October 23, 2023: Congratulations to GMB Graduate Student Marielle Bond who is a Finalist in the 2023 UNC Three Minute Thesis Competition

Marielle Bond, a doctoral student in Genetics and Molecular Biology (Doug Phanstiel and Hyejung Won labs), is a finalist in the UNC Graduate School’s Three Minute Thesis competition. This achievement reflects her ability to present her research in an accessible and compelling way.

The final competition will be this Wednesday, October 25 in the UNC Freedom Forum Conference Center.

Read more information about the competition here.

 

 

September 28, 2023: Benjamin Kornegay (Jill Dowen Lab) is the recipient of a Burroughs Wellcome Fund 2023 Graduate Diversity Enrichment Program (GDEP) Award

Benjamin Kornegay, a graduate student in Jill Dowen’s Lab, is the recipient of a Burroughs Wellcome Fund 2023 Graduate Diversity Enrichment Program (GDEP) award.  Selected from a pool of exceptionally talented applicants, Benjamin will receive financial support, mentorship opportunities, and access to invaluable resources throughout his academic journey via this award.

 

 

 

 

September 27, 2023: Mark Geisler (Bob Duronio lab) Awarded National Institute of Child Health & Human Development F31 Predoctoral Fellowship

Congratulations to Mark Geisler (Bob Duronio lab), who was awarded an F31 predoctoral fellowship from the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development.

Mark’s project is titled “The Mute button: Turning down the volume of histone expression.”

 

 

 

 

September 27, 2023: GMB Graduate Student Ryan Mouery (Mike Emanuele Lab) Receives The 2023 Terry Magnuson Award

Congratulations to GMB Graduate Student Ryan Mouery (Mike Emanuele Lab) who received the 2023 Terry Magnuson Award at the 2023 GMB/Genetics/BCB Scientific Retreat in Asheville, NC.

This highly competitive award honors senior graduate students for their contributions to science and to the UNC Chapel Hill Genetics and Molecular Biology community. Nominations are submitted by faculty advisors and reviewed by members of the Genetics and Molecular Biology Executive Committee.

The award is named in honor of Terry Magnuson, Inaugural Chair of the UNC Chapel Hill Department of Genetics.

 

 

 

September 22, 2023: Jeff Sekelsky Honored for 10 Years of Leadership as GMB Director of Graduate Studies

The Department of Genetics, the Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology (GMB) and the Curriculum in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BCB) held a scientific retreat on Sept. 20-22, 2023, at  Renaissance in Asheville, NC.

More than 220 faculty, postdocs, students and staff attended the annual Scientific Retreat hosted by the UNC Department of Genetics.  21 speakers gave talks across four sessions and more than 95 posters were presented.

Dr. Jeff Sekelsky was honored for 10 years of leadership and excellence as Director of Graduate Studies with the Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology.

Thank you Dr. Sekelsky for the passion and hard work you have devoted to making UNC’s Genetics and Molecular Biology Graduate School Curriculum the outstanding program that it is today! Your leadership will be an example for others to strive to achieve!

 

 

 

August 4, 2023: Marielle Bond (Doug Phanstiel and Hyejung Won lab) Awarded National Institute on Aging F31 Predoctoral Fellowship

Congratulations to Marielle Bond for being awarded an NRSA F31 predoctral fellowship from the National Institute on Aging.

Marielle’s project is titled: “Cell-type Specific Interrogation of Variant Function in Alzheimer’s Disease.”

 

 

 

 

August 3, 2023: Oscar Arroyo named HHMI Gilliam Fellows with Mentor Dan McKay

UNC School of Medicine graduate student Oscar Arroyo from Daniel McKay’s lab was among 50 students across the United States named as Gilliam Fellows by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) announced the 2023 class of 50 Gilliam Fellows conducting outstanding research in their respective scientific fields and their advisers who are committed to building a more inclusive scientific environment. Each adviser-student pair will receive an annual award of $53,000 for up to three years.

The Gilliam Program invests in graduate students from populations historically excluded and underrepresented in science so that they are prepared to become scientific leaders.

“The Gilliam Fellowship not only supports incredibly talented graduate students who are poised to become future leaders in science,” says Joshua Hall, senior program officer for the Gilliam Fellows Program, “but it also engages thesis advisers and institutions in the work of creating training environments in which all students can thrive.”

The UNC School of Medicine has two Gilliam Fellows this year – Oscar Arroyo and Aleah Bailey.

Arroyo is a fourth-year PhD student in the Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology and member of the lab of Daniel McKay, PhD, associate professor of genetics and biology. Arroyo’s research focuses on the mechanisms of epigenetic gene regulation during early development. He is a former UNC JEDI Fellow, during which time he worked to integrate current graduate students into the admissions review process in the biomedical sciences.

