RESEARCH DAY
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Camille Hopkins
Wildlife Disease Research Coordinator,
USGS Ecosystems Mission Area (EMA)
Washington, DC
Camille Hopkins is the Wildlife Disease Research Coordinator for the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area (EMA). Under the Biological Threats and Invasive Species Research Program, she serves as the primary EMA staff member for national coordination of aquatic and terrestrial wildlife disease surveillance and research policies, plans, and programs. She defended her wildlife disease ecology Ph.D. at Virginia Tech, obtained her D.V.M. and M.S. at Mississippi State University, and a Biology B.S. from Cornell University. Her Master’s focused on wildlife epidemiology and included the intersection of invasive species and disease dynamics. Camille’s NIH-funded One Health PhD research focused on a mosquito-borne virus of public health importance that circulates in wildlife. She is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine. Dr. Hopkins, a US Army Veterinary Corps veteran, has clinical and research wildlife experience in Africa and the USA.
Schedule |
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8:00 - 8:55 a.m. |
Coffee, refreshments, and poster setup |
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8:55 - 9:00 a.m. |
Opening Remarks by Daniela Cimini Steger Hall Auditorium |
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9:00 - 10:00 a.m. |
Keynote Presentation by Camille Hopkins |
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10:00 - 10:15 a.m. |
Coffee Break |
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10:15 - 11: 50 p.m. |
Invited Student Oral Presentations by Paula Erazo, Carla Lopez Lloreda, Lin Miao, and Caitlin Miller |
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11:50 - 1:20 p.m. |
Lunch/Break |
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1:20 - 2:40 p.m. |
Breakout Oral Presentations Session 1 |
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2:40 - 2:50 p.m. |
Coffee Break Steger Lobby and Life Sciences I 101 |
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2:50 - 4:10 p.m. |
Breakout Oral Presentations Session 2 |
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4:15 - 6:00 p.m. |
Poster Session and Reception |
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6:00 - 6:30 p.m. |
Award Announcements and Closing Remarks |
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Erazo, Paula |
"The coevolutionary arms race of a cryptic giant virus and its algal host" |
López Lloreda, Carla |
"Tropical coastal wetlands under global change: influence of environmental drivers on CO2 and CH4 dynamics" |
Miao, Lin |
"How time shapes gene expression?" |
Miller, Caitlin |
"Ecological opportunities for evolution during range expansion" |
Moderator: Tori Shimozono |
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Atkinson, Grace |
"Loss of PEX5 in monocytes exacerbates low-grade inflammation and disease pathogenesis in an atherosclerosis model" |
Collett, Idella |
"Characterizing methylation in the Sinorhizobium meliloti chemoreceptor McpX" |
| Shimozono, Tori | "Investigating the mode of action of tuspetinib as a type IV pilus inhibitor" |
| Corluka, Marija | "Elucidating the intramolecular regulation of Phafin2 in membrane targeting and macropinocytosis progression" |
| Kikiowo, Babatomiwa | "Discovery of a pH-Dependent External Signal of GacS from Pseudomonas aeruginosa" |
| Mensah, Caleb | "Connexin43 regulation by Bone Morphogenetic Protein-4 in glioblastoma cell plasticity" |
Moderator: Katherine Pérez Rivera |
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Snead, Mychala |
"Chitinase Genes in Bacteria Collected from the Skin of Amphibian Species in Virginia" |
Pérez Rivera, Katherine |
"Influence of stream flow modifications on dissolved salts within an urban network" |
| Newell, Rose | "Determining the role of density-dependent effects in disease induced population impacts" |
| Surratt, Alicia | "Feeding Disease: Threshold Conditions for Bird Feeder-Mediated Epidemics" |
| O'Malley, Grace | "Eavesdropping on a Dryland Amphibian: Acoustic Monitoring Uncovers Unknown Calling Patterns" |
| Ozowara, Xavier | "Single-species and multi-species herbivory elicits different physiological and chemical responses in strawberry fruits" |
Moderator: Shreya Choudhary |
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Paka, Sharat |
"A Previously Uncharacterized Transglutaminase Is Required for Flagellar Motility in Sinorhizobium meliloti" |
Wood, Jackson |
"Single point mutant in gene of unknown function leads to host range expansion of the bacteriophage Chi" |
| Shams-Eddin, Marcel | "YpeB stability affects germination possibly through delaying SleB activity in Bacillus subtilis" |
