Summer 2025 Travel Award Recipients

Bell Travel Awards 

Kiana Hajiarbabi (Ferreira Lab) and Erick McCloskey (Davido Lab) each received a Bell Travel award to attend workshops in July.    

Hajiarbabi attended the Essential Staphylococcal Genetics and Metabolism Workshop in Nebraska from July 13-18, 2025.   Hajiarbabi said “It was a valuable experience. I had the opportunity to discuss my research with experts in the field and receive helpful feedback, as well as connect with scientists working on similar questions. These discussions and connections will help shape where I take my project next. I'm truly grateful for the support from the Molecular Biosciences Travel Award Committee, which made this experience possible.”

Erick McCloskey presented his research “HSV-1 ICP0 Dimer Mutants Impair Its Activities and Viral Replication” at the International Herpesvirus Workshop (IHW) held in Berlin, Germany, on July 26-30, 2025.   McCloskey said “at the conference, I was able to present my research in the form of a talk as well as a poster. I met many other fantastic researchers (fellow grad students, postdocs, and professors) in my field and was able to expand my network. I even met with labs on the campus of Hannover Medical Institute after the conference to discuss my work and what it would be like to be a postdoc in those labs. Overall, the travel award helped to fund my attendance to an amazing conference where I was able to build my network and plan for my future career. “