HHMI’s Gilliam Fellows Program recognizes that advisers play an integral role in helping their students realize their high potential. For this reason, Gilliam advisers participate in a year-long mentorship development course led by facilitator-scholars from HHMI’s Scientific Mentorship Initiative.

Read more about the HHMI and Gilliam Fellowships, including a full list of recipients, at the HHMI website.

This article originally appeared in the UNC Health Newsroom.

August 1, 2023: Rachel DuMez-Kornegay (Rob Dowen lab) Awarded NRSA F31 Predoctoral Fellowship

Congratulations to Rachel DuMez-Kornegay (Rob Dowen lab), who was awarded an NRSA F31 predoctoral fellowship from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health of the National Institutes of Health.

Rachel’s project is titled “Elucidating the Host Metabolic Response to Consumption of Kombucha-associated Microorganisms.”

 

 

 

May 29, 2023: Jack Sanford Receives Graduate Fellow Basic Science Award

Genetics and Molecular Biology recent graduate Jack Sanford, from the lab of Yanping Zhang, receives the Graduate Fellow Basic Science Award from UNC Chapel Hill’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The Graduate Fellow Awards in Basic Science is annual competitive $3,000 award for outstanding graduate students in the research programs of cancer center members who have active, peer-reviewed grant support. Recognition through this award is intended to encourage excellence in basic research, promote recruitment of high quality students, and stimulate cancer-related basic research.

There will be an award ceremony in late June to honor this accomplishment.

Congratulations Dr. Sanford!

April 6, 2023: Dr. Jeff Sekelsky Receives 2023 Faculty Award for Excellence in Graduate Student and Academic Program Support

Jeff Sekelsky, PhD (Professor of Biology and Genetics) has been awarded the 2023 Faculty Award for Excellence in Graduate Student and Academic Program Support from the UNC Graduate School.  This award recognizes graduate faculty currently in the Director of Graduate Studies role who provide outstanding support for graduate programs and their students. This award is student-nominated with the support of leadership and administration from the recipient’s home program.  There are more than 160 Masters and PhD programs within UNC whose Directors of Graduate Studies are eligible for nomination.

The UNC Graduate School Dean will formally present Dr. Sekelsky with this award at the upcoming Graduate Student Recognition Celebration on Wednesday, April 12th from 4-5:30pm at The Carolina Club in the George Watts Hill Alumni Center.  Join the Department of Genetics and the Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology as we celebrate Dr. Sekelsky and this well-deserved honor!

October 12, 2022: Rachel Dumez Wins People’s Choice Award at Three Minute Thesis Competition

Congratulations to Genetics and Molecular Biology Graduate Student Rachel DuMez in the lab of Rob Dowen, UNC Departments of Biology and Cell Biology & Physiology for receiving the “People’s Choice Award” at the 2022 Three Minute Thesis Competition!

Read full story here.

September 22, 2022: Alex Stutzman and Rachel DuMez win Best Talk; Sonia Mikhailovic Best Poster at Genetics Retreat

Winners of awards at the Genetics Retreat were:

• • • • Best Talk: Alex Stutzman (Jill Dowen and Dan McKay labs)
      • Best Talk: Rachel DuMez (Rob Dowen lab)
      • Best Poster: Sonja Mikhailovic (Jeremy Purvis and Adriana Beltran labs)

September 21, 2022: Sarah Brotman and Hannah Wiedner win Terry Magnuson Dissertation Award

Sarah Brotman (Karen Mohlke lab) and Hannah Wiedner (Jimena Giudice lab) were selected as winners of the Terry Magnuson Dissertation Award. This award, named in honor of the founding chair of the Department of Genetics at UNC, is given to one or two outstanding students in their final year of graduate study.

February 7, 2020: Kia Perez-Vale selected for Yale Ciencia Initiative

Kia Perez-Vale (Mark Peifer lab) was selected to participate in the Yale University Ciencia Initiative. Throughout 2020, Kia will participate in a program designed “to expand access to scientific knowledge, experiences, and careers among communities or populations traditionally underrepresented in, or underserved by, the scientific enterprise.”

February 7, 2020: Adelaide Tovar selected for Yale Ciencia Initiative

Adelaide Tovar (Samir Kelada lab) was selected to participate in the Yale University Ciencia Initiative. Throughout 2020, Adelaide will participate in a program designed “to expand access to scientific knowledge, experiences, and careers among communities or populations traditionally underrepresented in, or underserved by, the scientific enterprise.”

July 9, 2019: Lauren Donoghue selected to attend Leena Peltonen School of Human Genomics program

Lauren Donoghue (Samir Kelada lab) has been selected to attend the Leena Peltonen School of Human Genomics program in Switzerland in August. Graduate and postdoctoral trainees gather with leading experts in the field for interactive discussions and presentations on cutting-edge topics in human genetics and genomics. Participants also receive one-to-one mentoring on areas of professional development in genomics.

