Biomedical Graduate Education
Biomedical Graduate Education

Student Research Day

Student Research Day attendees talking in front of a research poster

Since 1985, Student Research Day has provided an on-campus forum for students to showcase their research pursuits. For many students, the day offers the opportunity to share their dissertation research with their colleagues from other disciplines, engaging in discussion and soliciting feedback.

Student Research Day is held in the fall of each year for the students in the Ph.D. programs at the Georgetown University Medical Center. The purpose of Student Research Day is to showcase the scientific research efforts of graduate students at Georgetown University.

Student Research Day 2021 – October 28

2020 Presentation Award Winners

1st: Holly Korthas – 4th Year Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience Ph.D. Program
High Frequency Head Impacts Disrupts Sleep Architecture and Circadian Rhythms

2nd: Kelly Martin – 4th Year Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience Ph.D. Program
Language activation in the right hemisphere weakens and disperses with age

3rd: Gayatri Sanku – 3rd Year Microbiology and Immunology Ph.D. Program
Unraveling the immune repertoire of SARS CoV-2- specific human T cell lines generated from unexposed individuals

Oral Presentations:

1st/Tie: Paige Brooks – Biology

1st/Tie: Erin Wenzel – Pharmacology

2nd: Adam Caccavano – Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN)

First-Year Rotation Posters:

1st: Marissa Laws – Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN)

2nd: Plamen Nikolov – Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN)

Biologies:

1st: Ivana Brekalo – Chemistry

2nd: Yang Yang — Biochemistry

3rd/Tie: Manasa Suresh — Microbiology and Immunology

3rd/Tie: Anjelika Gasilina – Biochemistry

Neuroscience:

1st: Gabrielle-Ann Torre – Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN)

2nd: Katherine O’Connell – Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN)

Pharmacology:

1st/Tie: Mai Abdel-Ghani – Pharmacology

1st/Tie: Seham Alaiyed – Pharmacology

Oral Presentations:

Mackenzie Fama – Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN)
Self-reported inner speech in Aphasia is related to phonological retrieval

Zeus De los Santos – Chemistry Program
Sensing of chiral compounds with a stereodynamic probe via multicomponent self-assembly

Amrita Pai – Cell Biology Program
Hydralazine attenuates the development of hypertension in the female Dahl salt-sensitive rat in a T cell-independent manner

Poster Category 1: Behavior, Cognitive, Circuits & Network Dynamics

Shady El Damaty – Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN)
Intrinsic Connectivity of the Striatum in Developing Adolescents

Stephanie Sloley – Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN)
Repeat Concussion Causes Functional Changes in the Absence of Synapse Loss, Neuronal Cell Death and Neuroinflammation

Sarra Djemil – Pharmacology
β4-containing receptors are necessary for network potentiation within in Vitro Hippocampal networks

Adam Caccavano – Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN)
Disruption of perineuronal nets increases the abundance of Hippocampal sharp wave ripples

Poster Category 2: Cellular & Molecular

Erin Conn – Cell Biology Program
Discovery of the interaction between the Ewing sarcoma marker CD99 and V-ATPase

Chinyere Agbaegbu Iweka — Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN)
PRG-3 Modulates CSPG and LPA Inhibition of Neurite Outgrowth through the RhoA-ROCK Pathway

Bonnie Carney – Biochemistry Program
Persistent ROS Damage Due to Decreased Ability to Scavenge ROS Contributes to Hypertrophic Scar Phenotype After Wound Closure

Poster Presentations:

Kaela S. Singleton – Ph.D. in Neuroscience
Matching Your Sox: Cross Species function and regulation of Sox11 in neural development 

Alyssa King – Ph.D. in Biology
Regulation of small RNAs by CodY in Staphylococcus aureus

Gabrielle Ann-Torre – Ph.D. in Neuroscience / Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN)
The Modulatory Roles of IQ and Socioeconomic Status (SES) on Gray Matter Volume

Oral Presentations:

Cameron McKay – Ph.D. in Neuroscience / Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN)
Resting-state EEG as a tool to characterize brain functional connectivity

Zeus Allen De Los Santos – Ph.D. in Chemistry
Sensing of chiral compounds with a stereodynamic probe via multicomponent self-assembly

Poster Presentations:

Mohan Zhang – Ph.D. in Chemistry
Structural and Solubility Parameter Correlations of Gelation Abilities for Dihydroxylated Derivatives of Long-Chained, Naturally-Occurring Fatty Acids

Elizabeth Koch – Ph.D. in Chemistry
Phase Transformations and Dopant Effects in Thymine Monohydrate

Marina Solomos – Ph.D. in Chemistry
Template-Directed Nucleation of Diarylurea Polymorphs

Oral Presentations:

Megan Allen – Ph.D. in Neuroscience / Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN)
Astrocyte-Derived MMP-1 As An Effector of Neuronal Excitability

Mackenzie Fama – Ph.D. in Neuroscience / Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN)
The Effects of Healthy Aging and Left Hemisphere Stroke on Statistical Language Learning

Ivana Brekalo – Ph.D. in Chemistry
Templation of Elusive Metal-Organic Frameworks in Solid State Synthesis.