Hampden-Sydney is uniquely positioned to encourage student research. Biology majors work closely with faculty performing both course-based and independent research in the lab and in the field. They are addressing exciting questions in biology, including cancer biology/immunology, virus prevalence/pathogenicity in reptiles, whale physiology, invasive plant species, neurobiology, and genomic characterization of bacteriophages, while also honing their critical thinking and oral/written communication skills, ultimately making them more successful upon graduation.

Student Research in Biology

Brandon Finch ’26 and Cooper Lemmond ’27 are conducting research with Patterson Professor of Biology Alex Werth on entanglement of highly endangered North Atlantic right whales and other whale species in fishing lines and gear, a leading cause of whale mortality. Part of their research involves laboratory studies and computer simulations investigating ways in which ropes caught in the keratinous oral baleen filter of whales deform the filter, either blocking water flow or creating gaps. They constructed a new flow tank to measure flow phenomena related to entanglement. In addition, they have teamed with researchers from the New England Aquarium in Boston and North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium to study photographs, videos, and accounts of entangled whales to determine how and where in the mouth entanglement commonly occurs, to learn what the effects might be and how new gear might be modified to solve this problem and aid whale survival.

Baylor Jenkins '26 has been conducting research with Trinkle Professor of Biology Kristian M. Hargadon '01 to investigate the role of the FOXC2 transcription factor in cancer drug resistance. Using a novel pharmacologic inhibitor of FOXC2 known as MC-1-F2, Baylor has found that the FOXC2 transcription factor confers resistance to diverse families of chemotherapeutic agents. Specifically, he has found that the MC-1-F2 inhibitor increases melanoma cell susceptibility to doxorubicin, gemcitabine, and 5-fluorouracil. Despite differences in the mechanism of action for each of these drugs, all share the ability to promote toxic reactive oxygen species accumulation in cells, and going forward Baylor plans to investigate whether FOXC2 inhibition with MC-1-F2 improves chemosensitivity by limiting the oxidative stress response in melanoma cells. Baylor will be presenting his work from Dr. Hargadon's lab in Chicago, IL at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Ethan Currin '25 has been working with McGavacks Professor of Biology Mike Wolyniak to better understand how phosphorylation influences when and how proteins work. Specifically, Ethan is part of a national consortium of undergraduates and professors based at The University of San Diego that is exploring malate dehydrogenase to better understand how it evolved over time into an enzyme that is vital to cell metabolism. By creating mutations to this enzyme in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Ethan can see how these mutations affect the enzyme's ability to properly function and learn more about how it is regulated by other parts of the cell. Ethan is presenting his work in Chicago as part of the 2025 annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (DiscoverBMB).

Students in Conservation Biology (Fall 2024)and Ecology (Spring 2025) and summer research student Nick Hutson '26 are collecting swab samples from amphibians for a study with Elliott Professor of Biology Rachel Goodman and collaborator Dr. Amanda Starr of Longwood University. Surveillance of frogs in Chalgrove Lake and Tadpole Hole and salamanders in the Wilson Trail woods will examine which pathogens they carry and how prevalence of these pathogens is impacted by the microbial community in amphibian skin.

Find out more about the Student Research program at Hampden-Sydney College:

Student Research at H-SC