Five Washington State University students presenting posters on their STEM research won awards Nov. 16 at the 2024 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS) in Pittsburgh.
“We had 11 students total — 9 undergraduates, one post-baccalaureate from WSU Vancouver, and one graduate student — sharing their work and results on posters, and they all did a remarkable job and stood out,” said Mary Sánchez Lanier, assistant vice provost for academic engagement and student achievement who has served for many years on the ABRCMS steering committee.
Each of the 12 ABRCMS scientific-discipline categories had hundreds of presenters, with five WSU students taking awards.
“We are very proud of all who represented WSU so well at this year’s ABRCMS,” said Sánchez Lanier.
In addition to the 11 presenters, five more attended the four-day conference in person and five additional students joined sessions, workshops, and presentations virtually from WSU Pullman. Four faculty and staff accompanied the students to the conference.
ABSCMS award winners include:
- Michael Fasci, sophomore bioengineering major and member of the National Institutes of Health-funded MIRA program and the Honors College, mentored by Ryan Driskell. Their research, “Creating the World’s Largest Mammalian Hair database to Create a New Health Diagnostic Tool,” was in the ABRCMS computational and systems biology category.
- Tiana LaFollette, sophomore neuroscience major, and member of MIRA and the Honors College, mentored by Gary Wayman. Their research, “Neurotrophic Actions of Insulin on Neuroplasticity,” was in the neuroscience category.
- Peter Martinak, senior biochemistry major mentored by Alan Goodman. Their research, “Toll-9 Regulation of RNAi in Drosophila melanogaster,” was in the immunology category.
- Geselle Sotelo Mendoza, a senior microbiology major and McNair Scholar mentored by Anders Omsland. Their research, “Analyzing the Role of Pyruvate Kinase in the Reformation of the Human Pathogen Chlamydia trachomatitis Elementary Body Cell Form.” Their research was in the microbiology category.
- Eva Rickard, a senior data analytics major, undergraduate research peer mentor, and member of the Honors College mentored by Sascha Duttke. Their research, “Decoding Gene Regulatory Networks Associated with Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia,” was in the biochemistry and molecular biology category.
