Leo Blondel

Mentor: Mark Zylka, PhD
Research: Using computational, genetic, and mouse models to safely and effectively unsilence UBE3A in Angelman Syndrome

Shenice Harrison

Mentor: Whitney Edwards, PhD
Research: Investigating N-myristoyltransferase 1 (NMT1)-mediated myristoylization in sarcomere formation during cardiac development

Frankie Marchan

Mentor: Jim Bear, PhD
Research: Studying actin network organization, dynamics, and regulation at sites of actin-endomembrane interaction, including how branched actin polymerization and its force production contribute to homeostatic balance during cellular membrane trafficking

Samantha Ryken

Mentor: Stephanie Gupton, PhD
Research: Investigating the role of focal adhesion kinase and calcium dynamics in the regulation of exocytosis and plasma membrane expansion during neuronal morphogenesis.

Jocelyn Alvarado

Mentor: Sharon Campbell, PhD
Research: Investigate the coordination of vinculin and its splice isoform metavinculin in the regulation of cell morphology and force transmission at cellular adhesions of murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and the embryonic chick heart.

Keith Breau

Co-mentors: Scott Magness, PhD and Timothy Elston, PhD
Research: Investigating cytoskeleton regulation during the constant homeostatic renewal of the intestinal epithelium by intestinal stem cells  and understanding how cytoskeletal remodeling in early differentiation influences biological processes, such as fate determination and cell cycle control, which are often dysregulated in disease

Amber Gomez

Mentor: Justin Milner, PhD
Research: Investigating the role of the transcription factor NFkB in CD8 T cell differentiation in response to cancer

Anna Kim

Mentor: Mohanish Deshmukh, PhD
Research: Screening for viable single-cell overexpression clones in human embryonic stem cells to identify differences in gene-specific responses to cytotoxic stressors as well as examining apoptotic and axonal pruning processes in knockout models of primary murine neurons cultured in microfluidic chambers.

 

Juliet King

Mentor: Scott Williams, PhD
Research:  Investigating how cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion molecules regulate progenitor cell behavior in the developing murine epidermis and their broader impacts on epithelial form and function.

Rhianna Lee

Mentor: Scott Randell, PhD
Research: Evaluating chemotaxis of CXCR1-expressing human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs) to IL-8 and engraftment of engineered HBECs to the stem cell niche of the airway, an important step toward increasing the safety and efficacy of Cystic Fibrosis cell therapy.

Julie Necarsulmer

Mentor: Todd Cohen, PhD
Research: The role of pathologic TDP-43 acetylation in neurodegeneration, particularly as it relates to frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD)  and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Nate Nelson-Maney

Mentor: Kathleen Caron, PhD
Research: Identify, classify, and determine the function of lymphatic-enriched G protein coupled receptors (GPCR) that have the potential to be manipulated by pharmacologic intervention.

Jennifer Nwako

Mentor: Frank Conlon, PhD
Research: Investigates sex differences in the role of GATA4, a core cardiac transcription factor required for cardiac development. When mutated, GATA4 causes human heart disease in adults and children.

Alex Powers

Mentor: Sarah Cohen, PhD
Research:  Investigating the function of apolipoprotein E on the regulation of lipid droplets in astrocytes and its implications in Alzheimer's disease.

Allison Skinkle

Mentor: Amy Gladfelter, PhD
Research:  Characterizing assembly of glycolytic condensates in placental syncytiotrophoblast, particularly as it relates to nutrient sensing at the maternal-fetal interface.

Matthew Zimmerman

Mentor: Brian Miller, PhD
Research: Exploring the mechanistic link between folate-driven one-carbon metabolism and the immunosuppressive phenotype of tumor-associated macrophages with the ultimate goal of leveraging these findings to reverse macrophage-dependent resistance to traditional cancer immunotherapies in patients