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Student Awards & News

Riccardo Serra was awarded the UMMC Innovation Challenge Award 


Jessica Cornell published a first authored paper in the Journal of Cancer Biology:

Cornell J., Rea S., Neitzel L.R., Williams C.H., Hong C.C. (2024) Proton sensing GPCR’s: The missing link to Warburg’s oncogenic legacy? J Cancer Biol., 5(2):65-75. https://doi.org/10.46439/cancerbiology.5.066 


Adarsha Malla was awarded the 2024 Graduate Program in Life Sciences PhD Scholar Award


Aditi Biswas was awarded the competitive UM-MIND IDEAS Travel Award 


Our Fall 2024 incoming students attended UMB GSA's Annual Crab Feast as a part of orientation week

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Darin Gilchrist won 2nd place for Best Poster Presentation at the 14th Annual Cancer Biology Research Retreat


Congratulations to our current and former students who have been nominated for 2024 GPILS Awards:
Madeline Alizadeh, PhD-
 PhD Thesis Project Award Nominee
Adarsha Malla
PhD Scholar Award Nominee
Benjamin Grissom - 
The Otani Award Nominee


Julia Ju was appointed to the Cancer Biology T-32 Training Grant


Congratulations to our Summer 2024 Molecular Medicine PhD graduate, Dr. Nicolas Verhoeven


Dr. Makenzy Mull was featured in UMB's 2024 graduating class video (see below).


Riccardo Serra was awarded the NREF Research Fellowship Grant/Young Clinician Investigator Award.


Jessica Cornell was a co-author on the below publication accepted in Scientific reports.

Shetty, A. C., Sivinski, J., Cornell, J., McCracken, C., Sadzewicz, L., Mahurkar, A., Wang, X. Q., Colloca, L., Lin, W., Pilli, N., Kane, M. A., & Seneviratne, C. (2024). Peripheral blood transcriptomic profiling of molecular mechanisms commonly regulated by binge drinking and placebo effects. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 10733. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-56900-x


Congratulations to our students who have passed their qualifying exams in Spring/Summer 2024:
Aditi Biswas, Gillian Choquette, Karen Cifuentes Godinez, Eliza Douglass, Ian Mills, Rebecca Marker, & Bareera Qamar


Alli Mancini was awarded a Student Research Achievement Award at the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting


Adarsha Malla was awarded the highly competitive F30 Ruth L. Kirschstein Individual Predoctoral National Research Service Award (NRSA) for MD-PhD students


Congratulations to our Spring 2024 Molecular Medicine PhD graduates:
Dr. Andrea Romanowski
, Dr. Erin Wildermuth, Dr. Kaila Noland, Dr. Kanwal Mahmood Hameed, Dr. Madeline Alizadeh, and Dr. Makenzy Mull


Congratulations to the winners from the Molecular Medicine Poster Session as a part of Accepted Students Day on March 11, 2024:

Best Cancer Biology Poster - Alexandrea Seas

Best Genome Biology Poster - Bern Monari

Best Molecular & Cellular Physiology & Pharmacology Poster - Daniela Fuller


Jessica Cornell published a co-first author paper:

Williams, C.H., Neitzel, L.R., Cornell, J. et al. GPR68-ATF4 signaling is a novel prosurvival pathway in glioblastoma activated by acidic extracellular microenvironment. Exp Hematol Oncol 13, 13 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40164-023-00468-1


Congratulations to our Fall 2023 Molecular Medicine PhD graduates:
Dr. Brittany Hazzard
, Dr. Tierra Johnson, & Dr. Camilo Vanegas


Bosung Shim published a first author paper:

Shim B, Stokum JA, Moyer M, Tsymbalyuk N, Tsymbalyuk O, Keledjian K, Ivanova S, Tosun C, Gerzanich V, Simard JM. Canagliflozin, an Inhibitor of the Na+-Coupled D-Glucose Cotransporter, SGLT2, Inhibits Astrocyte Swelling and Brain Swelling in Cerebral Ischemia. Cells. 2023 Sep 6;12(18):2221. doi: 10.3390/cells12182221. PMID: 37759444; PMCID: PMC10527352.


