Undergraduate Students Mentored by MB Faculty Received Awards

This spring, five Molecular Biosciences students received a $1,000 scholarship Undergraduate Research Award (UGRA) from the Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships to support work on mentored research.  They are: 

Tatum Aikin, sophomore, Westwood; microbiology; “The Effect of PTPN22 Allelic Variation on Macrophage Production of Immune Cytokines,” mentored by Robin Orozco, molecular biosciences. 

Meghan Arias, junior, Olathe; microbiology; “Identification of PARP14's Impact on HSV-1 Strain 17 Infection,” mentored by David Davido, molecular biosciences.

Saborni Chakraborty, senior, Overland Park; human biology and anthropology; “Evolution of Olfactory and Lonotropic Receptors in Drosophila Across Altitudinal Gradients,” mentored by Allie Graham, molecular biosciences. 

Carly Gagnon, junior, Overland Park; biochemistry, “Impact of Wild-Type Adenomatous Polyposis Coli Induction on Tumor Progression in Colorectal Cancer Models with Truncated Adenomatous Polyposis Coli,” mentored by Kristi Neufeld, molecular biosciences. 

Ariana Siddique, junior, Stilwell; molecular, cellular & developmental biology, “Optimizing C. Elegans for High Throughput Chemical Screening,” mentored by Lisa Timmons, molecular biology.

In addition, Tate Nicholson (Chandler lab) won a poster award and Nate Schemmel (Fehr lab) won an outstanding presenter award at the regional Kansas Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (K-INBRE) conference held in Kansas City in January 2025.