MB Trainees Accomplishments Spring 2026

Doctoral Defenses:

Vedant Jain (Lundquist lab) defended his PhD dissertation entitled “MAB-5/Hox regulates the migration of QL neuroblast through three distinct stages” on April 15, 2026.

Anika James (Neufeld lab) defended her PhD dissertation entitled, “Nuclear APC in Colitis Suppression, Sexual Dimorphism, and Microbiome Composition” on April 21, 2026.

Master Thesis:

Lauren Atkinson (Hefty Lab) defended her M.S. thesis entitled “Identification of Genetic Factors Contributing to Core Biological Processes and Pathogenesis in Chlamydia muridarum” on April 24, 2026.

Undergraduate Fellowship

Mansha Sharma, undergraduate working in the Lundquist lab, received a Salk Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship and will spend the summer of 2026 doing research at the Salk Institute in San Diego.