Oak Ridge Associated Universities 2006 Annual Report

PROFILE
Summer Research Team Develops
Bond over Bacterial Viruses
Dr. Walter Shumate’s unique research team
spent the summer of 2006 studying virus survival
times on household surfaces, as well as which
commercially available methods are best for
decontaminating viruses from those surfaces.
Shumate and his two students, Kenya Dials and
Lucas Williams, conducted their research at
Michigan State University as participants in the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Summer Research Team Program for Minority-
Serving Institutions, administered by ORISE.
Shumate teaches at Wiley College, an Historically
Black College and University (HBCU) in Texas.
While Williams attends Wiley, Dials attends Miles
College, an HBCU in Alabama. Michigan State
University is a major partner, along with six other
research universities, in the recently named DHSfunded
Center for Advancing Microbial Research
Assessment (CAMRA). The mission of CAMRA
is to develop and transfer to users of the center
creative methods to assess the risk of exposure
to pathogens in air, water, and soil, and on hard
surfaces in both indoor and outdoor environments.
The intent of the program is to provide research
opportunities to diverse and highly talented
individuals in order to increase and enhance
the scientific leadership at minority-serving
institutions in research areas that support the
mission and goals of DHS. In addition, the
program is designed to engage early career faculty,
along with undergraduate and graduate students,
in research that will provide them opportunities to
understand the mission and research needs of DHS
and advance research areas of importance to the
department.
In this program, faculty and student team members
typically attend the same institution during the
academic year, but Shumate agreed to allow Dials
to join his team when her faculty member was
unable to participate at the last minute. Shumate
has a Ph.D. in physical chemistry, while both
Williams and Dials are working on undergraduate
degrees in biology.
The student team turned out to be a perfect match
for Shumate. His favorite part of the experience
he said was the “feeling of camaraderie” that he
experienced in the lab. “A good lab performs at
its best when each member acts as part of a whole
unit, and this was fortunately the case in our lab.
That feeling of cooperation while striving toward a
common goal is truly a blessing,” he said.
A typical day at the lab consisted of recovering
a model virus from the surface in question or
examining the virus and calculating exactly how
much of it was recovered. The research will
determine which methods would be easiest and
most effective for the common household to
decontaminate household surfaces.
“I was not fully aware of the methods by which
bacteriophages (viruses that specifically target
bacteria) can exploit their bacterial hosts or
how careful a researcher must be to avoid
contamination,” Shumate said. “I have learned more
about microbiology than I ever thought I would
know and more about how I should carry myself as
an educator and role model.”
Shumate said he plans to incorporate the theories
of proper lab practice into his courses, and a
collaborative research proposal is already in the
works between Wiley College and Michigan State
University.
Image Information:
Shumate (left) supervises as his students Kenya Dials
(center) and Lucas Williams prepare a virus that infects
bacteria.
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