Congratulations to the following MCB SURF Award Winners!

Congratulations to the following Summer Undergraduate Research Fund (SURF) Awards recipients for Summer 2019! These UConn students were selected from an exceptionally strong group of applicants.

Lauren Alexandrescu ’20 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS; Structural Biology and Biophysics, CLAS) Project Title: Investigating the Roles of Long Non-Coding RNAs in Picornavirus Infections Faculty Mentor: Dr. Simon White, Molecular and Cell Biology

Halle Barber ’20 (Chemistry, CLAS; Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS) Project Title: Development of a Novel DNA Crosslinked Nanocapsule for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jessica Rouge, Chemistry

Helen Bian ’21 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS; Spanish, CLAS) Project Title: Functional Classification of Known and Novel Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Associated with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Predisposition Faculty Mentor: Dr. Leighton Core, Molecular and Cell Biology

Chenghong Deng ’20 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS; Psychological Sciences, CLAS) Project Title: The Genes Expressed in Frog Skin and their Role in Evolutionary Innovation Faculty Mentor: Dr. John Malone, Molecular and Cell Biology

James He ’21 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS) Project Title: LHX2 and LMX1B Regulation of Supratentorial Ependymoma Tumor Growth Faculty Mentor: Dr. Joseph LoTurco, Physiology and Neurobiology

Kelsey Hebert ’20 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS) Project Title: Investigating WDR73 and Fmn1 in the Microtubule Cytoskeleton and Disease Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kenneth Campellone, Molecular and Cell Biology

Timothy Mason ’20 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS) Project Title: Investigating the Regulation of Centromere Size in D. melanogaster Faculty Mentor: Dr. Barbara Mellone, Molecular and Cell Biology

Grace Nichols ’20 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS) Project Title: Evaluating the Effectivity of Tinnitus Induction in Mice through Behavioral Screenings Faculty Mentor: Dr. Douglas Oliver, Neuroscience

Fabio Saccomanno ’20 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS) Project Title: Proving the Relationship between Wdr73 and Asymmetric Organogenesis in Zebrafish Faculty Mentor: Dr. David Daggett, Molecular and Cell Biology

Inglis Tucker ’20 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS) Project Title: Characterizing the Virome of Two Species of Wild Migratory Birds Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sarah Hird, Molecular and Cell Biology