To promote excellence in undergraduate research and education, GSA established the Undergraduate Travel Award, which supports travel costs for undergraduate members who are presenting at and attending a GSA conference.

Congratulations to the Fall 2020 awardees!

Susan Afolabi

Susan Afolabi

University of Maryland Baltimore County

I am studying the effect of ferritin an iron storage molecule in migratory cells known as border cell cluster which are found in the ovaries of fruit flies.

Huda Al-Bana

University of Mary Washington

My research looks at determining the contribution of altered myokine expression to muscle wasting in a skeletal muscle disease known as myotonic dystrophy.

Kerri Davidson

Kerri Davidson

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

I am interested in unraveling the mechanism associated with a new and exciting nuclear-pore independent nuclear export pathway: Nuclear Envelope (NE) budding.

Olivia Eliopoulos

Olivia Eliopoulos

Barnard College

My research in Drosophila focuses on the genetic basis of sexual conflict and I am also researching the genetic etiology of VACTERL Association, a condition that causes multiple congenital anomalies, using human genome sequencing data.

Hagedron

Eli Hagedron

The University of Alabama

We study how aging affects the immune response by infecting aged fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) with virus (FHV) and observing their unique molecular response compared to young flies.

Harrington

Nicole Harrington

University of Pennsylvania

My research investigates the molecular mechanisms between stress and expression of Nr4a1.

Hui

Justin Hui

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Using the Drosophila embryo as a model, I study the molecular mechanisms underlining single cell wound repair.

Leydig

Zachary Leydig

University of Pittsburgh

I am captivated by the cellular mechanisms needed for healthy reproduction, and through my research, I look to gain a deeper understanding of the proteins involved in homologous recombination, which is essential for gamete viability.

Grace McIntyre

Grace McIntyre

Marian University

My research analyzes the flux of lipid metabolism through the aging process in C. elegans.

Murareanu

Brandon Murareanu

University of Toronto

I am using C. elegans to discover drugs with the potential to treat Microsporidia infection.

Piñeiro

Arianna Piñeiro

Lehigh University

My research focuses on understanding differential functions of eRpL22 and eRpL22-like paralogue-specific ribosomes in translating proteins required for sperm development in Drosophila melanogaster by analyzing levels of the essential mitochondrial transmembrane GTPase, Marf, to determine if eRpL22 ribosomes play a specialized role in mediating its translation.

Pritchard

Caroline Pritchard

Lehigh University

I study functions of ribosomal proteins (components of the protein-making machinery found in all cells) and how the loss of specific ribosomal proteins perturbs normal developmental processes in the fruit fly.

Rao

Arya Rao

Columbia University

I am investigating mechanisms of adaptive evolution using the case of repeated evolution of toxin resistance in the sodium-potassium pump.

Hannah Reich

Hannah Reich

Queens College, CUNY

Using C. elegans as a model organism, I study how growth is regulated.

Spataro

Tenley Spataro

University of Massachusetts Boston

My work involves using blind mutants of Drosophila melanogaster as a model to establish a nanotechnology-based drug delivery system to treat eye diseases.

Stumbur

Stephanie Stumbur

Northeastern University

I am working to understand C. elegans ability to identify protective bacteria while under oxidative stress.

Takashima

Maya Takashima

University of Mary Washington

I am working to understand the role of pvr signaling pathway in muscle wasting due to Myotonic Dystrophy Type I (a genetic muscle disease) using a fly model.

Christiana Wang

Christiana Wang

Case Western Reserve University

My colleagues and I are working to distinguish the cause of the interchromosomal effect between pachytene activation and crossover control mechanisms in Drosohila melanogaster.

Melissa Xie

Melissa Xie

Emory University

My research utilizes a bioinformatics approach to identify possible novel proteins that localize to the histone locus in Drosophila melanogaster.

Ian Yannuzzi

Ian Yannuzzi

Georgetown University

My project focuses on understanding the role of the DNA repair protein, CtIP, in DNA double-strand breaks.

Zhebrun

Anna Zhebrun

Rutgers University

I am investigating the functionality of a protein that potentially plays a role in epigenetic inheritance and genomic stability in C. elegans.

Joyce Yue Zhu

Joyce Yue Zhu

University of Toronto

I study the serotonin-satiety signalling pathway in C. elegans, with a focus on tph-1.