Sarah is a rising junior majoring in biomedical engineering at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey. There she works as an undergraduate researcher in a lab studying mesenchymal stem cell differentiation due to micro-environmental controls. As an Amgen Scholar, she is working in the laboratory of Dr. Jeff Abramson in the department of physiology. Her project in this lab focuses on creating a biochemical assay to monitor the breakdown of diacetyl during fermentation. To create fermented beverages, such as beers and ales, yeast undergoes fermentation. A key process in this fermentation is the breakdown of glucose, which creates byproducts that are unnecessary for fermentation. One of these such products is diacetyl, or 2,3 butanediol. Not only is this product unnecessary, it creates a butter like flavor that is unwanted in most beverages. To continue fermentation, brewers must wait for the diacetyl to be further broken down by an enzyme called butanediol dehydrogenase. Larger companies can use mass spectrometry to determine when diacetyl levels are low, but many brewers do not have access to this high end machinery. To combat this, Sarah is working to create a colorimetric assay using his-tagged butanediol dehydrogenase to determine when enough diacetyl has been converted to allow continuation of the brewing process. Sarah would like to thank the Amgen Scholars program at UCLA for this opportunity as well as Dr. Jeff Abramson and her student mentor Kristopher Gonzalez-Dewitt for their support and assistance in broadening her research career.