The 2025 Summer Undergraduate Research Fund (SURF) Awards were announced and 15 out of 46 awardees are MCB students! These UConn students were selected from a strong
group of applicants representing diverse areas of academic inquiry. Thank you to the research advisors and other faculty members who supported SURF applicants, to the faculty who served on the selection committee, and to the many generous supporters who make this program possible.
Congratulations to these MCB Student Awardees:

Ava Anderson ’26 (Mathematics-Statistics & Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS)
Project Title: Expanding Intron Classification: Insights into Splice Variation and Evolution
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Rahul Kanadia, Physiology and Neurobiology

Andrew Deierlein ’26 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS & Pathobiology, CAHNR)
Project Title: Let’s Move In! - Gene Families and the Transition to Endosymbiosis
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jill Wegrzyn, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Muhammad Faisal ’26 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS)
Project Title: Effect of Membrane Composition on the Binding of Certain Ligands to the 5-HT2A Receptor
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Eric May, Molecular and Cell Biology

Abigail Goldhamer ’27 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS)
Project Title: Investigating the Effects of Matrimony and Polo Kinase Localization on B Chromosome
Transmission
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Stacey Hanlon, Molecular and Cell Biology

Noen Jian ’26 (Molecular and Cell Biology & Chemistry, CLAS)
Project Title: Synthetic Tuning to Achieve Air-Stable Molecular Qubits
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Tomoyasu Mani, Chemistry

Ruupala Kalaiarasu ’27 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS)
Project Title: The Role(s) for Hox11 Genes in Expression of Prg4/lubricin by Articular Cartilage Progenitors
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Danielle Rux, Orthopedic Surgery

Irena Komninakas ’26 (Molecular and Cell Biology & Spanish, CLAS)
Project Title: Information Seeking Behavior of Pediatric Patients in the CT Children's Emergency Department
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sharon Smith, Pediatrics, School of Medicine

Aditi Malpure ’27 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS)
Project Title: Contribution of Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis to Fear Generalization and Discrimination
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sebnem Nur Tuncdemir, Neuroscience

Abigail Messina ’26 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS)
Project Title: Cartilage Regenerative Approach for TMJ-Osteoarthritis in an In Vitro Model
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Caroline Dealy, Orthodontics, Orthopedic Surgery & Cell Biology

Liv Nevo ’26 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS)
Project Title: Investing the Role of Activin A in Muscle Degeneration Caused in Fibrodysplasia Ossificans
Progressiva
Faculty Mentor: Dr. David Goldhamer, Molecular and Cell Biology

Vedansh Patel, Dec. ’25 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS)
Project Title: Investigating the Roles of Histone Modifications in Stem Cell Differentiation
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Mayu Inaba-Oguro, Cell Biology

Luke Pratley ’26 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS)
Project Title: Sustained Release of Azobenzene Derivatives from Selectively Permeable Nanocapsules
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Eugene Pinkhassik, Chemistry

Mackenzie Robillard ’27 (Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS)
Project Title: Investigating the Connection Between LINE1 Transposable Elements and Neocentromere
Formation and Stability
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Rachel O'Neill, Molecular and Cell Biology

Melissa Sabatella ’26 (Physiology and Neurobiology & Molecular and Cell Biology, CLAS)
Project Title: Impact of Polymer Source Variation on the Properties and Performance of Long-Acting Injectable
Suspensions
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Diane Burgess, Pharmaceutical Sciences

Alexandra Salem ’26 (Structural Biology/Biophysics, CLAS)
Project Title: Characterize Anesthetic Sensitivity of a Mouse Model of Rett Syndrome
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Daniel Mulkey, Physiology and Neurobiology

See full list of 2025 awardees

Each year, the University of Connecticut proudly recognizes faculty members across our campuses who have earned promotion and/or tenure. These decisions reflect the exceptional contributions our faculty make through their teaching, research, mentorship, and service to the university and the broader community.

Promotion and tenure mark important milestones in a faculty member’s academic journey, affirming both past achievements and the promise of continued impact. MCB extend our sincere congratulations and gratitude to those in our department that were honored this year.

Promotion to Professor: Ken Campellone and Eric May
Promotion to Associate Professor In-Residence: Melissa Durstin, Elizabeth Kline, and Mark Longo

Congratulations to Heather Jamieson (Goldhamer Lab), who won first place in the poster competition at the Northeastern Society for Developmental Biology Conference that was held at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA on April 25-27, 2025.

