KU Biology Students receive awards at K-INBRE Symposium

The 24th Annual Kansas-IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence Symposium (K-INBRE) was held January 16-18, 2026. Numerous University of Kansas K-INBRE scholar students attended and presented at the conference, and Sofia Chacon-Araya, a senior in Microbiology, received an ‘Award of Excellence’.

Congratulations to all the students who took part in the 2026 Kansas INBRE Symposium!

Poster Award Winners

Sofia Chacon Araya

Kendall Cranor

Megan Arias

Jim Krentzel

Honorable Mentions

Nicole Guillen

Yesem Hallemariam

People's Choice Award

Carley Jenzen

KU Affiliated Presenters (Presenter in Bold)

Oral Presentations

Carter J. Gray (Swint Kruse Lab, KUMC)  – KU Undergraduate, “On the Evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 Mpro and its Substrate”

Patryk Hupert (Lunte and Barnaba Labs)  – KU Undergraduate, K-INBRE Scholar,

“Differential Gene Expression in Astrocytes, Microglia, and Neurons in an Accessible Triculture Model as Compared to Monoculture”

Robin Orozco – Assistant Professor, K-INBRE Mentor, “Risk and Reward: Understanding the context-dependent consequences of the disease-associated PTPN22 allele”

Posters

Kendall A. Cranor (Fehr Lab)   – KU Undergraduate, K-INBRE Star Trainee, “Incorporation of Chimeric Macrodmains into Murine Hepatitis Virus for Antiviral Testing of Multiple Coronaviruses in a Single System”

Corbin Fairchild (Hartley Lab) – KU Undergraduate, K-INBRE Scholar, “Defining How Different Sulfation Patterns in the Extracellular Matrix Impact Myelin Repair in the Brain.”

Tatum P. Aikin (Orozco Lab) – KU Undergraduate, K-INBRE Scholar, “The autoimmunity-associated allele of PTPN22 mediates macrophage production of pro-inflammatory cytokines “

Caleb Gilmore (Timmons Lab) – KU Undergraduate, K-INBRE Scholar, “ABC transporter localization in C. elegans”

Kaylie Schroeder (Unckless Lab) – KU Undergraduate, “Molecular test to differentiate between polymorphic Y chromosomes in Drosophila affinis”

Darsh Lad (Hotze and Ferriera Labs), KU Undergraduate, “MicrobioME: A CURE for Staphylococcus aureus – Can our commensal bacteria help inhibit the formation of biofilms?”

Jim T Krentzel (Hileman lab) – KU Undergraduate, K-INBRE Scholar, “Advancing Genetic Engineering in Three Plant Lineages: Mimulus, Antirrhinum, and Penstemon"

Larissa Rockenbach (Graham lab) – KU Undergraduate, “Understanding Genomic Adaptation to High-Altitude Environments in the North American Deer Mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus)”

Maggie Ridgway (Macdonald lab) – KU Undergraduate, K-INBRE Scholar, “Gene-Metal-Microbe Interactions: The Effect of Genetic and Microbial Variation on Heavy Metal Response in Drosophila”

Leah I. Legleiter (Chandler lab) – KU Undergraduate, K-INBRE Scholar, “Regulation of cdeAB-oprM efflux pump in Chromobacterium subtsugae in response to antibiotics and quorum sensing”

Vanessa Nguyen (Zhao lab) – KU Undergraduate, K-INBRE Scholar, “Clusterin (CLU) as a Modulator of Neuronal Excitatory/Inhibitory Balance”

Meghan Arias (Davido lab) – KU Undergraduate, K-INBRE Star Trainee, “Determining If PARP14 Impairs HSV-1 In A Strain-Specific Manner”

Jedidah Kapapula (Atkinson and Matsunaga labs) – KU Undergraduate, K-INBRE Scholar, “Comparing the anatomy of 80-million-year-old conifer shoots from Antarctica with living southern cypresses”

Udita Shah (Chandler lab) – KU Undergraduate, “Characterizing the translation accessory factor EF-G1B in Pseudomonas aeruginosa – biological function and role in antibiotic resistance.”

Kristina Sim (Chandler lab) – KU Undergraduate, “Gene repression by a quorum-sensing transcription factor that normally functions as an activator"

Yesem Hailemariam (Hefty Lab) – KU Undergraduate, “Discovering the Signal-Detection Mechanism of Chlamydia trachomatis: Expression and Purification of the CtcB Sensor Domain”

Liz Mays (Hileman lab) – KU Undergraduate, “Using molecular evolutionary analysis to detect novel function in a floral pigment pathway gene”

Reed M Hodges (Beck Lab) – KU Undergraduate, K-INBRE Scholar, “Unique signatures of mitochondrial genomic evolution in threespine stickleback fish”

Nicolle Guillen Sauceda (Smith lab) – KU Undergraduate, K-INBRE Scholar, “A corticolimbic dopamine-glutamate pathway modulates partner seeking behavior during loss state in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster).”

Vincent Chan (Unckless lab) – KU Undergraduate, K-INBRE Scholar, “Resistance to X chromosome meiotic drive in Drosophila affinis”

Sofía Chacón Araya (Hefty lab) – KU Undergraduate, “Transformation of Chlamydia by DNA-Transferrin Delivery”

Komron Fardipour (Hefty lab) – KU Undergraduate, “Expanding Transposon Library in Chlamydia muridarum”

Marion Berzansky,, Tucker Folscroft,  Sakshi Patel, Sophia Roccaro (Caetano and Morgan labs) – KU Undergraduates, “Small Molecules from Commensal Gut Bacteria affect Macrophage Activation”

Carly Janzen (Unckless lab) – KU Undergraduate, “What Makes Flies Sexy?”

 Tolulope I. Ade (Hancock lab) – KU Graduate student, "Transcription and Regulation of the mpt PTS in Enterococcus faecalis"

Abdulrahman M. Naeem  (Hancock lab) – KU Graduate student, "The ABC transporter EF2223-EF2221 of Enterococcus faecalis imports high mannose glycans, and is dependent on a three-component signal transduction system"

Candice Osagie  (Xu lab) – KU Graduate student, "Characterizing the HuR–ID1 Regulatory Network in Pancreatic Cancer"

Viet Hoang Le (Dalton lab) – KU Graduate student, "Using auxin-inducible degron to investigate the loss of glycosylation genes in adult Drosophila melanogaster"

Alfred Buabeng (Xu lab) – KU Graduate student, "Targeting HuR Mediated Regulation of CD147 on Extracellular Vesicles to Modulate Immune Response in Triple Negative Breast Cancer(TNBC)"

Ngoc Huan Nguyen (Xu lab) – KU Graduate student "Up-Regulating the cGAS-STING Pathway via HuR Inhibition in Prostate Cancer"