Five participants from the summer program Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in Microbiology at the Host-Pathogen Interface presented posters at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS) 2024 held in Pittsburgh, PA, November 13-16.
The meeting was a great opportunity for our students to present their research and connect with scientists from around the nation. All five received a travel award, and three won prizes for their poster presentations: Jan Bilbao Del Valle, Jolcey Santana and Calyssa Huff.
Jan Bilbao Del Valle (Dustin Bosch lab). Jan won for his poster on research conducted at his home institution in Puerto Rico: “Evaluating different methods to identify changes in the gut microbiota—lessons from alcohol-exposed Drosophila melanogaster.”
Calyssa Huff (Jessica Tucker lab): “Investigating the effects of angiogenin overexpression on the reactivation of Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus and transfer RNA fragmentation.” Calyssa continues working with Jessica on that project as part of the ICARE Post-Baccalaureate Program.
Jolcey Santana (Noah Butler lab): “Investigating the contribution of a unique immune cell population in inhibiting malaria.”
Jose Suastes (Balaji Manicassamy lab): “Identifying influenza virus mutations required for diverse host glycan receptor utilization.”
Alex Valdez (Craig Ellermeier lab): “Localization of essential proteins potentially involved in cell division in Clostridioides difficile.”
Congratulations to all our participants!
