48th Maine Biological and Medical Sciences Symposium (MBMSS) poster award recipients

The 48th Maine Biological and Medical Sciences Symposium (MBMSS) took place virtually on April 28-30, 2021.  The event was organized in partnership with GSBSE, UMaine Graduate School  of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Maine INBRE and the Maine Technology Institute, MTI.  Congratulations to the many University of Maine students who presented their research and received awards.

Please join us in congratulating our MBMSS 2021 Poster Award Recipients! This year’s MBMSS was chock full of fascinating and impactful research from innovative and hardworking students all throughout the state of Maine. We thank each and every one of you for your participation and all the amazing work you put into making MBMSS 2021 a huge success. We thoroughly enjoyed the two packed days of research sharing, scientific conversation, and networking among students, speakers, faculty, and staff.

We extend our wholehearted thanks to this year’s panel of 18 judges who scored student poster submissions on a number of criteria to determine winners. First place award winners in each academic year category receive $500, second place receive $250, and third place receive $100. Honorable Mentions in each of these groups receive $50. All cash awards are issued in the name of the presenting author.

The MTI Innovation Award was awarded to one outstanding poster whose research includes uniquely designed methods or protocols or development of a product with clinical or commercial applications. The Innovation Prize is awarded $500, and an Honorable Mention is awarded $250.

Award recipients will receive a follow-up email with instructions on how to claim their cash award. The judges extend their congratulations and recognition to the poster presenters listed below. The awards list can also be found on the MBMSS 2021 Workspace in LabCentral.

MBMSS 2021 Poster Awards

Undergraduate Awards: 1st and 2nd Year

1st Place: Stephen Grierson, University of Maine at Presque Isle 

Microbiology | Identifying missing subunits and regulators that cause the decreased function in antibiotic resistant and susceptible bacteria

2nd Place: Aiden Pike, University of Maine, Orono 

Genetics, Bioinformatics, & Software Tools | Characterization of inflammation and immune response associated with dual specificity phosphatase 1 (DUSP1) in normal human astrocytes (NHAs)

3rd Place: Lauren Cusson, University of Maine, Orono 

Genetics, Bioinformatics, & Software Tools | Meta-analysis of COVID-19 RT-PCR test results from Vault Health saliva test

Honorable Mention: Laura Drepanos, Colby College, Waterville 

Genetics, Bioinformatics, & Software Tools | The effect of klf9 on transcriptional regulation of immune response pathway genes in Danio rerio

Honorable Mention: Allison Weymouth, University of Maine, Orono

Genetics, Bioinformatics, & Software Tools | Characterization of prophiG122-2 from clinical Mycobacterium abscessus strain G122: a novel cluster MabA1 prophage

Undergraduate Awards: 3rd, 4th, and 5th Year

1st Place: Bailey West, University of Maine, Orono 

Immunology | Effects of oral-care antimicrobial cetylpyridinium chloride on tyrosine phosphorylation: a potential mechanism for mast cell inhibition assessed via In-Cell Western

2nd Place: William Sampson, University of Maine at Farmington 

Genetics, Bioinformatics, & Software Tools | Comparative genomics as a tool for understanding the SREB family of G protein-coupled receptors across vertebrate evolution

3rd Place: Christian Potts, University of Maine, Orono 

Immunology | Antimicrobial agent cetylpyridinium chloride inhibits immune mast cell function

Honorable Mention: Colin Welch, University of Maine, Orono

Microbiology | Characterizing the diversity of cluster R prophage in Mycobacterium abscessus

Honorable Mention: Victoria Mayers, University of Maine, Orono

Genetics, Bioinformatics, & Software Tools | Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection interacts with NF-κB activation through integrin signaling

Honorable Mention: Grace Hambelton, Bowdoin College, Brunswick 

Neuroscience & Physiology | Aortic pressure and heart rate in the lobster Homarus americanus are modulated by mechanical feedback and neuropeptides  

Graduate Awards

1st Place: Liz Saavedra, University of Maine, Orono

Genetics, Bioinformatics, & Software Tools | Low dose arsenic exposure alters the expression of microRNAs in the innate immune response to Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection

2nd Place: Katherine Jarvis, University of Maine, Orono 

Immunology | Temporal dynamics of viral load and false negative rate influence the levels of testing necessary to combat COVID-19 spread

3rd Place: Kodey Silknitter, University of Maine, Orono 

Cell Biology & Development | Investigation of the extracellular matrix in DMD zebrafish under inactive and endurance exercise treatments

Honorable Mention: Caitlin Wiafe-Kwakye, University of Maine, Orono 

Genetics, Bioinformatics, & Software Tools | Comparative genomic analysis of prophages in clinical isolates of Streptococcus agalactiae 

Honorable Mention: Lindsey Fitzsimons, University of Maine, Orono   

Cell Biology & Development | Primary cilia of mammalian ventricular myocardium: A new avenue to pursue?

MTI Innovation Award

Innovation Prize: Katharina Roese, University of New England, Biddeford 

Microbiology | Pyrogallol impairs bacterial biofilm formation by inducing microbial oxidative stress

Honorable Mention: Joshua Quigley, College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor 

Genetics, Bioinformatics, & Software Tools | Human-mouse variant mapper