Genetics Graduate Students Win Research and Travel Awards

The GGSA would like to highlight several members for their excellence in research and teaching.  Four students were selected and competed in the annual Graduate Research Competition during the new student recruitment.  The top awardee was Megan Reynolds who presented her work on the identification of genes necessary for systemic Salmonella Infection Using ABACUS (Array Based Analysis of Cistrons Under Selection).  The second place prize was awarded to Shawn Christensen who presented his work on how the gene ZmLOX10 governs GLV biosynthesis and regulates JA and VOC mediated herbivore defense responses.  Third place went to Shi-chi Su who presented his work on gene expression profiling during endothelial cell invasion and pregnancy progression.  Robert Vaughn was awarded the fourth place for his presentation on the association of alpha-actinin 3 gene expression with bovine feed efficiency.  Furthermore, the GGSA would like to recognize all the recipients of the GGSA Travel Grant for 2008-2009.  They are Catherine Cifuentes-Rojas, Manasvi Shah, Gayle Linger, Charles Goldsmith, Kory Douglas, Catherine Busch, Dmitry Lyalin, Elena Repnikova, Erin Gillenwaters, and Charles Weige.  These recipients used the Travel Grant to help fund their attendance of national and international conferences where they presented their research.  Lastly, Rachel Jordan and Stephen Caster received the Outstanding and Excellent Genetics TA awards, respectively, for excellence in teaching the undergraduate Genetics Labs.  Pictured are Rachel Jordan and Stephen Caster.