Diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease could one day be as easy as taking a simple blood test if one undergraduate student’s research goes her way.

Jenni Wilson, a junior from Marietta, said she hopes to help change the diagnosis and treatment process of Alzheimer’s disease by conducting research that focuses on finding a blood marker unique to Alzheimer’s patients.

If proven, her work could help make huge advancements in the field of Alzheimer’s research, Wilson said.

Finding such a blood marker would allow for definite diagnosis of the disease to be given earlier, allowing treatments that stop deterioration of the brain to be administered sooner.

Wilson’s research was one of more than 100 projects presented Monday at the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities’ 2006 Symposium.

“The symposium is a good way to expose my research to everybody, not just to the psychology community,” Wilson said.

The Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) is dedicated to bringing attention to undergraduate research conducted around campus.

Students who participated in the CURO Symposium were asked to submit abstracts of their research in January.

The abstracts were then reviewed, improved and cleared for final presentation in one of the three areas: performing arts, oral session or poster.

“It is not enough to conduct the research – you need to share it too,” Pamela Kleiber, associate director of the Honors Program who coordinates CURO, said in a phone interview Friday. “(Students) do not have to wait until they are in graduate school or professionals to have this experience.”

Kleiber said the chance to learn how to adjust research presentations to an understandable level for members of the general public sets the CURO Symposium apart from other research presentation opportunities.

The chance for undergraduate researchers to mix and mingle among themselves was another feature of the event. It gives students a chance to network with other researchers from different fields of research.

“It is a nice capstone to all of my hard work,” Wilson said.