMS meeting. Depending on when it falls in the academic year, Jayden may go and represent at that meeting as well!

Jayden Vanterpool is a shining example of what you can do when you get OAA in your DNA! We are proud to call him a member of our OAA family as he continues to exemplify the OAA green and gold wherever he goes!