Unlocking Links to Chronic Diseases
When Yosra Kaddura ’27 spots an opportunity, she seizes it. The Stonehill Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) was no exception.
The Stonehill Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program brings together student scholars and faculty mentors to pursue in-depth, faculty-led research across disciplines. The program provides students the unique opportunity to contribute meaningfully to active research and reflects the college’s commitment to experiential learning. This story explores a recent project.
Yosra Kaddura '27 came into Professor of Chemistry Marilena Hall's lab this summer with more than a willingness to learn — she came with something to teach.
As part of SURE 2026, Kaddura collaborating with Hall on the project, “Selection of RAGE binding peptides using phage display.” It explores the function of a specific peptide on the RAGE receptor, a surface protein on cells. The receptor is linked to several diseases, including Alzheimer’s and diabetes.
When the project required a reliable way to assess the potency of their hydrogen peroxide, Kaddura suggested a technique from her microbiology class: using E. coli catalase activity as an indicator. By observing the bubbling produced when the peroxide reacted with the bacteria’s catalase enzymes, they could use a familiar microbiological process to evaluate the peroxide’s activity. It was a new approach for Hall, and turned a routine question into a shared laboratory breakthrough.
“We both walk away every day having learned something new from each other, which is very valuable,” said Kaddura.
Unique Access to equipment, scientific knowledge and techniques
Kaddura, a biology major and first-generation college student, naturally gravitated toward Hall’s namesake lab, in the Thomas and Mary Shields Science Center, for her SURE project.
“Hall Lab has so many opportunities for me to learn new techniques,” she said. “A lot of the experiments I run require special microbiology skills. I love that Hall Lab has these hands-on learning experiences readily available to me.”
In special recognition of her work, Kaddura was named the 2026 Louis Liotta SURE Scholar, an award that honors the top-ranking STEM-based research project. It is named for Professor of Chemistry Louis Liotta, who founded the SURE program in 1996.
Collaborative experiences like the SURE program are essential for undergraduates, says Hall, giving Stonehill’s students a competitive edge for their pursuits after graduating from the college.
“Our students get to actually touch and operate instruments that undergraduates at bigger schools never get to use,” she said. “They learn the scientific method in practice. They experience writing and presenting their research.”
She continued: “They tell us they were so much more prepared for graduate school than students from other colleges.”
Kaddura said that the SURE program “has brought out a side of me I haven’t seen before.”
“Research has shaped the way I view and question things,” she continued. “I’ve gotten to know students and professors I’ve never had a class with. It’s made me even more excited to be at Stonehill.”
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