Student Researchers Recognized for Posters Presented at C. elegans Meeting

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Newswise — BETHESDA, MD – The Genetics Society of America (GSA) and the C. elegans research community are pleased to announce the recipients of the GSA poster awards at the 20th International C. elegans Meeting, which took place at the University of California, Los Angeles, June 24-28, 2015. The awards were made to undergraduate and graduate students in recognition of the research they presented at the conference. The meeting encourages communication and collaboration between researchers interested in physiology, neurobiology, development, evolution, behavior, aging, ecology, gene regulation and genomics, all using the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system. "It's exciting to see so many early career researchers share their research during the 'worm' meeting," said Adam P. Fagen, PhD, GSA's Executive Director. "These are talented scientists who are already making substantive contributions to our field."More than 1,700 researchers attended the meeting, and the poster awards were selected by a panel of leading researchers. The awardees and honorable mentions of the 20th International C. elegans Meeting GSA Poster Awards are: Graduate Students Cell Biology AwardeeKatherine Lawrence, University of California, Davis, USAPoster title: "SUN protein UNC-84 functions in DNA repair choice in the C. elegans germ line. "Advisor: JoAnne Engebrecht

Honorable Mentions Dayana R. D’Amora, York University, CanadaPoster Title: "BRAP-2 (BRca1 Associated binding Protein 2) promotes germline apoptosis."Advisor: Terrance J. Kubiseski

Gunar Fabig, Dresden University of Technology, GermanyPoster Title: "Chromosome segregation during male meiosis in C. elegans."Advisor: Thomas Müller-Reichert Development and Evolution AwardeeJie Chen, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA Poster Title: "Ras/ERK pathway and retinoblastoma associated protein RbAp46 regulate synaptonemal complex dynamics during prophase I of meiosis."Advisor: Swathi Arur

Honorable Mentions Sophie P. R. Gilbert, University of Oxford, England, UKPoster Title: "pal-1 regulates polarized apical junction remodeling and cell movement during the development of the C. elegans epidermis."Advisor: Alison Woollard

Kimberly Haupt, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USAPoster Title: "LST-1 and SYGL-1, key regulators of germline stem cell fate."Advisor: Judith Kimble

Olga Skorobogata, McGill University, Canada Poster Title: "An AGEF-1/Arf GTPase/AP-1 ensemble antagonizes LET-23 EGFR basolateral localization and signalling in the VPCs."Advisor: Christian Rocheleau Gene Regulation and Genomics

AwardeeJune Tan, University of Toronto, Canada Poster Title: "Genomic approaches to study the roles of various splicing factors in regulating alternative splicing events in C. elegans."Advisor: Andrew Fraser

Honorable Mentions Patricia Abete-Luzi, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA Poster Title: "Investigating the regulation of temporal co-expression of cuticle collagen genes in C. elegans."Advisor: David M. Eisenmann Stephen Michael Blazie, Arizona State University, USA Poster Title: "An integrative analysis of alternative polyadenylation and miRNA regulation in C. elegans."Advisor: Marco Mangone Neurobiology AwardeeHiu E. Lau, University of California, San Diego/Salk Institute, USA Poster Title: "Acute food deprivation activates neuropeptide signaling in diverse tissues to modify avoidance behavior."Advisor: Sreekanth Chalasani

Honorable Mentions Emily A. Bayer, Columbia University, USA Poster Title: "Investigating the genetic basis of neuronal dimorphisms in C. elegans."Advisor: Oliver Hobart

Andrew Hill, California State University, Northridge, USA Poster Title: "ADAM17/TACE homolog ADM-4 mediates stress-induced quiescence in C. elegans."Advisor: Cheryl Van Buskirk Eyal Itskovits, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Poster Title: "A new multi-worm tracker reveals unprecedented insights on worm chemotaxis."Advisor: Alon Zaslaver Sean A. Merrill, University of Utah, USA Poster Title: "A new multi-worm tracker reveals unprecedented insights on worm chemotaxis."Advisor: Erik Jorgensen

Physiology

AwardeeMatthew Churgin, University of Pennsylvania, USA Poster Title: "Analysis of quiescence during aging in insulin/insulin-like signaling mutants using a microfabricated WorMotel multi-well device."Advisor: Christopher Fang-Yen

Honorable Mentions Salvador E. Peña, University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry, USA Poster Title: "Hypoxia and the Mitochondrial Unfolded Protein Response."Advisor: Keith Nehrke

Jessica Sowa, Baylor College of Medicine, USA Poster Title: "Olfactory Regulation of C. elegans Reproductive Aging."Advisor: Meng Wang Surojit Sural, University of Michigan, USA Poster Title: "Inhibition of HSB-1 induces an altered HSF-1 transactivation profile to promote longevity."Advisor: Ao-Lin Hsu Undergraduate Students AwardeeKaren Jiang, University of California, Los Angeles, USAPoster Title: "Sensorimotor signal transmission through AIY interneuron in Caenorhabditis elegans during isothermal tracking."Advisor: Katsushi Arisaka Honorable Mentions Raven Symone Conyers, Washington State University, USA Poster Title: "The effect of FUdR on fatty acid composition and aging in C. elegans."Advisor: Jennifer Watts Jenna Johnson, Luther College, USA Poster Title: "Histone modifications are required for the persistence of hydrogen sulfide memory in C. elegans."Advisor: Dana Miller, University of Washington Caitlin Morris, Lewis and Clark College, USA Poster Title: "Identification and characterization of genes controlling gut granule size."Advisor: Greg Hermann Each poster awardee receives a cash prize and both awardees and honorable mentions receive a complimentary extension to their GSA membership. The Society typically awards such prizes several times a year at each of their conferences on genetic research focused on a variety of model organisms. Raven Symone Conyers and Jenna Johnson were also recipients of the GSA Undergraduate Travel Award, which provided support for them to present their research at the meeting. * * *About the C. elegans ConferenceAbout 1,700 scientists attended the 20th International C. elegans Meeting. The meeting featured more than 200 talks and 1,000 poster presentations on a diverse range of cutting-edge resarch topics including physiology, neurobiology, development, evolution, behavior, aging, ecology, gene regulation and genoimcs. This biennial meeting is the world's largest assemly of scientists conducting cutting-edge research using the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. For more information about the conference, please see http://www.genetics-gsa.org/celegans/2015/. About the Genetics Society of America (GSA)Founded in 1931, the Genetics Society of America (GSA) is the professional scientific society for genetics researchers and educators. The Society’s more than 5,000 members worldwide work to deepen our understanding of the living world by advancing the field of genetics, from the molecular to the population level. GSA promotes research and fosters communication through a number of GSA-sponsored conferences including regular meetings that focus on particular model organisms. GSA publishes two peer-reviewed, peer-edited scholarly journals: GENETICS, which has published high quality original research across the breadth of the field since 1916, and G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics, an open-access journal launched in 2011 to disseminate high quality foundational research in genetics and genomics. The Society also has a deep commitment to education and fostering the next generation of scholars in the field. For more information about GSA, please visit www.genetics-gsa.org.