St. Mary’s College of Maryland student Danielle Spaulding ’20 was awarded a research grant from the Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research Program for her research titled “Can Glyphosate and Polyethoxylated Tallowamine Inhibit Cytochrome P450 Enzymes?” Spaulding, who is a double major in biology and chemistry, is pursuing this research question for her St. Mary’s Project (SMP) under the guidance of Shanen M. Sherrer, assistant professor of biochemistry. Her work, which stems from summer research conducted in 2019 with a St. Mary’s Undergraduate Research Fellowship, is investigating the biochemical consequences of glyphosate, an active ingredient of herbicides such as Roundup®. The enzyme studied is important for drug metabolism. Results from Spaulding’s SMP can help provide new insights on negative health outcomes after herbicide exposure.
