Bravo presents research at national conference

July 30, 2024

Recent DSU graduate Denyce Bravo successfully shared her research into the antimicrobial properties of alfalfa honey at the American Society of Microbiology (ASM) annual conference in Atlanta.

Bravo, worked with Dr. Andrew Sathoff throughout the academic year conducting research. Sathoff is Assistant Professor of Biology, Science Program Coordinator, and Undergraduate Research Coordinator at DSU.

To prepare for the conference, they needed to complete an abstract approximately six months in advance of the conference, Sathoff said.

“I work with the students to do several revisions of the abstract because if you don’t have a strong abstract, your research won’t be accepted for the poster session,” he explained.

Sathoff noted what an excellent writer Bravo is, so it took only four revisions on the abstract. Once it was accepted, the work began on the poster to share the results.

“I worked very closely with Dr. Sathoff for preparation,” Bravo said. “I did poster drafts, and we would just email it to each other back and forth until the final poster was perfect.”

At the conference, she shared her results and answered questions as part of her poster presentation.

“A lot of people stopped by my poster, and all of them had questions,” she said. “Everyone commended my work and said my presentation was excellent. Most of them were also surprised that I was only an undergraduate student and not a graduate student.”

Bravo enjoyed being able to interact with other students conducting research, exchange ideas and information, and travel to the conference.

She was also able to connect with others studying antimicrobial activity in different types of honey and was pleased to hear her results were similar to theirs.

Results

“I found out that alfalfa honey has very comparable antimicrobial properties compared to Manuka honey,” Bravo said.

Manuka honey is a type of honey from New Zealand and Australia that is sometimes used in hospitals for wound and burn healing.

“Manuka honey is a well-studied type of honey for its antimicrobial activity,” Bravo explained. “Alfalfa honey has high antibacterial activity against E. coli and S. aureus, but we still have not figured out what is causing this activity, so further research needs to be done.”

Bravo hopes to expand her research in the future. She is currently working in a laboratory in Aberdeen, S.D., testing E. coli samples from meat products.

“I am very confident that I will do great in this job because of my experience with DSU’s biology courses and my research project,” Bravo said. “Once I have saved up some money, I plan to attend graduate school and do more research.”

She added, “I’m very glad that I went to DSU. My professors were great, and I wouldn’t be where I am right now without them.”