While the other students looked at infections in humans, Barr chose to focus on dogs with her poster, “The Effect of Cranberry Juice on the Biofilm Formation of Canine Uropathogenic Bacteria.” Barr wants to be a veterinarian, “and my adviser, Karen Palin, said that I could pursue a canine direction with my thesis.” In both humans and canines, bacteria can form “biofilms” as a factor in disease production.<\/p>\n Biofilms are microbial communities enclosed in a protective matrix, and within these matrices bacteria may be more resistant to antibiotics. It is thought that cranberry juice can affect <\/a>the ability of the bacteria to form biofilms by altering the bacterial surface, and this has been the focus of Barr’s work.<\/p>\n Barr said that the cranberry juice seemed to have some effect on cells infected with bacteria, though the mechanism is uncertain.<\/p>\n Often, senior thesis research is more about process and less about product. No dogs came to Bates for Barr’s thesis project (the needed urine came from a Maine veterinary clinic), but still, “it takes a lot of time to set up a research project,” Barr said, even, ironically in this case, “just to get bacteria to grow!”<\/p>\n In his physics poster, Hunter Archibald ’12 <\/strong>indirectly addressed that familiar riddle: What falls faster, a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers? Advised by Professor of Physics Mark Semon, Archibald’s project, “Terminal Velocity: The Physics of Skydiving,” explored the forces that act on objects (humans in this case) hurtling toward the ground from high in the sky.<\/p>\n
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