Grants to GMB Students
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.
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.
March 31, 2023: Jeanne-Marie McPherson awarded NRSA F31 Fellowship
Congratulations to Jeanne-Marie McPherson (Bob Duronio and Dan McKay labs), who was awarded an NRSA F31 predoctoral fellowship from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health.
Jeanne-Marie’s project is titled “Interrogating the roles of canonical versus variant histone H3 in genome function during aging.”
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August 10, 2022: Nila Pazhayam awarded NRSA F31 Fellowship
Congratulations to Nila Pazhayam (Jeff Sekelsky lab), who was awarded an NRSA F31 predoctoral fellowship from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health. Nila’s project is titled “Preventing Age-Associated Oocyte Aneuploidy: Mechanisms Behind the Drosophila melanogaster Centromere Effect.”
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October 1, 2021: Marta Cruz Cisneros awarded Graduate Diversity Enrichment grant from BWF
Congratulations to Marta Cruz Cisneros (Mark Heise lab) on being awarded Graduate Diversity Enrichment Program grant from Burroughs Wellcome Fund. The GDEP is a two-year grant to underrepresented minority PhD students enrolled in NC Institutions of Higher Education.
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October 1, 2021: Elyssa Vogt awarded Graduate Diversity Enrichment grant from BWF
Congratulations to Elyssa Vogt (Amy Gladfelter lab) on being awarded Graduate Diversity Enrichment Program grant from Burroughs Wellcome Fund. The GDEP is a two-year grant to underrepresented minority PhD students enrolled in NC Institutions of Higher Education.
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September 15, 2021: Brea Hampton awarded F99/K00 transition grant from NIA
Congratulations to Brea Hampton (Mark Heise and Marty Ferris), who was awarded an F99/K00 transition fellowship from the National Institute on Aging. This award supports the transition to the postdoctoral phase by providing funding for the final 1-2 years of graduate studies (F99 phase) and the first two years of postdoctoral studies (K00 phase). Brea’s project is titled “Evaluating the role of cytomegalovirus and age on lung immune homeostasis and responses to respiratory infections.”
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August 10, 2021: Carolyn Turcotte awarded NRSA F31 Fellowship
Congratulations to Carolyn Turcotte (Jeff Sekelsky lab), who was awarded an NRSA F31 predoctoral fellowship from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health. Carolyn’s project is titled “Mechanisms and regulation of meiotic recombination.”
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March 16, 2021: Emma Hinkle awarded NRSA F31 Fellowship
Congratulations to Emma Hinkle (Jimena Giudice lab), who was awarded an NRSA F31 predoctoral fellowship from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. Emma’s project is titled “Alternative splicing regulation and mechanotransduction in skeletal muscle.”
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February 15, 2021: Sarah Brotman awarded NRSA F31 fellowship
Congratulations to Sarah Brotman (Karen Mohlke lab), who was awarded an NRSA F31 predoctoral fellowship from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Sarah’s project is titled “Analyzing gene expression in adipose tissue to identify candidate genes at cardiometabolic trait GWAS loci.”
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January 19, 2021: Matt Stevenson awarded F31 grant from NCI
Matt Stevenson (Lori O’Brien lab) received an NRSA F31 grant from the National Cancer Institute. The title of Matt’s project is “Elucidating oncogenic mechanisms underlying Wilms tumor using kidney organoids.”
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July 25, 2020: Rachel Cherney awarded F31 grant from NICHD
Rachel Cherney (Mauro Calabrese lab) received an NRSA F31 grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The title of Rachel’s project is “Regulation of Polycomb by long noncoding RNAs during pre-implantation development.”
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May 1, 2020: Nisitha Sengottuvel awarded F30 fellowship
Nisitha Sengottuvel (Chad Pecot lab) was awarded an NRSA F30 fellowship from NIH’s National Cancer Institute. Nisitha’s project is titled “The role of SPON1 expressing inflammatory monocytes in promoting lung cancer metastasis.”
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April 27, 2020: Gabrielle Gentile awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Congratulations to Gabby Gentile (Jimena Giudice lab), who was awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation.
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April 27, 2020: GMB students recognized with Honorable Mention by NSF
Congratulations to the following GMB students who were recognized with Honorable Mention in the Graduate Research Fellowship
competition from the National Science Foundation:
- Jeanne-Marie McPherson (Bob Duronio and Dan McKay labs)
- Victoria Parsons (Karen Mohlke lab)
- Alexis Stutzman (Jill Dowen and Dan McKay labs)
- Carolyn Turcotte (Jeff Sekelsky lab)
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.”
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June 6, 2019: Kia Perez-Vale awarded F31 fellowship
Kia Perez-Vale (Mark Peifer lab) was awarded an NRSA F31 fellowship from NIH’s National Institute for General Medical Sciences. Kia’s project is titled “Defining the molecular mechanisms underlying apical-basal polarity establishment and morphogenesis.” (Photo: Kia received the funding notification while participating in the Gordon Research Conference on Cell Contact and Adhesion in Switzerland.)
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May 25, 2019: Eliza Thulson awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Congratulations to Eliza Thulson (Doug Phanstiel lab), who was awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation.
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May 25, 2019: Hannah Wiedner awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Congratulations to Hannah Wiedner (Jimena Giudice lab), who was awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation.
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July 11, 2018: Lauren Donoghue awarded F31 fellowship
Lauren Donoghue (Samir Kelada lab) was awarded an NRSA F31 fellowship from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Lauren’s project is titled, “Genetic and Longitudinal Analysis of Airway Remodeling.”
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April 19, 2018: Nicole Arruda awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Congratulations to Nicole Arruda (Jill Dowen lab), who was awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. Nicole’s project is titled, “Cis-Regulatory Elements Connect Gene Expression and Genome Organization.”
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