The inaugural Graduate Student Research Symposium Poster Competition was held on April 23, 2025.   MCB is proud to share that Carol Vieira Da Silva (Milligan-McClellan Lab) and Sarah Pasqualetti (Milligan-McClellan Lab) each placed first in their categories. (Carol in cognition, health and medicine & Sarah and economy, energy and environment). Top category winners went on to compete in a final round to determine overall winners. Carol and Sarah were first and second respectively! Other MCB students chosen to present were Josh Berthiaume (Heaslip Lab) and Julia Jerolamon (Alder Lab). 101 students were chosen to present out of 275 applications. 

About the symposium: The University of Connecticut is home to more than 7,000 graduate students, who work and study on all seven UConn campuses, and belong to more than 100 different graduate degree programs. While each of these students exemplifies the critical role of graduate education in shaping the future of Connecticut, geographical distance and disciplinary boundaries hinder their joint pursuit of knowledge and innovation.
The inaugural Graduate Student Research Symposium seeks to remove barriers and promote a sense of connection and shared purpose across ALL graduate campuses. By uniting graduate students through research, impact, and community value, we aim to unlock the transformative power of interdisciplinary collaboration.

The 11th Annual Undergraduate Research Colloquium in Molecular and Cell Biology took place on April 15 and 18, 2025. We received a record number of entries this year with a total of 14 participants. The top three presenters are 1st, Ryan Frier (Actin nucleation factors maintain genomic integrity and ​promote mitotic fidelity); 2nd, Erica Lavoie (The Epigenetic Regulator, Dot1L, Contributes to Neuropathology in Globoid Cell Leukodystrophy); and 3rd, Bianca Planeta Investigating the role of ORF1 in the transposition of the centromere-enriched retroelement G2/Jockey-3). All three will now participate in the All Biology Undergraduate Symposium to be held on Friday, May 2, Noon - 5pm, PBB 131.

We proudly announce the recipients of the 2025 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
Emily Fuller
Kaylah Samuelson
Katherine Fleck

Richard C. Crain, Jr. Memorial Fellowship
Antonio Rua
Morgan Wagner 

Cross-Disciplinary Fellowship in MCB and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Michael Samuelvich

Dr. Edward A. and Dr. Lamia H. Khairallah Graduate Fellowship
Jing Jin (Pharm)
Liam Caran (Pharm)
Nilesh Malavia (Pharm)

Jean Lucas-Lenard Special Summer Fellowship in Molecular Cell Biology
John Briseno
Helena Heyer-Gray
Julia Jerolamon
Derek Svendsen
Caroline Viera da Silva
Sarah Pasqualetti

Jean Lucas-Lenard Special Summer Fellowship in Biochemistry
Josh Berthiamue
Lee Dollar
Tristan Evans
Brenden Griffith
Russ Hanson

Philip I. Marcus Graduate Student Fellowship in Virology
Samantha Peterson
Josh Calabrese

Pfizer Summer Fellowship in Molecular and Cell Biology
Camille Pearce
Danielle Arsenault

Antonio H. & Marjorie J. Romano Graduate Educa on Fellowship
Derrick Kamp
Steven Klimetz
Alexander Poulter

Todd M. Schuster Award in Molecular and Cell Biology
Rilee Harris
Muhammad Faisal

Biohaven Pharmaceuticals Fellowship
Ryan Drennan
Michael Griffith
Michelle Lin
Shania Kalladanthyil
Daniel Phillips

Summer 2025 Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships were awarded to Joseph Iovine, Michael Griffith, Heather Jamieson, Leslie Russell Hanson, and Giancarlo Montovano. Congratulations!

Kristen Ramsey, Assistant Professor, Molecular and Cell Biology at UConn appeared on Jeopardy this week. Kristen faced off against returning champion Bryce Wargin and Conner Huey on Tuesday night's episode of "Jeopardy!" Abigail Weiss, staff writer at CTInsider writes, " Ramsey maintained second place behind Wargin throughout the game. They both guessed the correct answer to the Final Jeopardy question, "Three mighty city-states roughly forming an equilateral triangle were Venice, Florence and 'this one' where the Viscontis and Sforzas ruled."