Twenty-one students, four faculty attend
UAMS-hosted event
Pictured above, from left: Back row: Murray,
Yousef, McCollum, Francis, Dogra, Kalinowski, Brunen, Schaller, Andrews,
Truong, Schurko. Front row: Riordan, Gee, Gault, Thurman, McCarthy-Rotella, M.
Gray, Smith, Kelly, K. Gray, Farrar, Schwartz. Not pictured: Hicks, Johnson, Syed.
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (July
26, 2024)— Twenty-one Hendrix
undergraduate students and four faculty attended the 11th Annual Arkansas
Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium at the University of Arkansas for
Medical Sciences on July 24, 2024.
Five Hendrix students
(Allie Farrar ’26, John Schaller ’25, Neil Dogra ’27, Demah Yousef ’26, and
Sofia Syed ’27) were selected to give oral presentations and the other students
presented posters that described their summer research with faculty at Hendrix
in the Departments of Biology and Chemistry or with laboratories in off-campus
research institutions.
The students, their
research affiliations, and talk or poster titles are listed below:
Hendrix College
Kenedi Brunen ’25 (lab of
Dr. Richard Murray, Department of Biology); Poster title: “Investigating
Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase Gene Function in Caenorhabditis elegans”
Sophie Smith ’25 (lab of Dr. Richard Murray,
Department of Biology); Poster title: “Examining Caenorhabditis elegans
Ability to Form Conditioned Preferences to Caffeine”
Casi Gee ’26 (lab of Dr.
Latorya Hicks, Department of Chemistry); non-presenting attendee
Satya McCarthy-Rotella ’26
(lab of Dr. Phan Truong, Department of Chemistry); Poster title: “Synthesis and
characterization of a Ni‐N4 model complex of Ni F430 cofactor to investigate
the methane release mechanism of MCR”
Rowan McCollum ’26 and
Kailey Thurman ’26 (lab of Dr. Andrew Schurko, Department of Biology); Poster
title: “CRISPR in Bdelloid Rotifers: Optimizing Uptake of sgRNA/Cas9 Complexes
for Targeting DNA Repair Genes”
Arkansas Children’s
Hospital Summer Science Program
Megan Gray ’26; Poster
title: “Developing a film‐based curriculum for training and evaluating
ACGME‐based competencies and exploring the use of artificial intelligence for
curriculum development”
Anna Johnson ’25; Poster
title: “The role of maternal germ line innate immune response signaling in
developmental programming of offspring”
Arkansas IDeA Network
of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) Summer Research Program:
Adam Andrews ’26; Poster
title: “Effects of Early Infant Nutrition on Aperiodic Neural Activity from 2
to 12 Months Using EEG Analysis”
Allie Farrar ’26; Talk
title: “The Molecular Basis of the Cooperativity Between the Anti‐Apoptotic
Protein MCL1 and the E3 Ubiquitin Ligase MARCHF5”
Kathleen Gray ’25; Poster
title: “Effects of Stimulated Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress from
Autophagy‐Deficient Cells”
Ella Kelly ’26; Poster
title: “Assessment of tract‐selective myelination and neurometabolism by magnetic
resonance spectroscopy imaging (MRSI) in adulthood and late life”
Emma Riordan ’25; Poster
title: “Investigating the variation in onset and severity of diabetic symptoms
across Drosophila melanogaster Genetic Reference Panel lines”
John Schaller ’25; Talk
title: “Polymerase Kappa‐Mediated Fork Reversal in Glioblastoma Multiforme
(GBM) “
Sarah Schwartz ’26; Poster
title: “Determination of the interaction between prohibitin 2 and the
pro‐apoptotic protein Bax in human cells”
National Center for
Toxicological Research (NCTR)
Neil Dogra ’27; Talk
title: “Immunohistochemical Effects of Pre‐ and Postnatal Exposure to Purified
Synthetic Cannabidiol (CBD) in Sprague‐Dawley Rats”
UAMS Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
(SURF) program
Lillian Francis ’25;
Poster title: “Quantification of Histone and DNA Methylation in Methionine
Restricted Colorectal Cancer Tumor Cells”
Augustin Kalinowski ’25;
Poster title: “Structural Biology of Rev1‐G4 DNA interactions”
Autumn Gault ’26;
non-presenting attendee
UAMS Department of
Pharmacology and Toxicology SURF Program
Demah Yousef ’26; Talk
title: “Cold storage‐mediated p38MAPK activation: a potential contributor to
kidney damage after transplantation”
UAMS Summer Research
Internship (SRI) Program
Sofia Syed ’27; Talk
title: “Chemotherapy‐induced cognitive impairment associated with AC‐T Drugs on
Neuroplasticity: A study on Neurogenesis and ‘Chemobrain’”
Hendrix faculty members Drs.
Latorya Hicks, Richard Murray, Andrew Schurko, and Phan Truong attended
alongside their students.
“The students did a
fantastic job presenting their research,” Schurko said. “Their work represented
seven summer programs from around the state, which highlights how well-prepared
our students are for contributing to research in a diversity of fields.”
While at the symposium,
Hendrix participants heard from someone who knows their academic journey well: fellow
Hendrix alum Dr. Christina Cooley ’05, recipient of the President’s Medal as a Hendrix
senior and current associate professor of chemistry at Trinity University in
San Antonio. Cooley delivered the keynote address, titled “Full Circle: My
Journey from Performing Undergraduate Research to Leading an Undergraduate
Research Lab.”
About Hendrix College
Founded in 1876, Hendrix
College is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change
the Way You Think About Colleges and celebrated among the country’s leading
liberal arts colleges for academic quality, engaged learning opportunities and
career preparation, vibrant campus life, and value. The Hendrix College
Warriors compete in 21 NCAA Division III sports. Hendrix has been affiliated
with the United Methodist Church since 1884. Learn more at www.hendrix.edu.
“… Through engagement
that links the classroom with the world, and a commitment to diversity,
inclusion, justice, and sustainable living, the Hendrix community inspires
students to lead lives of accomplishment, integrity, service, and joy.” —Hendrix College Statement of Purpose