Noteworthy Grants, Awards, and Accomplishments
Faculty Updates
Jianbin Wang obtained a National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of General Medical Sciences grant to study programmed DNA elimination. Wang also was awarded the Professional Promise in Research and Creative Achievement Award from the provost.
Keerthi Krishnan was awarded a National Science Foundation grant to study the role of perineuronal nets in rat maternal behavior.
Rachel P. McCord received an NIH R35 Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) to study the folding, misfolding, and unfolding of the human genome in response to stresses and disease.
Fran Barrera became a Standing Member of NIH Macromolecular Structure and Function A (MSFA) study section.
Amit Joshi and Billy Lau received Faculty Research Assistants Funding (FRAF) from the Office of Undergraduate Research.
Billy Lau received a Faculty Research Mentor Award from the UT Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships.
Albrecht von Arnim was awarded a grant from NSF to understand proteasomal plasticity in soybean seeds.
Postdoctoral Researcher and Graduate Student Updates
Eric Brenya was selected for the 2024 Plant Scholars Program from the American Society of Plant Biologists supporting exceptional talent to solve 21st century agricultural problems.
Brandon Estrem presented a talk at the Molecular Parasitology Meeting XXXIV at the Molecular Biology Labs at Woods Hole.
Brandon Estrem, Logan Dunn, and Vitoria Norman received Graduate Student Research Awards.
Jennifer Rybak obtained a Graduate Advancement, Training and Education (GATE) fellowship. She also was awarded the Cokkinias/Fite Award and Hollaender Fellowship from the UT Division of Biology.
Ryan Schuck won an Outstanding Poster Award at the Molecular Biophysics of Membranes Biophysical Society meeting in Tahoe, California.
Lauren Walden was awarded a travel grant from the conference organizers to attend the Neutrons in Structural Biology Conference and Workshop in Arlington, Virginia, and presented a poster at the meeting.
Conner Hawkins was awarded a travel grant from the conference organizers to attend the International Retinoids Conference in St. Paul, Minnesota, and presented both a talk and poster.
Victoria Norman received two external awards, a Summer Program in Neuroscience, Excellence and Success (SPINES) Scholar from the University of Chicago Marine Biology Laboratory and a Neuroscience Scholars Program (NSP) Associate award from the Society of Neuroscience.
Congratulations to Bright Amankwaa, Debalina Archaryya, Anwesha Dasgupta, David Lohry, Alex Overholt, Charles (Boomer) Russell, and Shushu Wei on earning doctorates this academic year.
Undergraduate Updates
Joseph Martin (Krishnan Lab) and Abigail West (Wang Lab) presented at Arts & Sciences Undergraduate Research Symposium (ASUReS). Martin received an ASUReS award.
Marro Agbaga (Wang Lab), Marilyn McCarthy (Joshi Lab), and Joseph Martin (Krishnan Lab) won Advanced Undergraduate Research Activity (AURA) Awards from the Division of Student Success.
Alexandra McBryar (Krishnan Lab) was given a 2024 EUReCA Achievement Award from the College of Arts and Sciences as part of the Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement.