VP&S Graduate Students Awarded NIH Fellowships
Top row (left to right): Daniel Whisenant, Noah Chen, Isabel Bravo, Michelle Jin, Elizabeth Cordoves, Aleksandra Recupero, Max Lauring. Bottom row (left to right): Allen Zinkle, Elizabeth Brewer, Julia Urban, Margot Chirikjian, Brooke Dirvin. Not pictured: Amanda Anqueira, Nicholas Edward Bulthuis, Natalie Catherine Edwards, Jake Anders Gertie, Kevin Gonzalez, Kyle Helms, Richard Li Cheng Pan, Belen Sundberg, and Stephen Tang. Photo by Michael DiVito for Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Twenty-one graduate students at VP&S successfully competed for NIH fellowships in the second half of 2024. Research education leadership, directors of graduate studies, and thesis mentors came together at an event in December to celebrate the students' accomplishments.
The students, their mentors, and their projects are listed below.
Amanda Anqueira
Neurobiology and Behavior, PI: Sarah Canetta
“Impact of developmental serotonin on prefrontal cortex parvalbumin interneuron excitability and cognitive behavior” (1F31MH138134-01A1)
Isabel Bravo
Neurobiology and Behavior, PI: Christoph Kellendonk
“Impact of social environment on cognitive development and thalamocortical maturation” (1F31MH136812-01)
Elizabeth Moran Brewer
Neurobiology and Behavior, PI: Ai Yamamoto
“Synaptic TDP43 in the Adult Mouse Brain” (1F99NS141397-01)
Nicholas Edward Bulthuis
Neurobiology and Behavior, PI: Christine Denny
“The impact of Alzheimer's disease on novel genetic signatures of hippocampal memory traces” (1F31AG090071-01)
Noah Chen
Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Studies, PI: Nick Arpaia
“Improving bacterial cancer therapeutics” (1F30CA287792-01)
Margot Kay Chirikjian
Nutritional and Metabolic Biology, PI: Utpal Pajvani
“Acetylation as a novel post-translational modification of MafA” (1F31DK137600-01A1)
Elizabeth Marie Cordoves
Biomedical Engineering (MD-PhD), PI: Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic
“Engineering a strategy for the preservation and rehabilitation of living allogenic heart valves” (1F30HL174098-01A1)
Brooke Greer Dirvin
Genetics and Development, PI: Wellington Cardoso
“Investigating the Genetic and Epigenetic Control of Basal Cell Identity” (1F31HL176168-01)
Natalie Catherine Edwards
Neurobiology and Behavior, PI: Adam Brickman
“Synergistic contributions of cerebrovascular disease and neuroinflammation to Alzheimer's disease in adults with Down syndrome” (1F31AG090091-01)
Jake Anders Gertie
Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Studies, PI: Hachung Chung
“Determining how a single-residue PKR mutation found in patients with familial dystonia causes aberrant PKR activation” (1F31NS139626-01)
Kevin Gonzalez
Neurobiology and Behavior, PI: Attila Losonczy
“Subcellular plasticity mechanisms of hippocampal-dependent memory formation and consolidation” (1F99NS139551-01)
Kyle Helms
Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Studies, PI: Christopher Makinson
“Interrogation of non-canonical roles of VGSCs in neurodevelopmental epilepsy” (1F31NS137770-01)
Michelle Jin
Neurobiology and Behavior (MD-PhD), PI: Christine Denny
“Investigating the Impacts of Pharmacological Slow Wave Sleep Enhancement on Cognition and Memory Traces in an Alzheimers Disease Model” (1F30AG084312-01A1)
Max Chen Lauring
Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Studies, PI: Uttiya Basu
“RNA Decay of LINE-1 Retrotransposons as a New Mechanism to Maintain B Cell Genome Integrity” (1F30AI179182-01A1)
Richard Li Cheng Pan
Neurobiology and Behavior (MD-PhD), PI: Shawn Liu
“Epigenetic and Neuronal Mechanisms of MECP2 Reactivation to rescue Rett Syndrome” (1F30HD115371-01)
Aleksandra Recupero
Neurobiology and Behavior, PI: Franck Polleux
“Impact of Species-Specific Synaptic Maturation Timing on Cortical Circuit and Behavioral Development” (1F30MH136683-01)
Belen Sundberg
Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Studies, PI: Anum Glasgow
“Elucidating the complex allosteric regulation of PFK-1, a broadly evolutionarily conserved glycolytic enzyme” (1F31AI184134-01)
Stephen Tang
Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Studies, PI: Sam Sternberg
“Mechanisms of reverse transcriptase mediated phage resistance in Enterobacteriaceae” (1F30AI183830-01)
Julia Anh Urban
Systems Biology, PI: Tal Korem
“Deciphering the role of the vaginal microbiome in spontaneous preterm birth via consideration of host genetics” (1F31HD115394-01A1)
Daniel Eric Whisenant
Microbiology (Biological Sciences), PI: Uttiya Basu
“Investigating the role of chromatin-associated RNA processing in Early B-cell development” (1F31AI188882-01)
Allen Peter Zinkle
Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Studies, PI: Filippo Mancia
“Mechanistic insights into lipid A modification by the phosphoethanolamine transferase MCR-1” (1F31AI181556-01)