Presenters & Advisers
Amanda Putnam ’06 
The Role of Cytokeratin-8/18 in Cell Death within the Corpus Luteum
Amanda Putnam spent the summer of 2005 analyzing the ovarian structure of cows in an effort to better understand bovine infertility. She divided her time between the UNH dairy facility, where she collected cell samples from ovaries of cows in their luteal or pre-pregnancy phase; and the lab, where she stained the cells with fluorescent markers and analyzed them for incidence of cell death using a sophisticated cell-sorting machine.
"I liked how the research was contingent upon many different procedures and processes. It was never boring," says Putnam, an animal science major who is planning a career in biotechnology.
Putnam defended her research at the 15th annual COLSA Undergraduate Research Conference during URC '06.
"If one could capture lightning in a bottle, Amanda personifies this," says David Townson, associate professor and adviser to Putnam over the past four years. "She's an exceptional student, an eager investigator, and a wonderful person."