Please also see our page on Awards to GMB Students.

July 9, 2019: Lauren Donoghue receives DeLill Nasser Award

Lauren Donoghue (Samir Kelada lab) was selected for a DeLill Nasser Award for Professional Development in Genetics from the Genetics Society of America. Talia will use the award to travel to the Drosophila Research Conference where she has been selected to give a talk.

 

Please also see our page on Awards to GMB Students.

June 17, 2019: Brea Hampton awarded HHMI Gilliam Fellowship

Brea Hampton (co-mentored by Mark Heise and Marty Ferris) was selected to receive a Gilliam Fellowship for Advanced Study from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The goal of the program is “to increase the diversity among scientists who are prepared to assume leadership roles in science, particularly as college and university faculty.”

Please also see our page on Grants to GMB Students.

 

March 8, 2019: Kelsey Gray awarded Fulbright Fellowship

Kelsey Gray (recent graduate of Greg Matera lab) was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to do education research at Tibetan monasteries in India. After receiving her PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology in 2017, Kelsey did postdoctoral research with the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative. The Fulbright Fellowship allows her to continue and expand her educational research.

March 8, 2019: Megan Justice selected for Yale Ciencia Initiative

Megan Justice (Jill Dowen lab) was selected to participate in the Yale University Ciencia Initiative. Throughout 2019, Megan will participate in a program designed “to expand access to scientific knowledge, experiences, and careers among communities or populations traditionally underrepresented in, or underserved by, the scientific enterprise.”

January 30, 2019: Lauren Donoghue wins outstanding presentation award at Mammalian Genome Conference…TWICE!

Lauren Donoghue (Samir Kelada lab) received the Lorraine Flaherty Award for outstanding oral presentation in the Trainee Symposium at the 32nd International Mammalian Genome Conference in Puerto Rico. As winner of that award, Lauren was selected to give her presentation again in the main conference section, where she again was selected for the outstanding oral presentation. Lauren’s presentation was entitled “Pairing systems genetics and longitudinal analyses to identify regulators of complex lung disease phenotypes.”

January 30, 2019: Talia Hatkevich receives DeLill Nasser Award

Talia Hatkevich (Jeff Sekelsky lab) was selected for a DeLill Nasser Award for Professional Development in Genetics from the Genetics Society of America. Talia will use the award to travel to the Drosophila Research Conference where she has been selected to give a talk.

Please also see our page on Awards to GMB Students.

August 9, 2018: Lauren Donoghue wins Jo Rae Wright Young Investigator Award

Lauren Donoghue (Samir Kelada lab) received the Jo Rae Wright Young Investigator of the Year Award at the FASEB Lung Epithelium in Health and Disease conference. This award is given to one trainee in recognition of outstanding work described in an oral presentation. Lauren’s presentation was entitled “Genetic Analysis of Secreted Airway Mucins in Mice Reveals a Novel Regulator of MUC5B.”

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April 18, 2018: Michelle Hoffner and Dean Nehama inducted into Frank Porter Graham Honor Society

Michelle Hoffner (Shehzad Sheikh lab) and Dean Nehama (Barbara Savoldo lab) were inducted into the Frank Porter Graham Graduate and Professional Student Honor Society. This award recognizes “outstanding service provided to the University and community by graduate and professional students.”

Please also see our page on Awards to GMB Students.

May 5, 2017: Talia Hatkevich inducted into Frank Porter Graham Honor Society

Talia Hatkevich (Jeff Sekelsky lab) was inducted into the Frank Porter Graham Graduate and Professional Student Honor Society. This award recognizes “outstanding service provided to the University and community by graduate and professional students.”  Professors Jeff Sekelsky and Greg Copenhaver were also inducted for “outstanding contributions to the development of graduate and professional education at the University.”

Please also see our page on Awards to GMB Students.

April 5, 2017: Mira Pronobis First Runner Up for Larry Sandler Award

Congratulations to Mira Pronobis (PhD 2016, Mark Peifer lab) who was named runner up for the Larry Sandler Award. This award is given annually by the Genetics Society of America for the most outstanding dissertation in any area of Drosophila research internationally.

March 9, 2017: Rowan Beck wins award for Society of Toxicology meeting

Congratulations to Rowan Beck (Praveen Sethupathy and Mirek Styblo labs), who was awarded 1^st prize for the Metals Specialty Section Graduate Student Awards for the annual Society of Toxicology meeting. Rowan’s poster was on her research into microRNAs as potential mediators of the effects of arsenicals on pancreatic beta cell function.

August 15, 2016: Tamara Roman wins Cotterman Award for her Publication

Congratulations to Tamara Roman (Karen Mohlke lab), whose was selected as a winner of the Cotterman Award.  This award is given annually by the American Society of Human Genetics, which selects two articles published in the American Journal of Human Genetics in the previous year that best represent outstanding scientific contributions to the field of human genetics.  Tamara was honored for her paper titled “Multiple hepatic regulatory variants at the GALNT2 GWAS locus associated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol.” (American Journal of Human Genetics 97: 801-815).

August 15, 2016: Maren Cannon selected as finalist for the Charles J. Epstein Trainee Award for Excellence in Human Genetics Research

Congratulations to Maren Cannon (Karen Mohlke lab), who was selected as a finalist for the Charles J. Epstein Trainee Award for Excellence in Human Genetics Research. The American Society of Human Genetics honors excellence in trainee research through awards that recognize highly competitive abstracts submitted and presented at the ASHG annual meeting. Maren was honored for her abstract titled, “Cardiometabolic variants in adipose tissue ATAC-seq peaks at GWAS loci with coincident adipose tissue eQTLs.”

December 2, 2015: Tiki Hayes wins Graduate Fellow Award

Congratulations to Tiki Hayes (Channing Der lab), who won the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center Graduate Fellow Award in Basic Sciences.

 

December 2, 2015: Kate Coleman wins Graduate Fellow Award

Congratulations to Kate Coleman (Jean Cook lab), who won the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center Graduate Fellow Award in Basic Sciences.

 

February 2, 2015: John Runge receives McClendon-Thomas Award

Congratulations to John Runge (Terry Magnuson lab), winner of the Bullit History of Medicine Club’s McClendon-Thomas Award. This award recognized scholarly excellence in the history of health sciences. John’s essay “Character Trials: Managing Epidemic Disease in the 19th Century American South” describes efforts to stop Yellow Fever from spreading across the South during Reconstruction, drawing parallels to the HIV/AIDS and Ebola outbreaks. John and his historical research were featured in the Vital Signs newsletter.

November 27, 2014: Christian Parobek awarded off-campus dissertation fellowship

Christian Parobek (Jon Juliano lab) was awarded an Off-Campus Dissertation Research Fellowship by The Graduate School. Christian will work in Cambodia during Spring 2015 collecting mRNA from the malaria vector P. vivax for his dissertation research.

August 26, 2014: Jennifer Kulzer wins Cotterman Award for her Publication

Congratulations to Jennifer Kulzer (Karen Mohlke lab), whose was selected as a winner of the Cotterman Award.  This award is given annually by the American Society of Human Genetics, which selects two articles published in the American Journal of Human Genetics in the previous year that best represent outstanding scientific contributions to the field of human genetics.  Jennifer was honored for her paper titled “A common functional regulatory variant at a type 2 diabetes locus upregulates ARAP1 expression in the pancreatic beta cell” (Amer J Human Genetics 94: 186-97.

April 25, 2014: Noelle Romero receives Royster Society Dissertation Completion Fellowship

Congratulations to Noelle Romero (labs of Steve Matson and Jeff Sekelsky), who was awarded a Royster Society of Fellows Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the UNC Graduate School for 2014-2015.

April 25, 2014: Lauren Wasson receives Dissertation Completion Fellowship

Congratulations to Lauren Wasson (Frank Conlon lab), who was awarded a Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the UNC Graduate School for 2014-2015.

February 3, 2014: Kathryn Kohl runner up for Larry Sandler Award

Congratulations to Kathryn Kohl (PhD 2013, Jeff Sekelsky lab) who was named runner up for the Larry Sandler Award. This award is given annually by the Genetics Society of America for the most outstanding dissertation in any area of Drosophila research.  This year there were 23 nominations from around the world.

October 3, 2013: Marta Charpentier and Laura Tollini win Kenan-Hobgood Award

Marta Charpentier (Frank Conlon lab) and Laura Tollini (Yanping Zhang lab) were awarded the 2013 Sarah Graham Kenan-Edwards Hobgood Award.  This honor is awarded each year to one or two outstanding students in the Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology.

May 15, 2013: Nick Gomez receives travel award from AACR

Congratulations to Nick Gomez (lab of Ian Davis), recipient of a 2013 American Association of Cancer Research Minority Scholar in Cancer Research Award for participation in the AACR Special Conference on Chromatin and Epigenetics in Cancer.

May 15, 2013: Marta Charpentier receives Dissertation Completion Fellowship

Congratulations to Marta Charpentier (Frank Conlon lab), who was awarded a Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the UNC Graduate School for 2013-2014.

February 11, 2013: Kathryn Kohl receives Harold Weintraub Award

Congratulations to Kathryn Kohl (Jeff Sekelsky lab) for winning the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement during graduate studies in the biological sciences. Recipients of this prestigious national award participate in a scientific symposium to be held this spring at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, WA.