The PSM programs obtained a $10,000 donation from Bob and Carlita Gasparini, allowing us to help students pay for winter and summer session PSM/PM modular classes. Two MCB PSM students were awarded scholarships for their successful completion of the winter session 2023 MCB PSM laboratory modules. Molly Schiffer (Microbial Systems Analysis) received a $ 500.00 award for her participation in the one-credit Advanced Liquid Handling module. Kota Tejaswinee (Applied Genomics) was awarded $ 1,000.00 for her participation in the two-credit Characterization of Microbial Communities by 16S rRNA gene sequencing module. In summer 2023, three MCB PSM students will be awarded scholarships for their successful completion of the summer session 2023 MCB PSM two-credit laboratory module Microbial Genome Sequencing, Assembly and Annotation. The three students are Emilie Karovic (Microbial Systems Analysis), Kota Tejaswinee (Applied Genomics), and Xinyao (Sarah) Qiu (Microbial Systems Analysis), Each student will receive an award of $1,000.00.

In summer 2022, three PSM/PM students were awarded UConn-Technology Incubator Program (TIP) Innovation Fellowships, with one student interning at DeBogy Molecular, Molly Schiffer (Microbial Systems Analysis) and two students at Encapsulate, Alicia Predom (Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology) and Duran Gonzalez (Applied Genomics). Other students interned at Bactana (Colleen Brown - Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology), Boehringer Ingelheim (Samantha Hess - Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology), Center for Human Genetics and Genomics, New York University Grossman School of Medicine (Mary Likhite - Applied Genomics), Encapsulate (Kristina Dibble - Microbial Systems Analysis), JAX-GM (Michael Piekarsky - Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology), and Shoreline Biome (now Intus Biosciences) (Michael Martinez - Microbial Systems Analysis).

Graduates from our program continue to be highly sought after by Connecticut biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and facilities. Recent graduates Kristina Dibble (Microbial Systems Analysis) at Verve Therapeutics, Duran Gonzalez (Applied Genomics) at Encapsulate, Samantha Hess (Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology) at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Mary Likhite (Applied Genomics) at Center for Human Genetics and Genomics, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, Michael Martinez (Microbial Systems Analysis) at Intus Biosciences, Alicia Predom (Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology) at Pfizer, and Molly Schiffer (Microbial Systems Analysis) at DeBogy Molecular.

Speakers at the 2022-2023 PSM Professional Development seminar series included PSM alumni who are now employed at Alexion Pharmaceuticals (Feissal Djoule - Microbial Systems Analysis), Beam Therapeutics (Angelica Messana, Applied Genomics), Connecticut Department of Public Health (Emily Gagnon - MIcrobial Systems Analysis), Detect (Dominique (Carrillo) Juan - Microbial Systems Analysis), Goldbelt C6 (Marsenia (Harrison) Mathis - Microbial Systems Analysis), Pfizer (Brendan Tierney - Applied Genomics), Quantum-Si (Dister Deoss - Microbial Systems Analysis), and Waterbury Hospital (Kiefer Rodriquez - Applied Genomics).

Eight students walk in the 2023 Master’s Degree Commencement ceremony - Colleen Brown (Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology),  Duran Gonzalez (Applied Genomics), Faith Jano (Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology), Mary Elizabeth (Maryel) Likhite (Applied Genomics), Michael Martinez (Microbial Systems Analysis), David Mathieu (Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology), Molly Schiffer (Microbial Systems Analysis), and Akshada Shankar Ganesh (Applied Genomics).

MCB is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2023 graduate and undergraduate student summer fellowships. These distinguished fellowships are made possible by some very generous donors and are offered on a competitive basis to the most highly qualified students.

Please join us in congratulating them on their accomplishments and demonstrated academic promise.

Claire M. Berg Graduate Fellowship in Genetics

Asna Amjad
Katelyn Denegre 

Arthur Chovnick Graduate Fellowship in Genetics

Yutian Feng

Richard C. Crain, Jr. Memorial Fellowship

Joseph Iovine
Giancarlo Montovano

Jean Lucas-Lenard Special Summer Fellowship in Molecular Cell Biology

Derrick Kamp

Jean Lucas-Lenard Special Summer Fellowship in Biochemistry

Amanda DelVichio

Philip I. Marcus Graduate Student Fellowship in Virology

Ian Barron

Pfizer Summer Fellowship in Molecular and Cell Biology

Nidhi Vijayan
Michael Griffith
Ryan Duggan

Antonio H. & Marjorie J. Romano Graduate Education Fellowship

Kathleen Kyle
Jacob Kellermeier
Daniel Phillips

Biohaven Pharmaceuticals Fellowship

Patrick Grady

Michele Maltz-Matyschsyk, Joerg Graf, and Michael Lynes recently received an NIH award to support their work to define biomarker signatures of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C, an adverse effect of SARS-CoV2 infection). They will be working together with a consortium of other universities and research institutes in Connecticut and New York.  Their work will measure multiple protein biomarkers using a grating-coupled fluorescent plasmon microarray, and will combine those measurements with analysis of the oral microbiome, and a large number of clinical phenotypes, and will use machine learning/AI approaches to define diagnostic patterns that may help identify at-risk children, and may also suggest potential new therapeutic interventions.

Nathan Alder and Eric May have been awarded an R01 grant from the NIH National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) as co-investigators on a project led by Steve Claypool at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The project, entitled “An intimate and multifaceted partnership: cardiolipin and the mitochondrial ADP/ATP carrier” (R01HL165729), is a four-year award, with a total award amount exceeding $2 million.

The Office of the Vice President for Research provides financial support up to $2,000 to faculty across all disciplines, on a competitive basis, to promote, support, and enhance the research, scholarship and creative endeavors of faculty at UConn. The Scholarship Facilitation Fund (SFF) is designed to assist faculty in the initiation, completion, or advancement of research projects, scholarly activities, creative works, or interdisciplinary initiatives that are critical to advancing the faculty member’s scholarship and/or creative works.

Juliet Lee (The use of zebrafish transgenics to study how stretch-activated calcium channels regulate the molecular dynamics of adhesions in moving cells) and Spencer Nyholm (Developing new molecular and genetic tools for microbiome research in the Hawaiian bobtail squid) received Fall 2022 awards

Adam Zweifach received a Spring 2023 Award (Modeling compound activity to improve drug screening)

According to the Office of the Vice President for Research, these projects represent innovative work within their respective disciplines, as determined by a rigorous review process. They often include exciting interdisciplinary collaborations. And they all make valuable contributions to our shared mission of generating and disseminating knowledge, whether it is through groundbreaking scholarly publications; building important, externally-funded research programs; or great achievements in public engagement or creative endeavors.

We are grateful for the intellectual contributions these faculty members and teams have made through these projects and through the subsequent achievements that are unlocked these internal funding investments.