Postdoc Category

• First place: Taraman Kadayat, PhD (Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences), "Targeting the Neddylation Pathway: Bridged Piperidine Derivatives as Potent Inhibitors of DCN1-UBE2M Interaction for Cancer Therapy"
• Second place: Abhilash Prabhat, PhD (Department of Physiology), "Environmental Effects on the Heart Rate and Core Body Temperature in Diabetic Mice"
• Third place: Gabriela Aparicio, PhD (Clinical Neurosurgery), "Profiling Peripheral Glial Cells from Intact and Injured Human Nerves for Grafting in the Central Nervous System"

Graduate Student Category

• First place: Tanner Anderson (Department of Neuroscience) “Serotonin, Psychedelics, and Claustrum Signaling to the Anterior Cingulate Cortex”
• Second place: Patricia Doyle (Department of Neuroscience), “Exploring Isoform Signatures Across Human Brain Regions and in Stimulated CD4+ T-Cells with Long-Read Single Cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq)”
• Third place: Caroline Hawk (Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics), “Advances Towards Saturating Transposon Mutagenesis for Chlamydia trachomatis"

Postdoc Category

• First place: Shayan Mohammadmoradi, PhD (Department of Molecular & Cellular Biochemistry), “High Mobility Group Box 1 Inhibition by Antisense Oligonucleotide Attenuates Angiotensin II-induced Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm”
• Second place: Brittany Rice, PhD (Department of Behavioral Science and Markey Cancer Center), “Outcomes of the Markey STRONG Scholars Program in Increasing Diversity in Cancer Research and Health Science Careers”
• Third place: Abhilash Prabhat, PhD (Department of Physiology), “Dim light at night blunts the daily rhythms in heart rate and core body temperature in mice”

Graduate Student Category

• First place: Mariah Geisen (Department of Toxicology & Cancer Biology) “Targeting lipid metabolism to improve efficacy of BRAF-targeted therapy in colorectal cancer”
• Second place: Nicholas Devanney (Department of Physiology), “APOE genotype modifies microglial immunometabolism”
• Third place: Ryan Shahidehpour (Department of Neuroscience), “Characterization of Perivascular TAR DNA-Binding Protein 43 Microvasculopathy in Hippocampal Sclerosis”

Postdoc Category

• First Place: Dr. Brittany Rice, Markey Cancer Center. "Ability + Opportunity: Equitable Training Practices in Science and Medicine"

• Second Place: Dr. Stevie Britch, Department of Behavioral Science. "Cannabinoid toxicity-related emergency department visists and inpatient hospitalizations in Kentucky"

• Third Place: Dr. Catherine Chaton, Department of Molecular & Cellular Biochemistry. "Structural Analysis of Mycobacterial Homoserine Dehydrogenase & Homoserine Kinase"

Graduate Student Category

• First Place: Tanner Anderson, Department of Neuroscience. "Claustrum serotonin and spike-timing plasticity associated with cognitive deficits after cocaine"

• Second Place: Hannah Daniels, Department of Toxicology & Cancer Biology. "The Role of Protein Tyrosine Kinases in DNA Mismatch Repair"

• Third Place: Reagan Lamb, Department of Neuroscience. "Role of C. elegans RAPGEF in Synapse Development at the Neuromuscular Junction"

Postdoc Category

• First Place: Dr. Lindsey R. Conroy, Markey Cancer Center. “Visualization of lung tumor microenvironmental glycogen by next generation digital pathology”

• Second Place: Dr. Jacqueline Rivas, Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics. “Enhancing responses to immunotherapy in chronic lymphocytic leukemia”

• Third Place: Dr. Felicia Michael, Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center. “Optimization of mitochondrial transplantation via engineered erodible hydrogels”

Graduate Student Category

• First Place: Lyndsay E. Young, Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry. “In situ analysis of microenvironmental glycogen in Ewing’s sarcoma patient samples by mass spectrometry imaging”

• Second Place: Jenni Ho, Toxicology and Cancer Biology. “Extracellular vesicles released after cranial radiation contain protein markers of neuronal injury and induce immune activation”

• Third Place (Tie): Na Ding, Toxicology and Cancer Biology. “Elucidating peroxiredoxin IV secretion via unconventional protein secretory pathway”

• Third Place (Tie): Caitlin Miller, Toxicology and Cancer Biology. “Adaptation of redox state in cancer cells that survive radiation”

Postdoc Category

• First Place: Dr. Meenakshi Banerjee, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry. “Endocytosis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1) activates platelets”

• Second Place: Dr. Ivan Vechetti, Department of Physiology. “Exercise-induced exosomal myomiR regulation of adipocyte metabolism”

• Third Place: Dr. Brad Hubbard, Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center. “Acute mitochondrial impairment underlies prolonged cellular dysfunction after repeated mild traumatic brain injuries”

Postdoc Category

• First Place: Dr. Ramon Sun. "Ubiquitin-dependent nuclear glycogenolysis results in transcriptional activation"

• Second Place: Dr. Hisashi Sawada. "LRP1 deletion in smooth muscle cells of the outer aortic media promotes angiotensin II-induced thoracic aortic aneurysm"

• Third Place: Dr. Rakshamani Tripathi. "Abl and Arg mediate cysteine cathepsin secretion to facilitate melanoma invasion and metastasis"

Postdoc Category

• First Place: Dr. Patrick Hannon. “Secretogranin II is a novel periovulatory gene that is induced by human chorionic gonadotropin in human and rodent granulosa cells”, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology

• Second Place: Dr. Nicolás Cifuentes-Muñoz. “Imaging the replication and assembly of the human metapneumovirus (HMPV) genome”, Department of Molecular & Cellular Biochemistry

• Third Place: Dr. Wen Wen. “Ethanol induces ER-stress and the expression of mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor in neuroblastoma cells”, Department of Pharmacology & Nutritional Sciences