Jessica Cornell was awarded UMB President’s Entrepreneurial Fellowship


Dr. Christine Carney was awarded the 2023 Graduate Program in Life Sciences PhD Thesis Project Award 


Julia Ju won a poster award for best poster at the Advances in Circulating Tumor Cells Conference


Aidan Moriarty co-first authored a publication in Advanced Science titled "Ectopic Expression of a Truncated Isoform of Hair Keratin 81 in Breast Cancer Alters Biophysical Characteristics to Promote Metastatic Propensity"


Congratulations to our current and former students who have been nominated for 2023 GPILS Awards:
Dr. Christine Carney - PhD Thesis Project Award Nominee
Matthew Eason
- PhD Scholar Award Nominee
Makenzy Mull
- The Otani Award Nominee


Belen Avelar, a Fall 2023 incoming PhD student, was recently appointed to the UMB Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) T-32


Matthew Eason was awarded the highly competitive F30 Ruth L. Kirschstein Individual Predoctoral National Research Service Award (NRSA) for MD-PhD students


Congratulations to our students who have passed their qualifying exams in Spring/Summer 2023:
Gregory Schuyler Brown, Payel Das, Dipanwita Dutta Chowdhury, Darin Gilchrist, Garis Grant, Benjamin Grissom, Julia Ju, Shanaliz Natta, Sushrut Pathy, Kaylie Pinto, Philippa Rogers, Yiwei Yang, & Yuyi Zhu


Adarsha Malla received the 2023 National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB) Institute for Clinical Translational Research (ICTR) Pre-doctoral Training Award


Kanwal Mahmood received First Prize for 15th Annual Graduate Translation Award
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Bosung Shim co-first authored a publication:

Stokum JA*, Shim B*, Negoita S, Tsymbalyuk N, Tsymbalyuk O, Ivanova S, Keledjian K, Bryan J, Blaustein MP, Jha RM, Kahle KT, Gerzanich V, Simard JM. Cation flux through SUR1-TRPM4 and NCX1 in astrocyte endfeet induces water influx through AQP4 and brain swelling after ischemic stroke. Sci Signal. 2023 Jun 6;16(788):eadd6364. doi: 10.1126/scisignal.add6364. Epub 2023 Jun 6. PMID: 37279286.


Kanwal Mahmood won Best Pre-doctoral Poster (Session I) at the 13th Annual Cancer Biology Research Retreat


Matthew Eason tied for Best Pre-doctoral Poster (Session II) at the 13th Annual Cancer Biology Research Retreat


Julia Ju had her photo "231TD cells treated with Digitoxin" selected as the cover photo for the 13th Annual Cancer Biology Research Retreat


Matthew Eason had his photo "3D Composite of Invading, MMP2+ Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells on Gelatin Monolayer" selected as the table of contents image for the 13th Annual Cancer Biology Research Retreat


Makenzy Mull had her photo " MCF10A cells actin network" selected as the participants photo for the 13th Annual Cancer Biology Research Retreat 


Congratulations to our Summer 2023  Molecular Medicine PhD graduates:
Dr. Alexa Blanchard & Dr. Paige McKeon


Madeline Alizadeh received the USM Board of Regents Student Excellence Award
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Congratulations to our Spring 2023 Molecular Medicine PhD graduates:
Dr. Robert Brown, Dr. Katarina Chang, Dr. Jonelle Lee, Dr. Jenna Leser, & Dr. Kevin Rose


Kaila Noland received the Martin Frank Diversity Travel Award at the 2023 American Physiology Summit 


Gregory Schuyler Brown was inducted into the University of Maryland, Baltimore Campuses chapter of The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi