Talent rises to the top at 51st MUSC Research Day

MUSC's Perry V. Halushka Research Day held on Nov. 3 and 4 saw a record number of abstract submissions and participants. Each year, Research Day is open to all students, residents, post-doctoral fellows and technical support at MUSC. Perry Halushka, M.D., Ph.D., dean emeritus for the College of Graduate Studies, for whom the event is named, was thrilled to see the event grow so substantially. 

“This is the 51st Annual Research Day and there were 297 abstracts, the largest number in the history of the day,” he said. “It seems each year it gets bigger and better and the growth has been phenomenal. It is very gratifying to see the outstanding research being conducted by our trainees at all levels and the participation by the faculty. The day is very well organized, and special thanks go to Dr. Steven Kubalak, chairman of the Research Day Committee, and Ms. Stephanie Brown-Guion, administrative assistant for Research Day.”

Steven Kubalak, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Regenerative Medicine and Cell Biology, has chaired the Research Day event for 11 years. His role includes arranging the keynote speaker, securing judges for 20 categories — this year requiring 90 judges — and setting up the poster and oral presentation sessions for all participants. 

Kubalak said Research Day is an important opportunity for MUSC to support the next generation of scientists.

“The NIH is encouraging more translational-type studies, and our submissions include that type of work. We have a lot of post-doctoral fellows and residents who participate in Research Day, and that number is slowly and steadily rising each year. And as they do begin to participate, they are presenting clinical-type studies. The hope, of course, is that there will be increased communication and collaboration between the basic scientists, the clinicians and their work, which I believe is well represented in Research Day.”

He continued, “We are we are trying to get more representation of interprofessional-type studies in Research Day. The number of abstracts in both the oral and poster categories by interprofessional studies goes up each year, which is an indication that this type of work is being done. That represents an advancement in the research type studies that parallel what the initiatives of the NIH are. I think this is really important, because it helps funding down the road for the university itself, as more and more collaborations between different disciplines — between the basic scientists and the clinicians — come on board.” 

Kubalak also mentioned that 2016 marked the second year the event included a new category for laboratory technicians and staff scientists/research specialists who are now able to participate in Research Day.

“A lot of these individuals are thinking about applying to medical school or graduate school and this helps them in terms of presenting scientific work. It gives them some experience and a line on their CVs. During interviews, they will already have a good handle on the language of science because they’ve contributed intellectually to a project. This is an advantage,” he said.

Technicians and staff scientists, who work as higher-level technicians, support the principal investigators in the lab and the overall work of the lab. They are involved in the projects underway in the labs, even interpreting results.

Kubalak said the breadth of the research presented was remarkable and points to a coming generation of prolific scientists who he predicts will accomplish great things.

The scheduled keynote speaker, Jacob Corn, Ph.D., of the University of California-Berkeley, had to postpone his visit. He will be speaking on campus March 29, and a campuswide invitation has been extended.

Corn is the scientific director of the Innovative Genomics Initiative (IGI). The IGI, along with his lab, is comprised of branch laboratories at UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco. His talk, "CRISPR-Cas9 from Biology to Therapy," will concentrate on the cutting-edge CRISPR technology — a gene-editing tool. Corn’s team develops and utilizes next-generation genome editing and regulation technologies to further fundamental biological discoveries and the development of potential therapies for human genetic diseases.

The winners are:

Undergraduate Poster I — First place: Abby T. Spencer; second place Jordan S. Carter

Clinical/Professional/Masters Poster I — First place: Georgia Berbert; second place: Ashlyn Baxley

Clinical/Professional/Masters Poster II — First place: Keeland M. Williams; second place: Lillian R. Neal

Clinical/Professional/Masters Poster III — First place: Nancy L. Hagood; second place: Mark A Pacult

Clinical/Professional/Masters Poster IV — First place: Jessica Dinh; second place: Ryan Finnegan

Ph.D. Poster I — First place: Jonathan M. Turner; second place: Alexandra Rogers

Ph.D. Poster II — First place: Caroline J. Vrana; second place: Logan T. Dowdle

Ph.D. Poster III — First place (Kinard Gadsden Award): Katelynn A. Toomer; second place: LaShardai N. Brown

Postdoc/Resident/Fellow/Staff Scientist Poster I — First place: Ryan Boerner; second place: Tonisha Kearney-Ramos

Research Specialist/Technician I — First place: Melina Acosta; second place: Danielle Chappell

Undergraduate Oral II — First place: Elizabeth Farri Langley; second place: Shaoni Dasgupta

Clinical/Professional/Masters Oral V — First place: Neal Peterson; second place: Balakrishnan Pillai

Clinical/Professional/Masters Oral VI — First place: Shannon Weber; second place: Walker M. Blanding

Clinical/Professional/Masters Oral VII — First place: Laurel E. Gower; second place: Mitchell J. Issac

Ph.D. Oral IV — First place: Daniel L. Brinton; second place: Barbara K. Marebwa

Ph.D. Oral V — First place: Ali Alawieh; second place: Emily Durham

Ph.D. Oral VI — First place (Eric James Award): Adam W. Akerman; second place: Stefanie R. Bailey

Ph.D. Oral VII — First place (Williard and Betty Peterson Award): Jacob Bowers; second place: Jamie N. Mills

Postdoc/Resident/Fellow/Staff Scientist Oral II — First place: Ephraim A. Ansa-Addo; second place: Pengfei Li

Postdoc/Resident/Fellow/Staff Scientist Oral III — First place: Kimberly L. Brown; second place: Lourdes Nogueira

Special Awards:

CRI-VA Medical Center Oral — First place: Adam W. Akerman; second place: Ryan Kelly

CRI-VA Medical Center Poster — First place: Billy Mullinax; second place: Rohail Rashid Kazi

Student Research Young Investigators Award — Winner: Akayla Ford

Innovation Award — First place: Ryan J. Downey; second place: Elizabeth Hensley

Sigma Xi Award — Winner: William J. Bologna

Health Disparities Award Oral — First place: Sean Brady; second place: Melanie Davis

Health Disparities Award Poster — First place: Kevin Keith; second place: Makiera Simmons

Interprofessional Award Oral — Oral winner: Daniel L. Brinton; poster winner: Emily B. Crosby; honorable mention: Shaoni Dasgupta