Research Day Celebrates Graduate Student Achievements

Dr. Elizabeth Berry-Kravis, a pediatric neurologist and professor of pediatrics, neurological sciences, and biochemistry at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, delivered the centerpiece address at the college’s annual Research Day celebration, held April 18, 2018. Her keynote talk was entitled “Targeted Treatments for Fragile X Syndrome: Modifying the Translational Pathway.”

A major focus of Research Day is recognizing the research achievements of graduate students. A large and diverse panel of faculty judges participated in selecting student award recipients.

The day began with the announcement of the winners of the Joseph O. Alberts Award and the Phi Zeta literary awards.

• Saniya Rattan (shown in the image above) received the $500 Joseph O. Alberts Award, which was established in 1968 to promote excellence in graduate training in the veterinary medical sciences.
• Jamie Stewart won the Phi Zeta Basic Science Research Award for her paper titled “Nerve Growth Factor-Beta, Purified from Bull Seminal Plasma, Enhances Corpus Luteum Formation and Conceptus Development in Bos Taurus Cows.”
• Mark Byrum won the Phi Zeta Clinical or Applied Research Award for his paper titled “Downregulation of CXCR4 Expression and Functionality after Zoledronate Exposure in Canine Osteosarcoma.”

Three faculty members were initiated into the Illinois Mu chapter of Phi Zeta, the honor society of veterinary medicine:

• Kari Foss, veterinary clinical medicine
• Keith Jarosinski, pathobiology
• Rebecca Smith, pathobiology

Then six students and trainees from the college, selected from among all those who submitted research abstracts for the event, gave two-minute “lightning” presentations designed to attract listeners to visit them during the lunch poster session at the end of the event.

• Rekha Balachandran: Pharmacological Challenges Examining the Underlying Mechanism of Altered Response Inhibition and Attention due to Circadian Disruption in Adult Long-Evans Rats
• Matthew Berry: Promotion of Malignant Osteolysis via Active Secretion of Bone Resorptive Cytokines in Canine Osteosarcoma
• Supipi Mirihagalle: One RING to Rule Them All: RNF212 Regulates the Size of the Ovarian Follicle Pool
• Saniya Rattan: Prenatal Exposure to Di(2-ethylhexyl) Phthalate Promotes Adverse Transgenerational Effects on Reproductive Capacity in Female Mice
• Maya Scott: Identifying the Arsenic Potential Index (API) for Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties, FL
• Jamie Stewart: Effects of Seasonality on Male White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) Reproduction

Three of these students were selected to receive $500 awards to be used for research-related expenses. They were Rehka Balachandran, Saniya Rattan, and Maya Scott (People’s Choice winner).

After the address by Dr. Berry-Kravis (and an evacuation for a fire alarm), six students, selected by the Research Advisory Committee, gave 15-minute talks.

• Arpita Bhurke: In Utero Exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Results in Pregnancy Complications in Multiple Generations
• Lauren Carnevale: Inhibition of Endocannabinoid Metabolism by Virodhamine
• Ellen Haynes: Clinical Trial and Pharmacokinetic Analysis of Terbinafine Nebulization in Wild Snakes with Snake Fungal Disease
• Hanzhong Ke: Interaction of PRRSV Nsp1-beta and the Cellular Protein Nucleoporin 62 Inhibits Host mRNA Nuclear Export and Host Cell Gene Expression
• Alycen Lundberg: Targeted Therapy for Feline Pulmonary Carcinoma Through Exploitation of Preferential NQO1 Expressions and the Drug Isobutyl-deoxynyboquinone (IB-DNQ)
• Kari DJ Swanson: Development of a Perceived Exertion Scale for Dogs Exercising on a Land Treadmill Using Selected Physiologic Parameters

Faculty judges evaluated the quality of the presentations and awarded $1,000, to be used toward research-related activities, to Arpita Bhurke, Lauren Carnevale, and Dr. Alycen Lundberg.

A lunch and poster session followed the presentations.

Research Day activities are co-sponsored by Zoetis, Boehringer Ingelheim, Phi Zeta, and the College of Veterinary Medicine Office of Research and Advanced Studies.

–Da Yeon Eom