ABRCMS & Alumni: In the News and Recent Research

In the News

• 4 Ph.D. neuroscience students from other countries share the challenges of studying in the US (theconversation.com).
  Thiago Arzua, Postdoctoral Scientist, Columbia University (ABRCMS 2018, 2019 exhibitor and judge)
  
  
• Adade ’22 to Conduct Research at Broad Institute Cell Observatory
  Joel Adade,  Hamilton College, (ABRCMS 2019)
  
  
• Arion Kennedy: Exploring the Effects of High Fructose Consumption on Liver Function, CALS Magazine
  Arion Kennedy (ABRCMS 2001, 2002; Reviewer/judge 2019), Assistant Professor at NC State University
  
  
• Booker honored by American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | Penn State University (psu.edu)
  Squire J. Booker, Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Penn State (ABRCMS Steering Committee)
  
  
• Celebrating our seniors: Nathalie Vieux-Gresham '23 | BrandeisNOW
  Nathalie Vieux-Gresham, Rising Senior majoring in Neuroscience at Brandeis University (ABRCMS 2021 student presenter)
  
  
• Celebrating Postdocs: Here’s how they’re shaping the future
  Keon Wimberley, PH.D. Postdoctoral Associate, Dept. of Applied Physiology & Kinesiology, University of Florida (ABRCMS 2013 and 2014 student presenter)
  
  
• Celebrating STEM student excellence, Rutgers-Camden News Now
  John Crespo, Juliana Jimenez, & Malaika Mahmood, Rutgers University, (ABRCMS 2021)
  
  
• Creating diverse and equitable initiatives in data science, TedTalk
  Tiffany Oliver (ABRCMS 2002, 2003), Department Chair and Associate Professor of Biology at Spelman College
  
  
• Dr. Simone Douglas-Green — Edges & Nodes: a series (squarespace.com).
  Simone Douglas-Green, Postdoctoral Researcher in Engineering, MIT, (ABRCMS 2018)
  
  
• EPCC Student Nationally Recognized for Research, El-Paso Herald Post
  Gloria Sepulveda (ABRCMS 2021), El Paso Community College
  
  
• Fostering research and mentorship in materials science | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
  Rachel Myers (ABRCMS 2020 attendee; 2021 poster presenter), 4th Year Chemical Engineering Major at the University of Maryland Baltimore County
  
  
• Medical Missions to Medical School | UMD News Center (umn.edu)
  Jubran Jindeel, University of Minnesota, Duluth, (ABRCMS 2019)
  
  
• New research shows how one sniff separates trillions of molecules into smells (massivesci.com).
  Thiago Arzua, Postdoctoral Scientist, Columbia University (ABRCMS 2018, 2019 exhibitor and judge)
  
  
• Pharmacology Graduate Student Building a Legacy Through Research - Ole Miss News
  Cellas Hayes, PhD Candidate, University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy Department of Biomolecular Science (ABRCMS 2018 student presenter)
  
  
• Pinkney Earns Opportunity to Attend Annual Biomedical Research Conference - Winston-Salem State University (wssurams.com)
  Jireh Pinkney, Winston-Salem State University (ABRCMS 2022 Student Presenter)
  
  
• Senior Spotlight: José Galván ’22 Earns Full Scholarship for Biology Ph.D. at NYU | John Jay College of Criminal Justice (cuny.edu) 
  José A. Galván (ABRCMS 2019 poster presenters), Incoming Graduate Student, NYU Department of Biology
  
  
• Sewer slime can hang on to SARS-CoV-2 RNA from wastewater - American Chemical Society (acs.org).
  William R. Morales-Medina, American Water (ABRCMS 2020)
  
  
• Student Researcher Targets New Drug Treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease
  Ryan West, California State University, Fullerton (ABRCMS 2019 and 2022 student poster presenter)
  
  
• UDC Assistant Professor of Psychology wins prestigious $1.6 million NSF grant award
  Afiya Fredericks (ABRCMS 2007-2009), Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of the District of Columbia
  
  
• What STEM Fields Lack is Disability Culture – SQ Online (ucsd.edu)
  Syreeta L. Nolan, Policy Student Co-Chair of the American Public Health Association (APHA) Disability Section and CEO of Disabled in Higher Ed (ABRCMS 2018 student attendee and 2021 session presenter and awardee)
  
