Biology Student Awarded Summer Research Fellowship

Maura Connorton ’20, a junior studying biology at St. John Fisher College, was recently awarded a 2019 Summer Research Fellowship grant through the Endocrine Society.

Connorton applied for the award in collaboration with her long-time research mentor, Dr. Edward Freeman, an associate professor of biology. Freeman and Connorton partnered with the Center for Student Research and Creative Work to submit the application.

The fellowship will provide Connorton with a full stipend for her summer research with Freeman on campus this summer, as well as supply financial support including all-expenses paid travel to attend ENDO 2020, the Society’s Annual Meeting & Expo, to be held in San Francisco, California in March 2020.

Connorton is a Trustees and Science Scholar, member of the Biology Club and Tri-Beta Biological Honor Society, has regularly earned Dean’s List status, and has presented her research at both the 2018 Student Research and Creative Work Symposium and the Rochester Academy of Science convention.

She conducts her research with Freeman in the Loss Family Research Laboratory in the Integrated Science and Health Sciences building on campus. Freeman, who has been with the College for 14 years, has mentored more than 45 students in the research laboratory where they focus on the impacts of endocrine disruptor exposures. Current studies evaluate the role of various bisphenols in metabolic changes in the developing fly as well as the impact the bisphenols have on zebrafish larvae swimming behaviors. Bisphenols are of general concern to public health due to their potential harmful effects on numerous physiological systems such as the reproductive system, the nervous system, and metabolism.

Connorton plans to pursue medical school after graduating from Fisher.