Research Trainees Receive Awards at National Research Conference for Minority Students

Three student researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University earned awards for their research efforts during the 2012 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students held last month in San Jose, Calif.

In total, a group of 28 undergraduate students and post-baccalaureate trainees from VCU attended the four-day meeting, which represents the largest professional conference for students studying biomedical and behavioral sciences. Several faculty members from VCU also were in attendance at the event, which drew more than 3,400 people from across the country.

VCU students honored for their efforts include:

• Matthew Allen-Daniels, post-baccalaureate trainee in the VCU Department of Microbiology and Immunology, received an award in the microbiology research category for his poster presentation titled, “Identification and Characterization of Adhesions, and Other Virulence Factors in Mycoplasma That May Contribute to Pre-Term Birth.” Allen-Daniels’ mentor is Kimberly Jefferson, Ph.D., assistant professor of microbiology and immunology in the VCU School of Medicine. The awards for this category were sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology and New York University School of Medicine, Sackler Institute of Graduate Biomedical Sciences.

• Benjamin Koppenhaver, a senior studying bioinformatics at VCU, received an award in the developmental biology and genetics research for his oral presentation of his project titled, “Role of KLF2 in Mouse Atrioventricular Canal Development.” Koppenhaver’s mentor is Joyce Lloyd, Ph.D., professor of human genetics in the VCU School of Medicine. The awards for this category were sponsored by the Society for Developmental Biology and the Genetics Society of America.

• La Shanale Wallace, post-baccalaureate trainee in the VCU Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, received an award for her poster presentation for a project in the cancer biology research category titled, “Effects of PI3K/AKT/mTOR Inhibitors on the MEK/ERK Pathway in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells.” Wallace’s mentors are Steven Grant, M.D., Shirley Carter Olsson and Sture Gordon Olsson chair in oncology research and associated director of translational research at the VCU Massey Cancer Center, and professor of internal medicine and hematology-oncology, and Mohamed Rahmani, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at VCU School of Medicine. Wallace was recognized with an additional $50 for interdisciplinary research. The awards for this category were sponsored by the Gerstner Sloan-Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Many of the students who traveled to the conference from Richmond – including Daniels, Koppenhaver and Wallace - are participants of one of several pipeline research training offered through the VCU Center on Health Disparities. These VCU programs, which include STEP-UP, HERO, IMSD , MARC, PREP and IRACDA are designed to bring more underrepresented minorities into the biomedical sciences.

These programs bring area high school students, and undergraduate, master, doctoral and post-doctoral students from across the country to the campuses of VCU to participate in hands-on learning and the opportunity to work alongside some of the institution’s leading experts and researchers. The VCU Center on Health Disparities also partners with Elizabeth City State University to train additional students through the E-SPARE program.

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