  
• Why I Teach: Conversations with ETSU Faculty - Episode 04 Dr. Cerrone Foster
  Cerrone R. Foster, Associate Professor; Associate Director of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities, East Tennessee State University (ABRCMS 2005 student poster presenter)

Recent Research

• Adenovirus-vectored SARS-CoV-2 vaccine expressing S1-N fusion protein | Antibody Therapeutics | Oxford Academic (oup.com)
  Sohaib Khan, Graduate Student, University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health (ABRCMS 2022 Judge, 2023 Judge & Graduate Council Member)
  
  
• An open-source tool for automated analysis of breathing behaviors in common marmosets and rodents | eLife (elifesciences.org)
  
  
• Astrocytic modulation of central pattern generating motor circuits - Turk - - Glia - Wiley Online Library 
  Afuh Adeck (ABRCMS 2019 Poster Presenters), Research Fellow at the National Institute of Health (NIH), NINDS
  
  
• CAR T cells produced in vivo to treat cardiac injury | Science
  Pedro Mendez Fernandez, Medical and Graduate Student at the University of Pennsylvania (ABRCMS Student presenter 2018, 2019, 2021)
  
  
• Confronting Racism in All Forms of Pain Research: A Shared Commitment for Engagement, Diversity, and Dissemination.
  Anna Hood, Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Manchester, (ABRCMS 2010 poster presenter)
  
  
• Enantioselective Synthesis of α-Trifluoromethyl Amines via Biocatalytic N-H Bond Insertion with Acceptor-Acceptor Carbene Donors
  Antonio Tinoco Valencia, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard University, (ABRCMS 2020 and ABRCMS 2021 as a postdoctoral fellow)
  
  
• Engineering β Cell Replacement Therapies for Type 1 Diabetes: Biomaterial Advances and Considerations for Macroscale Constructs | Annual Review of Pathology: Mechanisms of Disease (annualreviews.org)
  Michelle J. Quizon, Bioengineering Ph.D. Candidate at the Georgia Institute of Technology (ABRCMS 2017 Student Presenter)
  
  
• Exploring a theory of change: Are increases in parental empowerment associated with healthier weight-related parenting practices? - ScienceDirect 
  Roger Figueroa (ABRCMS Judge 2017, 2019), PhD, MPH, MsC, Assistant Professor and Director, Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
  
  
• Exposure to Sevoflurane, But Not Ketamine, During Early-life Brain Development has Long-Lasting Effects on GABAA Receptor Mediated Inhibitory Neurotransmission - ScienceDirect
  Alizna Florveus (ABRCMS 2019), Veterinarian Technician with Clinton Hill Animal Clinic
  
  
• Health Status, Persistent Symptoms, and Effort Intolerance One Year After Acute COVID-19 Infection.
  Elizabeth (Ellie) Benitez, MD-PhD student at the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program, Incoming class of 2020, (ABRCMS Poster Presenter, 2017; Attendee, 2019; Tri-I representative, 2021)
  
  
• HolistIC: leveraging Hi–C and whole genome shotgun sequencing for double minute chromosome discovery.
  Derrick Mullins, Data Analyst and Membership Representative, Models for Success, LLC (ABRCMS 2019, 2021, Student Presenter)
  
  
• Hurricane María drives increased indoor proliferation of filamentous fungi in San Juan, Puerto Rico: a two-year culture-based approach [PeerJ]
  Lorraine N. Vélez Torres, Graduate Student, University of Puerto Rico – Medical Sciences Campus (2013 ABRCMS Poster Presenter)
  
  
• Identification of covalent inhibitors that disrupt M. tuberculosis growth by targeting multiple serine hydrolases involved in lipid metabolism - ScienceDirect 
  Andrew S Eneim (ABRCMS 2018 Student Presenter), PhD Candidate, Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
  
  
• Immobilized fungal enzymes: Innovations and potential applications in biodegradation and biosynthesis - ScienceDirect.
  Ivy Y. Kwok, Ph.D. Student at Civil & Environmental Engineering at UCLA (ABRCMS 2019 "Best Presenter Awardee" in Microbiology)
  
  
• Improved prediction of radiation pneumonitis by combining biological and radiobiological parameters using a data-driven Bayesian network analysis.
  Tonaye Hinton, 2nd Lieutenant, Army, (ABRCMS 2018, 2019 student attendee)
  
