Students Spotlight: COBRE graduate students receive awards
On behalf of the Graduate Executive Committee, the Graduate School announced the recipients and alternates for the Janet Waldron Doctoral Research Fellowships and George Davis Chase Distinguished Research Assistantships for AY 2025-26. Congratulations to all the recipients as well as all the outstanding graduate students who were nominated for these awards. Two students supported by the COBRE grant were recognized:
Jordan Miner – Biomedical Engineering, received the Janet Waldron Doctoral Research Fellowship. The Janet Waldron Doctoral Research Fellowship (JWDRF) is open to all doctoral students, regardless of discipline and is designed to stimulate research and scholarship at UMaine as measured by research productivity and doctoral-degree graduation rate.
Jordan Miner is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in Biomedical Engineering in the Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering (GSBSE) at the University of Maine. She is co-advised by Drs. Karissa Tilbury and Andre Khalil and her research is focused on breast cancer. Early detection of breast cancer improves patient survival. However, how quick a tumor will progress is clinically very difficult to predict leading to the standard of care being a mastectomy or breast-conserving surgery. Therefore, there is a need to develop cancer progression biomarkers to differentiate low- versus high-risk early-stage tumors. Cell surface receptors known as integrins play a crucial role in cancer cell migration. Her hypothesis is that by understanding which integrins are more active in breast cancer progression could lead to the development of novel biomarkers. To study this, Jordan has been developing 3D breast cancer models of cell lines at different stages of breast cancer progression and reducing the expression levels of key integrins to study their impact on cancer cell migration. Preliminary trials demonstrate promising results with at least one of the integrins studied thus far. “I am very excited to continue this research under the support of the Janet Waldron Doctoral Research Fellowship”, says Jordan.
Jordan is in her second semester collaborating with her mentor and advisor Karissa Tilbury, Ph.D., on a COBRE Pilot Project: Determining the Role of α11β1 Collagen Binding Integrins in the Progression of Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS) to Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC). “The COBRE grant has been instrumental in my research project as well as my professional development. Not only has it provided financial support for myself and the supplies of the project, but it has also allowed me to take French courses to strengthen my application to continue my dissertation in Lyon, France this fall.” We wish Jordan the best on her pending applications to study at the Cancer Research Center of Lyon (CRCL).
Allie Conner – Microbiology, is a First alternate for the Chase Distinguished Research Assistantship. These awards are made on a competitive basis and involve nomination by the department of study and submission of a research proposal delineating the research to be undertaken.
Allie, a PhD student in Microbiology, is a member of the Wheeler lab, Microscopy and Image Analysis Core (MIAC) for the COBRE grant.