Worm research earns honors When Jake Adcock first began a
research project in his toxicology class on the effects of a
certain insecticide on a tiny worm found in healthy soil, he and
his lab partner never thought they’d get the hang of
transferring the little creatures onto a microscope slide. “The
first time it took us four hours to transfer five worms onto our
slides,” says Jake, a junior biology/biochemistry major from
Auburn. “We finally were able to transfer 15 worms in 20
minutes. At first we’d accidentally slice their heads off or
stab them.” He and his lab partner, junior biology major Robby
Williams of Cumming, have come a long way since that first day
they decimated the worms, which measure about 1 millimeter long.
Toxicology professor Dr. Melinda Pomeroy-Black was so impressed
by their research, titled “Acute Neurotoxic Effects of Malathion
on the Soil Nematode C. elegans,” that she encouraged them to
submit their work to the Society of Toxicology so they could
present it at the organization’s int