GSA is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2017 Victoria Finnerty Undergraduate Travel Award. This award, which honors the memory of Victoria Finnerty, supports travel costs for undergraduates engaged in research to attend the 58th Annual Drosophila Research Conference.

Congratulations, undergrads! We’ll see you in San Diego.


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James Cevallos, University of California, Los Angeles

“My work uses the mushroom fly Drosophila falleni and its parasitic nematode Howardula aoronymphium to better understand olfaction and parasite-host interactions.”


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Jenna Harris, Georgia State University

“My research is focused on understanding genetic programs that drive neuronal development and connecting those programs to sensory nociceptive behavior in a fly model of Charcot-Marie-Tooth sensory neuropathy.”


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Madison Hupp, Kennesaw State University

“I am using live imaging to document heart formation in wild-type and mutant Drosophila embryos.”


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Matt Riccetti, University of Dayton

“I am using a fruit fly (Drosophila) eye model to see if the Ecdysone cell signaling pathway can reduce Aβ42-mediated neurodegeneration, the hallmark of Alzheimer’s Disease.”


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Ryan Salemme, John Carroll University

“Our lab is interested in the genetic control of neuromuscular junction development in Drosophila melanogaster.”


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Liesl Strand, University of Washington

“My research investigates developmental processes in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, specifically, I am interested in the signaling pathways that contribute to the formation of tubular structures early in development.”


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Courtney Willett, Kennesaw State University

“I am using fixed and live imaging to uncover novel interactions between genes that regulate muscle development in Drosophila embryos.”