| Choudhary, Shreya | "A Family Of Lipoproteins Affecting Bacillus subtilis Germination" |
| Wimbush, Breanna | "Establishment of Galleria mellonella as a Model for Achromobacter xylosoxidans Infection" |
| Sarkar, Pratistha | "Designing a Scaffold-free 3D Co-Culture Brain TME Model to Study Metastatic Cancer Cell Behavior" |
Moderator: Isaiah Jordan |
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Heimbach, Abby |
"Investigating Metabolites in the Maize Xylem Environment Important for Pantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii Survival" |
| Sarkar, Chandra | "Prevalence and Characterization of Wolbachia in Avian Lice using Metagenomic Approaches" |
| Jordan, Isaiah | "Experimental Evolution of Complex Adaptation in Different Environments" |
| Burrell, Elizabeth | "Influence of host genetics, age, and domestication time on intestinal bacterial communities of hatchery-raised Arlee, Shasta and Wythe rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and brown trout (Salmo trutta)" |
| Aldaroub, Joud | "Integrating Cultivation and Non-Cultivation Methods to Study Jumbo Bacteriophages in the Biosphere" |
| Chatterjee, Saptarshi | "Elucidating the Role of Centromere Stiffness on Metaphase Chromosome Oscillation" |
1 |
Agyei, Foster | "The Sinorhizobium meliloti chemoreceptor McpU mediates positive and negative chemotaxis responses to dipeptides and competes with periplasmic solute-binding proteins for ligand binding" |
| 2 | Beall, Michael | "Stream Metabolic Stability to Storm Disturbance: Integrating Resistance and Resilience" |
| 3 | Bhattarai, Bhuparaj | "Liking Biogeochemistry with Seasonal and Flow-Driven Dissolved Oxygen Dynamics to Inform Conservation of Eastern Hellbender Populations in Virginia Streams" |
| 4 | Busch, Rebecca | "Exploring the interaction between the septin cytoskeleton and the cell wall integrity pathway MAPKs MpkA and MkkA in Aspergillus fumigatus" |
| 5 | Collins, Megan | "TOM1-Mediated Control of Cellular Transport" |
| 6 | Ferguson, Mikhaela | "Septins Localize at Cell Division Sites in Hortaea werneckii" |
| 7 | Keen, Nicholas | "Centrosome overduplication and cell competition define the predicted evolution of newly formed tetraploid cancer cells in mouse xenografts" |
| 8 | Makhlouf, Rita | "Engineering temperate phages for genetic-based anti-virulence of bacterial pathogens" |
| 9 | Ottairoegbu, Benedicta | "Harnessing Plant-Induced Defenses for More Sustainable Fruit Production" |
| 10 | Perez, Martin | "Indistinguishable except for color: documentation of a broad hybrid zone of swallows in Argentina" |
| 11 | Porras Brenes, Katherine | "Advancing Imaging Protocols for 3D Analysis of Frog Skin Glands" |
| 12 | Renner Andreu, Sofia | "Septin AspB is Required for Proper Spore Cell Wall Organization in Aspergillus fumigatus" |
| 13 | Ringo, Julia | "Investigating translational control of cell cycle progression through 5′UTR-mediated regulation" |
| 14 | Sobol, Jacob | "A kink in the armor: effects of an S-shaped posture on the fast start response in juvenile poachers" |
| 15 | Sweet, Megan | "Tetraploid cancer cells enhance recruitment of pro-tumorigenic stromal cells in a mouse xenograft model" |
| 16 | Timmins, Ellie | "Pathogen invasion and establishment modifies the effects of an environmental driver of disease" |
| 17 | Burley, Nevaeh | "Polymerization Of Lignin Sulfonate and Kraft Pulp Using Laccase Enzymes for 3D Printing of Wood" |
| 18 | Chethan, Samir | "Decoding the function of cyclin B's long 5'UTR in S. pombe" |
| 19 | Westphal, Molly | "Identifying preferred carbon sources used by Pantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii in the maize xylem environment" |
| 20 | Allen Whiles, Shannon | "Harnessing the Gut Microbiome: Phage-Based Localized Delivery of Therapeutic Drugs" |
| 21 | Soleymani, Ghazal | "Bioprospecting The Dog Microbiome: Inhibitory Commensals Against Multidrug-resistant S. Pseudintermedius" |
| 22 | Renton, Mark | "Single-nucleus RNA sequencing of mouse carotid arteries during early ligation injury progression" |
| 23 | Marshall, Aidan | "Inhibition of calcineurin leads to increased efficacy of voriconazole in the White-Nose Syndrome Fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans" |
| 24 | Heuler, Joshua | "Influence of Bacteriophages on Inflammation in the Mammalian Gut" |
| 25 | Huff, Joshua | "Exploring Phage-Compound Synergy as a Strategy to Reduce Enteric Bacterial Growth" |
| 26 | Harsimran, Kaur | "A Biocompatible Polysaccharide-based Formulation for Vaginal Therapeutic Delivery to Advance Women’s Reproductive Health" |
Poster Guidelines
The maximum allowed poster size is 42" x 48". The BIOL IT Office's poster printing information is here.