The 6th Annual BMB Undergraduate Poster Symposium was held on April 9, 2026. We would like to thank all of those who presented posters and attended the event. A special thank you to the Office of Graduate Education and the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology for sponsoring this event!
Award Winners
Dr. Mavis Agbandje-McKenna Undergraduate Poster Award
Nidhi Rao
Investigating Glycogen Accumulation in Alzheimer’s Disease Using
Tamoxifen-Inducible, Cre-Mediated Gys1 Knockout
Faculty Advisor: Ramon Sun
Lab Mentor: Zizhen Liu
2nd Place Poster Award
Colin Frank
Molecular Mechanism Underlying TRPM1 Regulation by Heterotrimeric G-proteins
Faculty Advisor: Chen Zhao
Lab Mentor: Michael Fabrizio
3rd Place Poster Award
Yimo Wu
Identifying molecular triggers of Schlafen-mediated antiviral defense in bacteria
Faculty Advisor: Artem Nemudryi
Lab Mentor: Veronica Perez-Taboada
Posters
| Presenter(s) | Faculty Advisor | Lab Mentor | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan Nguyen | Zhipeng Li | Exploiting LRP-Linked Ferroptosis to Overcome Cancer Resistance | |
| Riley Cassidy | Artem Nemudryi | –– | Bacterial Schlafen Protein Reduces the Burst Size of T5 Bacteriophage |
| Sameer Naik | Matthew Merritt | Gaurav Sharma, Vinay Malut | Less Stress, More Success: Optimizing Cryostat Thaw Times in Spatial Metabolomics |
| Yimo Wu | Artem Nemudryi | Veronica Perez-Taboada | Identifying molecular triggers of Schlafen-mediated antiviral defense in bacteria |
| Giancarlo Valdivia | Matthew Gentry | Pankaj Singh | Metabolic Mechanisms Underlying Brain Dysfunction in Glut1 Deficiency |
| Colin C. Frank | Chen Zhao | Michael Fabrizio | Molecular Mechanism Underlying TRPM1 Regulation by Heterotrimeric G-proteins |
| Sophia Florea | Ramon Sun | Cameron Shedlock, Terrymar Medina | Evaluating the Combined Effects of 1% and 8% Oxygen and GlycogenMetabolism on Glycolysis and the TCA Cycle in A549 Lung Adenocarcinoma Cells |
| Joel Carbot | Matthew Gentry | Tiantian Chen | Single Injection of Brain-Penetrant Glycogen Hydrolase Clears Glycogen in Brain and Periphery of Pompe Mice |
| Victor de Paula | Matthew Merritt | Gaurav Sharma | Halving JHSQC Acquisition Time Using Non-Uniform Sampling |
| Kangjin Wong | Ramon Sun | Terry Medina, Zizhen Liu | Tamoxifen or Toxic: Behavioral Effects of Subcutaneous Tamoxifen Injection |
| Vicenzo Barco-Caiaffa | Ramon Sun | Terrymar Medina, Zizhen Liu | Exploring Electron Transport Chain Dysfunction in Alzheimer’s Disease |
| Shea Baran | Mingyi Xie | Yue Han | Engineering Programmable Target-Directed microRNA Degradation (TDMD) Systems |
| Eve Cook | Michelle Gumz, Lauren Douma | Alexandria Juffre, Sophia Eikenberry | Evaluating the Sex-Based Expression and Rhythms of Pcsk9 in Mice Kidneys |
| Nidhi Rao | Ramon Sun | Zizhen Liu | Investigating Glycogen Accumulation in Alzheimer’s Disease Using Tamoxifen-Inducible, Cre-Mediated Gys1 Knockout |
| Lauren Fernandez | Jianrong Lu | –– | Discovering and Leveraging Ferroptosis Sensitivity in Ewing Sarcoma |
| Sneha Yarlagadda, Yael Rubinovich | Matthew Merritt | Vinay Malut | Assessing Fatty Acid Oxidation via Metabolic MRI |
| Gabrielle Salvador, Katherine Gorkov, Logan Delgado | Joanna Long | –– | Mechanisms of Lipid-Peptide Partitioning in Pulmonary Surfactant: Comparing Dynamics of Surfactant Protein B and KL4 Under Physiological Conditions |
| Victoria Rabacchi | Joanna Long, Luiza Nogueira | Catherine Pfukwa | TEV Cleavage and Characterization of CT Constructs from S. mutans Antigen I/II |
| Siya Patel | Chen Zhao | –– | OPTIMIZING THE SURFACE EXPRESSION OF ION CHANNEL TRPM1 IN HEK293 CELLS |
| Neel Shah, Ryan Smith, Rashmitha Bathina | Joanna Long | Megan Jewell | Effectiveness of Microwave Fixation in Preserving Phosphorylated Metabolites in Neural Tissue and their Quantitation by Solution State 31P NMR Spectroscopy |
| Jared Gavsie, Anish Amin | Joanna Long | –– | Functional Amyloid Production in Bacterial Biofilms |
| Nashley Richard | Matthew Gentry | Matthieu Colpaert | Altered Glycogen Accumulation and N-glycosylation in the Diabetic db/db Mouse Brain |
| Rachel Lee | Michelle Gumz | –– | Time-Restricted Feeding for Five Weeks does not Improve Renal Injury Markers in Aged Male Mice |