  
• Long-chain fatty acyl coenzyme A inhibits NME1/2 and regulates cancer metastasis | PNAS
  Irma Fernandez, Doctoral Candidate, Biochemistry, Molecular, and Cell Biology, Cornell University (ABRCMS attendee)
  
  
• Neurotoxic reactive astrocytes induce cell death via saturated lipids | Nature
  Uriel A. Rufen-Blanchette, Research Associate in the Neuroscience Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center, (ABRCMS 2019 poster presenter)
  
  
• Nutrients | Free Full-Text | Food Insecurity and the Association between Perceptions and Trust of Food Advertisements and Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods among U.S. Parents and Adolescents (mdpi.com)
  
  
• Pathogen detection and characterization from throat swabs using unbiased metatranscriptomic analyses | medRxiv
  Francine Camacho, Ph.D., Senior Bioinformatics Scientist at Viome Life Sciences (ABRCMS 2012 Undergraduate Student Attendee; 2015 Graduate Student Exhibitor)
  
  
• Pharmacological Advantage of SIRT2-Selective versus pan-SIRT1–3 Inhibitors | ACS Chemical Biology
  Irma Fernandez, Doctoral Candidate, Biochemistry, Molecular, and Cell Biology, Cornell University (ABRCMS attendee)
  
  
• Pharmacological and genetic perturbation establish SIRT5 as a promising target in breast cancer | Oncogene (nature.com)
  Irma Fernandez, Doctoral Candidate, Biochemistry, Molecular, and Cell Biology, Cornell University (ABRCMS attendee)
  
  
• Population genetic analysis of Plasmodium falciparum cell-traversal protein for ookinetes and sporozoite among malaria patients from southern Nigeria
  Marissa Schroeter, Graduate Student, Rutgers University (ABRCMS 2021 poster presenter and awardee)
  
  
• Providing the Opportunity to Learn: Unpacking the Role of Mindsets and Leadership in Broadening Participation in STEM at HBCUs
  Afiya Fredericks (ABRCMS 2007-2009), Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of the District of Columbia
  
  
• Semisynthesis of Hypothemycin Analogues Targeting the C8–C9 Diol | Journal of Natural Products (acs.org)
  Jennifer Chinyere Obike, PhD Student in Chemistry, Vanderbilt University (ABRCMS 2020 poster presenter and 2021 poster awardee)
  
  
• Sex Differences in Demographic and Pharmacological Factors in Alzheimer Patients With Dementia and Cognitive Impairments (frontiersin.org)
  Oreoluwa Coker-Ayo, Undergraduate Public Health Student with a Pre-Medical Emphasis, University of South Carolina (2021 ABRCMS student presenter)
  
  
• Signal Transduction Strategies for Analyte Detection Using DNA‐Based Nanostructures - Lee - 2022 - Angewandte Chemie - Wiley Online Library
  Shandler Nguyen, Graduate student, Department of Chemistry, Stanford University (ABRCMS 2021 Student Presenter)
  
  
• Structural basis for potent antibody neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 variants including B.1.1.529 (science.org)
  Chloe Adrienna Talana, B.S, Post-Baccalaureate IRTA Research Fellow, National Institutes of Health, Vaccine Research Center (2018 and 2019 ABRCMS Poster Presenter in Immunology, 2018 winner)
  
  
• Synthetic essentiality between PTEN and core dependency factor PAX7 dictates rhabdomyosarcoma identity
  Myron K. Evans (ABRCMS 2008-2009 attendee; 2018-2021 judge), Principal Investigator, Seattle Children’s Research Institute; Assistant Professor, University of Washington – School of Medicine
  
  
• The compounded burden of being a black and disabled student during the age of COVID-19 (tandfonline.com)
  Syreeta L. Nolan, Policy Student Co-Chair of the American Public Health Association (APHA) Disability Section and CEO of Disabled in Higher Ed (ABRCMS 2018 student attendee and 2021 session presenter and awardee)
  
  
• The mechanism of RNA capping by SARS-CoV-2
  Genaro Hernandez, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow in Molecular Biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center (ABRCMS 2009-2015 attendee and exhibitor; 2012 oral presentation award)
  
  
• YouTube is a Poor-Quality Source for Patient Information on the Rehabilitation Following Total Shoulder Arthroplasty - ScienceDirect
  Leena Abbas, Medical Student at University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago (ABRCMS 2016, 2018 Attendee)