Roberts. a high school student at St. Mary's Episcopal School, partnered with researchers including mentor Jennifer Mandel, PhD, ACRE director, and Judy Bowen M.S., Resaerch Associate in Biological Sciences, on a project to explore the intersection of biological sciences and public health.

Thanks to the University of Memphis Herbarium, a natural history collection consisting of nearly 20,000 plant specimens from scientific collections from around the world, the pair had a multitude of plant specimens they could test at their fingertips. Roberts and Bowen spent three to four days a week in the lab together sorting through herbarium samples. Plant tissue that was collected by a former student researcher from Brazil, Dr. Carolina Siniscalchi, for the purpose of DNA work more than 10 years ago, tested positive for antimicrobial properties for a Bacillus species of bacteria. Their next step is to partner with another lab in the UofM Chemistry department led by Timothy Brewster, associate professor, and Mike Brown, assistant professor, using chemical analytic methods available in their labs which separate out all chemicals to better examine the plant profiles and their chemical make-up.