The NIEHS Summer Internship Program celebrated another successful research-focused experience on July 27 with a poster showcase. Fifty-six aspiring undergraduate and graduate scientists, who worked alongside NIEHS mentors across the institute, visually presented and explained their summer research projects.
Several poster presenters walked away with top honors.
Undergraduate Winners
1st Place: Justin Wang
“How to Build an Epigenetic Biomarker: Are Peripheral Blood DNA Methylation Changes Reflective of Liver DNA Methylation Changes in Response to a High Fat Diet?”
2nd Place: Kieran Aguirre
“Association of Neighborhood Disadvantage and Prevalent Hypertension in the GuLF Study.”
3rd Place (tie): Miran Bhima
“Structure-Based Docking and Cheminformatics Analysis of Tox21 and ToxCast Chemicals on VEGFR 1.”
3rd Place (tie): Rahul Niranjan
“The Effects of Bisphenol AF (BPAF) on Fibrosis in Phases 1 and 2 Human Uterine Fibroid 3D Spheroid Cultures.”
3rd Place (tie): Keshav Srivenkatesh
“Proliferation Effects of Legacy and Novel Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance Mixtures on Human Placental Choriocarcinoma Cells.”
Graduate Winners
1st Place: Sambit Panda
“Elucidating Relationships within Neurological Screening Batteries via Random Forest-Based Hypothesis Testing.”
2nd Place: Rebecca Noga
“The Genetics of Exposure: Are Genetic Variations Associated with Behavior-Based Exposures in the PEGS Cohort?”
3rd Place: Brittney Gedeon
“Association Between Noise Pollution Exposure and Incident Breast Cancer in the Sister Study.”
View the slideshow below for highlights from the day’s events, which were hosted by the Office of Fellows’ Career Development.
(Jennifer Harker, Ph.D., is a technical writer-editor in the NIEHS Office of Communications and Public Liaison.)
Dhruv Ranganath, who worked with Kamel Mansouri, Ph.D., in the Predictive Toxicology Branch, explains his research during the Summer Internship Program research poster showcase held July 27 at NIEHS. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw / NIEHS)
Summer intern Rebecca Noga, who worked with Alison Motsinger-Reif, Ph.D., chief of the Biostatistics and Computational Biology Branch, was awarded second place honors in the graduate poster competition. Here, she is pictured describing her research to judge Asmita, Ph.D., who is a visiting fellow in the Placental Cell Biology Group. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw / NIEHS)
Summer interns Sami Bommu, left, and Julia Boltz, right, describe their projects. Bommu conducted research with Robin Stanley, Ph.D., and Boltz worked with Joe Rodriguez, Ph.D. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw / NIEHS)
Alexis Williams also worked with Rodriguez, who leads the Single Cell Dynamics Group. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw / NIEHS)
The first-place prize for Graduate Poster went to Sambit Panda, who conducted research this summer with Jesse Cushman, Ph.D., director of the Neurobehavioral Core Laboratory. Panda is pictured here with judge Elvis Quiroz, a recipient of the 2023 Summer Mentor Award. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw / NIEHS)
Elise Van Zele, who studied with Marcos Morgan, Ph.D., in the Male Reproduction and RNA Biology Group, describes her poster to judge Dhakaram Pangeni Sharma, Ph.D., a visiting fellow in the Genome Stability Structural Biology Group. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw / NIEHS)
First place Undergraduate Poster awardee Justin Wang describes his findings to judge Amy Papaneri, a biologist in the In Vivo Neurobiology Group. Wang conducted research with Elizabeth Martin, Ph.D., a principal investigator in the Epigenetic Responses to Environmental Exposures Group. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw / NIEHS)
Sue Fenton, Ph.D., a reproductive endocrinologist in the Mechanistic Toxicology Branch, poses for a photo with summer intern Aditi Mudireddy, who studied with Roel Schaaper, Ph.D., in the Mechanisms of Mutation Group. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw / NIEHS)
Erin O’Neill explained the research she conducted this summer with John Cidlowski, Ph.D., deputy chief of the Signal Transduction Laboratory. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw / NIEHS)
From left to right: Paul Doetsch, Ph.D., deputy scientific director; Michelle Campbell, a biologist in the Environmental Epigenomics and Disease Group; Suchandra Bhattacharjee, Ph.D., undergraduate research training program manager; and Hong Xu, Office of Fellows' Career Development program manager and data analyst, scooping ice cream to celebrate a successful summer. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw / NIEHS)
