Research Awards Bestowed at Health Sciences Research Day

More than 280 research projects were displayed during the 2022 Health Sciences Research Day. The annual event showcased research from MU undergraduate, medical and nursing students, as well as pre-and post-doctoral trainees.

The event featured a range of health research, including immunology, nutrition and exercise physiology, diabetes, ophthalmology, orthopaedics and health psychology. Students displayed and discussed their work during the day-long event on November 18 and the projects were evaluated by 72 judges.

This year’s keynote speaker was Utkan Demirci, PhD. Demirci is a professor of radiology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He also serves as interim director and division chief of the Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection.

“The projects shared during Health Sciences Research Day truly show the depth and breadth of the research that is taking place at the University of Missouri on a daily basis,” said William Fay, MD, senior associate dean for research at the MU School of Medicine. “It’s inspiring to glimpse the kind of research that our current and future scientists will one day use to improve lives. The day provides a forum to celebrate the excellent work in research and mentoring that takes place on our campus.”

During the event, the Dorsett L. Spurgeon, MD, Distinguished Medical Research Award is presented to an MU School of Medicine researcher for outstanding accomplishments early in his or her career. This year’s winner was Mary Beth Miller, PhD, for research concerning the relationship between sleep and addiction. Miller is an assistant professor of Clinical Psychiatry and director of the Health Intervention and Treatment Research Laboratory.

Dean’s Awards were presented to health sciences students for their research abstracts.

• Sinclair School of Nursing Dean’s Award — Amy Winkler, undergraduate pre-nursing student, won for “Telehealth Implementation in Nursing Homes Amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Human Factors Approach.” Winkler’s mentor was assistant professor Kimberly Powell, PhD, RN.
• School of Medicine Dean’s Award — Jacob Russell, a graduate student, received this award for his project “Minocycline, an FDA-approved Antibiotic, Blunts Isoproterenol-induced Cardiac Hypertrophy and Fibrosis.” Russell’s mentors were Shawn B. Bender, PhD, from the Department of Biomedical Sciences, and Bysani Chandrasekar, DVM, PhD, from the Department of Medicine.
• School of Health Professions Dean’s Award — Olivia Ervie, undergraduate senior; Grace Montag, undergraduate sophomore;and Lexi Jacobsmeyer, undergraduate senior; received recognition for “Developing an Effective Training Program to Improve Clinical Judgements of Disordered Speech.” Also honored is their mentor Mili Kuruvilla-Dugdale, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences.

The Excellence in Research Mentoring Award was presented to Casey M. Holliday, PhD. Holliday is the director of Graduate Studies and associate professor in the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences.

Awards also were presented to students for basic science and clinical research in two categories: Category I for undergraduate students and medical students, and Category II for graduate students, resident physicians and postdoctoral researchers.

Category I Clinical

• Third Place: McKenzie Wallace, mentored by Richard Hammer, MD, for the project “Patterns of CD24 and CD180 Expression by Flow Cytometry Can Distinguish Mantle Cell Lymphoma and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia/Small Cell Lymphoma from Other Mature B-Cell Lymphoproliferative Disorders.”
• Second Place: Lauren Flowers, mentored by Amy Braddock, MD, for the project “Stakeholder-Informed Design and Development of the Commitfit Electronic Health Record Tool.”
• First Place: McKenzie Wallace, mentored by Deidre Amaro, MD, for the project “Adem-Like Neuropathology Covid-19 Infection: Report of a New Neuro-Autopsy Case.”

Category I Basic

• Third Place: Brooke Barnette, mentored by Ilker Ogden, PhD, for the project “Developing A Noninvasive Optogenetic Stimulation Approach To Treat Dysphagia In ALS.”
• Second Place: Elizabeth Shumway, mentored by Jonathan Mitchem, MD, for the project “Role of Osteopontin Positive Macrophages in Pathogenesis and Treatment of Colorectal Cancer.”
• First Place: Avery Schroeder, mentored by Teresa Lever, PhD, for the project “Direct Stimulation of the Superior Laryngeal Nerve for Objective Assessment of Airway Protection- A Feasibility Study in Rats.”

Category II Clinical

• Third Place: Gabriela Garcia Delgado, mentored by Robert Thomen, PhD, for the project “Clustered Lung Volume Defects in Different Lung Diseases Utilizing Hyperpolarized Gas MR Images.”
• Second Place: Jacob Thomas, mentored by Trent Guess, PhD, for the project “Serial Subtraction by Sevens Significantly Alters Knee Abduction During Lateral Step-Down Task.”
• Second Place: Yariswamy Manjunath, mentored by Jussuf Kaifi, MD, PhD, for the project “Patient-Derived Organoids from Surgically Treated, Localized Non-Small Cell Lung Cancers as High-Throughput Drug Testing Platforms.”

Category II Basic

• Third Place: Liping Zhang, mentored by Michael Hill, PhD, for the project “Serum and Glucocorticoid Regulated Kinase 1 (SGK1) Mediates DOCA-Salt-Induced Endothelial Cell and Arterial Stiffening.”
• Second Place: Skylar King, mentored by Shiyou Chen, DVM, PhD, for the project “Surfactant Protein A Promotes Macrophage Foam Cell Formation and Atherosclerosis via Inducing the PPARy Signaling Pathway.”
• First Place: Taylor Kelty, mentored by Scott Rector, PhD, for the project “High-Fat Diet Induces Brain Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Female Ossabaw Swine.”

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