Seven named recipients of GSA poster awards at 19th International C. elegans Meeting

Six graduate students and one undergraduate were named as recipients of Genetics Society of America (GSA) poster awards at the 19th International C. elegans Meeting, held June 26 on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles. More than 1,750 scientists attended the world's largest gathering of those conducting research using the nematode worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, a model organism that lends itself to easy investigation where findings can easily be translated to humans.

Recipients were selected from almost 400 eligible posters presented at the meeting. "The 93 faculty who judged the poster presenters had quite a challenge to select the best ones, because there were so many excellent posters. They did a great job judging and selecting the finalists," said Tina L. Gumienny, co-chair of the poster competition. "The caliber of science at this year's poster session was amazing and bodes well for the future of C. elegans research," added Erin J. Cram, poster co-chair.

One winner was selected in each topic area:

Cell Biology

Tisha E. Bohr
University of California, Santa Cruz, CA
"Spindle assembly checkpoint proteins regulate and monitor meiotic synapsis in C. elegans"

Development and Evolution

Tulsi Patel
Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY
"Cell Fate Restriction and Reprogramming in C. elegans"

Gene Regulation and Genomics

Ashlyn D. Ritter
University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA
"Complex expression dynamics and robustness in C. elegans insulin networks"

Methods and Technology

Valeriya Laskova
Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
"Mapping the entire connectome of C. elegans L1 larvae"

Neurobiology

Julie E. Grimm
Technion Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
"How to Fix a Broken Neuron"

Physiology

Kurt J. Warnhoff
Washington University, St. Louis, MO
"natc-1 mediates stress resistance and dauer formation as a downstream effector of the insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway"

Undergraduate

Michael James Hoy
College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA
"The C. elegans Insulin Signaling Response to Glucose Stress Requires Unique Regulators"

Each will receive a cash prize, certificate, a complimentary one-year extension to their GSA membership, and a copy of Conversation in Genetics, a series of interviews with prominent geneticists.

"These poster awards recognize the significant science these early career researchers are already pursuing and provide them with an incentive to continue their studies and training in genetics," said Adam Fagen, PhD, Executive Director of GSA.

Fifteen graduate students were also named as honorable mentions:

• Cell Biology: Sarah Beard, University of Calgary, AB, Canada; Robbie D. Shultz, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX

• Development and Evolution: Sarah A. Albritton, New York University, New York, NY; Xiangmei Chen, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, Stratford, NJ; Edward F. Griffin, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL; Jennifer Tsialikas, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, Stratford, NJ

• Gene Regulation and Genomics: Samantha Burke, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA; Laura Gaydos, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA

• Methods and Technology: Kai P. Yuet, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA

• Neurobiology: Kellie A. Fagan, University of Rochester, NY; Xin Jin, Rockefeller University, New York, NY; Christopher J. Konop, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI

• Physiology: Nicholas Burton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA; Andrew Folick, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX; Priyanka Khare, Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, India