2020-2021 Student Awardees
Fall 2020
UNDERGRADUATE CANCER RESEARCH AWARDS
(Awarded: $55,000)
Anatomy & Physiology
Mayme Loyd – Mentor: Masaaki Tamura
Study of the mechanism underlying Euglena-dependent inhibition of viral infection and lung cancer growth
Morgan Phillips – Mentor: Masaaki Tamura
Study of the effect of water extract from Euglena gracilis on T cell immunity in viral infections and lung cancer
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Hawa Dembele – Mentor: Om Prakash
Understanding the Structural Basis for Development of EGFR Inhibitors for Cancer Treatment
Kierra Holloman – Mentor: Michael Kanost
Regulation of protease inhibitors by oxidation of cysteine residues
Read about Kierra in our 2021 Conquest Magazine.
Alexander Vontz – Mentor: Brian Geisbrecht
gC1qR as an Emerging Therapeutic Target for Breast Cancer
Chemistry
Ashley Bartels – Mentor: Ryan Rafferty
Achieving General Blood-Brain Barrier Transport via Small Molecule Conjugation
Doug Farleigh – Mentor: Ryan Rafferty
Lagunamide C: Unlocking Cancerous Cell Transport via Investigations into its Mode of Cellular Uptake Action
Caleb Kline – Mentor: Ping Li
Study of the mechanism underlying Euglena-dependent inhibition of viral infection and lung cancer growth
Gage Wright – Mentor: Jun Li
Development of Microelectrode Arrays for Rapid Cancer Detection and Therapy assessment
Biology
Adara Warner – Mentor: Kathrin Schrick
Mechanism of transcriptional regulation with relevance to gene expression in cancer cells
Ariana Cecil – Mentor: Katsura Asano
Translational profiling of human cells expressing oncogene c-myc
Taylor Bugbee – Mentor: Nick Wallace
Beta-HPV’s Potential in Promoting Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer
Elizabeth Riforgiate – Mentor: Nick Wallace
β-HPV’s Relationship to Micronuclei and Skin Cancer
Cathryn Haas – Mentor: Lorena Passarelli
How a baculovirus sulfhydryl oxidase that interacts with the tumor suppressor P53 affects virion morphology
Casey Worley – Mentor: Chingakham Singh
Biological role of tRNA modification and their regulatory machinery in colorectal cancer
Lydia Waner – Mentor: Thomas Mueller
Dissecting the Role of the Tumor-Suppressor Gene Lhx5 During Migration of Calretinin Expressing Glutamatergic Hippocampal-Like Neurons in Zebrafish
Abdulrahman Naeem – Mentor: Ruth Welti
Analysis of a homology of alpha/beta hydrolase4 (Abdh4)
Hannah Coggeshall – Mentor: Jocelyn McDonald
Exploring the role of non-canonical adhesion genes in collective cell migration
Emma Francis – Mentor: Rollie Clem
The impact of apoptosis on replication of an oncolytic virus
Joshua Spradlin – Mentor: Zhilong Yang
The utilities of virus-encoded host shutoff proteins in killing cancer cells
Lake Winter – Mentor: Zhilong Yang
Generation of a recombinant MVA expressing asparaginase and examine its effect on breast cancer cell lines
John Tumberger – Mentor: Brad Olson
Co-option of fasciclin-like gene for multicellularity
Spring 2021
GRADUATE CANCER RESEARCH AWARDS
(Awarded: $95,439 - Requested: $110,900)
Chemistry
Sabari Rajendran – Mentor: Jun Li ($6,644)
Nanostructured electrode materials for biosensing and electrical energy storage
Wei Wu – Mentor: Ping Li ($7,305)
Decoding molecular roles of protein N-terminal methylation
Arnaldo Torres Hernandez – Mentor: Ryan Rafferty ($6,915)
Balgacyclamide A & B: From total synthesis to the development of new therapeutic delivery systems
Anatomy & Physiology
Deepa Upreti – Mentor: Masaaki Tamura ($7,500)
Role of intestinal microbiota in Euglena gracilis extract-dependent prevention of lung cancer
Kinesiology
Dryden Baumfalk – Mentor: Brad Behnke ($5,000)
Dissertation: Prostate cancer, the heart, and exercise: Cardiovascular dysfunction and therapeutic outcomes
Stephen Hammond – Mentor: Carl Ade ($5,000)
Vascular dysfunction in cancer patients receiving 5-Fluorouracil chemotherapy: Implications for cancer-specific outcomes
Biology
Alexis Carpenter – Mentor: Rollie Clem ($7,131)
Tissue-specific attenuation of Sindbis virus by microRNA targeting
Tanner Richie – Mentor: Sonny Lee ($6,930)
Modulating intestinal microbiome to promote microbiota and immune system co-development
Christopher Messer – Mentor: Jocelyn McDonald ($7,073)
Dynamic control of Drosophila border cell migration by the small GTPase Rap1
Bibek Subedi – Mentor: Kathrin Schrick ($7,083)
Post-translational control of homeodomain transcription factors in plants
Anuja Paudyal – Mentor: Govind Vediyappan ($7,080)
Role of gymnemic acids in Candida albicans morphology and virulence
Dalton Dacus – Mentor: Nick Wallace ($7,080)
Beta Human Papillomavirus E6: A Menace to Genomic Integrity
Tshegofatso Ngwaga – Mentor: Stephanie Shames ($7,083}
Mechanisms of LegC4 effector-mediated immunity in macrophages
Plant Pathology
Joel Steyer – Mentor: Richard Todd ($7,615)
Regulation of branched chain amino acid metabolic genes in Aspergillus nidulans