It was a beautiful weekend as MCB's Undergraduate and Graduate students celebrated commencement this past weekend. If you have additional photos, please share! They can be sent to susan.vining@uconn.edu and we will include them here.

Congratulations to the following students who received awards at the Biology Undergraduate Commencement Reception:
Margaret F. Ertman Award - Katie Mercado
Connecticut Museum of Natural History Award - Crystal Zhu
Outstanding Senior in EEB Award - Charlotte Meinitsky
Outstanding Senior in MCB Award - Ryan Frier
Outstanding Senior in PNB Award - MacKenna Rook
Excellence in Applied Genetics and Technology Award - Erica Lavoie and Abigail Boria
Biological Sciences Director's Awards - Bianca Planeta and Riley Starer

Learn more about each award

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.

See article in UConn Today

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 who 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 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 Education 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!