Charanjit Arora (left), a winner of the 2003 Vincent duVigneaud Research Prize, with Dr. William Muller, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine.
The 23rd Annual Vincent duVigneaud Memorial Research Symposium, hosted by the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences (WGSMS), was held on May 6. Throughout the day, the Symposium featured award-winning research presentations and poster sessions by Ph.D. students of Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Dr. Douglas Kerr, director of the Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelopathy Center, gave the keynote address: "Neurodegeneration and Regeneration in the Spinal Cord." Dr. Kerr, a neurologist, studies motor neuron diseases and the role of viruses in inducing these diseases. In his lecture, Dr. Kerr spoke of his laboratory studies and their prevention and reversal of neurodegeneration by therapeutic drugs.
Dr. David Hajjar (left), dean of Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences, and this year's duVigneaud keynote speaker Dr. Douglass Kerr, director of the Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelopathy Center.
Following opening remarks by Dr. David Hajjar, dean of the Graduate School, students presented 85 posters and slide talks during the day. Poster sessions were judged by more than 40 WGSMS faculty on significance of research, innovation, quality of data and overall presentation. The slide presentations, held in Weill Auditorium, gave senior graduate students an opportunity to speak on the culmination of their graduate research work to a panel of senior faculty judges: Dr. M. Flint Beal, Dr. Harel Weinstein, Dr. Lonny Levin and Dr. Joel Pardee.
At the end of the day, the winners of the Vincent duVigneaud Prizes ($1,000), Awards of Excellence ($750), and First-Year Student Awards ($500) were announced by Dr. Joel Pardee, associate dean of the Graduate School, during a reception at the Griffis Faculty Club.
Virginia Cox explains her award-winning slide presentation.
2003 Vincent duVigneaud Research Prize Winners and Thesis Advisors
Katie Hisert (Dr. Carl Nathan)
"Identification of a Salmonella Typhimurium Gene that Modulates Interactions with Macrophages and Is Required for Full Virulence in a Mouse Model"
Rana Sawaya (Dr. Stewart Shuman)
"Characterization of S. cerevisiae tRNA Ligase"
Marianna Ruzinova (Dr. Robert Benezra)
"The Role of Id Genes in Tumor-Related Angiogenesis"
Pieter Dorrestein (Dr. Tadhg Begley, Cornell University, Ithaca)
"Comparative Genomics Made It Possible to Reconstitute the Biosynthesis of the Thiazole Moiety of Thiamine (Vitamin B1) In Vitro"
Charanjit Arora (Dr. Scott Keeney)
"SKI8: A Direct Partner of SPO11 During Meiotic DSB Formation in S. cerevisiae"
2003 Vincent duVigneaud Awards of Excellence
Virginia Cox (Dr. Mary Baylies)
"Muscle Specification in Drosophila Melanogaster Requires Sequential Wingless Signaling"
Wolf Lindwasser (Dr. Marilyn Resh)
"HIV-1 Pr55 GAG Contains a Potential Endocytosis Motif: Implications for Viral Particle Formation"
Jaspreet Jaggi (right) explains his award-winning poster exhibit to Dr. Timothy McGraw, associate professor of biochemistry.
Daniel Larson (Dr. Watt Webb, Cornell University, Ithaca)
"Direct Measurement of GAG-GAG Interaction During Retrovirus Assembly with FRET and Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy"
Risa Shapiro (Dr. Kathryn Anderson)
"Roles for IK2, a Drosophila IkB Kinase, in Anterior-Posterior and Dorsal-Ventral Embryonic Patterning"
Jaspreet Jaggi (Dr. David Scheinberg)
"Abrogation of the Renal Toxicity of 225Ac Daughters"
Henry Hamilton (Dr. Erik Falck-Pederson)
"Adeno-Associated Virus Site-Specific Integration"
Ellen Block (Dr. Carl Nathan)
"Function of TLR4 in Responses to Microbial Products"
Johan Kers (Dr. Rosemary Loria, Cornell University, Ithaca)
"A Bacterial Nitric Oxide Synthase Functions to Nitrate a Peptide Phytotoxin"
Leslie Castelo-Soccio (left) explains poster exhibit to Dr. M. Elizabeth Ross.
2003 Vincent duVigneaud First-Year Awards
Sumit Niogi (Dr. B.J. Casey)
"Quantifying Myelin in the Brain Using Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging Techniques"
Peter Jordan (Dr. David Christini)
"The Contribution of Spatial Effects to the Onset of Action Potential Duration Alternans in Cardiac Tissue"
Photos by Amelia Panico.