2022 Virtual Madison Scholars Symposium

The Madison Scholars Symposium showcases scholar’s research from several training programs on the UW – Madison campus. The goal of this symposium is to enhance the oral presentation skills in preparation for speaker and poster presentation engagements at national meetings and to promote scholar’s networking ability. Scholars prepared one of two format oral presentations and presented their work to an audience of students, staff, and faculty.

Virtual Madison Scholars Symposium Program 2022

We had a great turn out this year and a superb line-up of presentations from diverse disciplines. Congrats to all the presenters who without exception gave very polished and engaging talks. The standard was truly phenomenal this year which made it extremely difficult for our two adjudicators to select winners.

We are pleased to announce our two winners who will be receiving monetary awards graciously funded by the Asthana Family Endowment:

Short Talk Winner

Scholar Bayley WatersBayley Waters

Presentation: Roundabout Receptors Control Spatial Architecture of the Islets of Langerhans in Adult Mice

Mentor: Barak Blum, PhD

Ms. Waters is a 3rd year PhD candidate in the Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology Program. After receiving her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from UW-Madison, she worked as a research intern in the Hector F. DeLuca lab in Biochemistry for three years, where she studied the impact of both dietary vitamin D and vitamin D receptor on the development of colon cancer. Her interest in the intersections of endocrinology, metabolism, and maternal health led her to pursue graduate training in ERP. She is now a student in the Barak Blum lab in Cell and Regenerative Biology, where her research focuses on the impact of islet cytoarchitecture on the function of the islet throughout adulthood and under insulin-resistant stressors such as obesity and pregnancy.

Blitz Talk Winner

Pre-Doc Trainee Taylor SchoenTaylor Schoen

Presentation: Using zebrafish to explore lipid mediators of inflammation during infection and wound repair

Mentors: Anna Huttenlocher, MD & Nancy Keller, PhD

Ms. Schoen is a third-year graduate student in Comparative Biomedical Sciences in the Huttenlocher and Keller labs, where she uses zebrafish to study the function of the lipid receptor GPR132 in polarization of immune cells and tissue regeneration. The goal of this work is to improve therapies for the treatment of infections and skin wounds in the aging population, through a deeper understanding of the signals driving inflammation during wound healing and host defense. Ms. Schoen’s favorite thing about my research is the beautiful live-imaging of zebrafish larvae!

A big thank you to our adjudicators this year!

Judith Simcox, PhD

Ozioma Okonkwo, PhD

Presenters

Maya Amjadi – Department of Medicine
Mentor: Miriam Shelef, MD, PhD
Presentation: Anti-membrane and anti-spike antibodies together discriminate between past COVID-19 infection and vaccination
Ms. Amjadi is in her fifth year of the Medical Scientist Training Program and joined Dr. Miriam Shelef’s lab in 2020 to begin her graduate research. The Shelef lab studies antibodies with many projects focusing on the role of autoantibodies in the development of age-related autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. In 2020, The Shelef Lab developed the COVID-19 Convalescent Biorepository so that researchers can study the immune response to SARS-CoV-2. Ms. Amjadi interested in how antibodies can be pathologic and protective and how antibody levels are associated with risk factors including age and sex.

Reji BabygirijaReji Babygirija – Department of Medicine
Mentor: Dudley Lamming, PhD
Presentation: Hepatic Deletion Of FOXO1 Signaling Rescues the Metabolic Deficits Caused By mTORC2 Inhibition
Ms. Babygirija is a 3rd-year CMB graduate student from Lamming Lab. The major focus of her research is to understand the key physiological and molecular mechanisms of nutrient sensing pathways in the modulation of metabolic health in various central and peripheral tissues which can eventually lead to better clinical outcomes in treating metabolic diseases.

 

Postdoc Scholar Kyle Edmunds

Kyle Edmunds, PhD – Department of Medicine
Mentor: Ozioma Okonwko, PhD
Presentation: Cardiorespiratory fitness attenuates the deleterious effects of sleep apnea on cerebral structure, perfusion, and risk of Alzheimer’s disease in the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort study
Dr. Edmunds is a Ruth L. Kirschstein T32 National Research Service Award scholar and postdoctoral trainee in the laboratory of Dr. Ozioma Okonkwo at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC). Dr. Edmunds’ prospective research centers on putative risk and resilience factors for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and their effects on cognition and neurodegenerative biomarkers. Dr. Endmund’s current work focuses on the role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression and genotype in preclincial Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and whether its impact can be modified by cardiorespiratory fitness or sleep. Altogether, this work aims to identify critical endophenotypes and malleable lifestyle factors that promote resilience to AD pathophysiological processes.

Postdoc Scholar Brandon FicoBrandon Fico, PhD – Kinesiology
Mentor: Jill Barnes, PhD
Presentation: The Impact of Aging on the Association between Aortic Stiffness and Cerebral Pulsatility Index
Aging is associated with decreased global cerebral perfusion and cerebrovascular reactivity. Dr. Fico is interested in investigating how changes in cerebrovascular health may increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. His current research focuses on the age-related variability in cerebrovascular regulation using a potential model of accelerated aging in humans. Preliminary data suggests that young and middle-aged adults with certain anatomical variations have lower cerebral perfusion than adults with “textbook” cerebral anatomy. Thus, investigating cerebral blood flow and cerebrovascular regulation in these adults may demonstrate the impact of cerebral hypoperfusion on brain structure and function. This information will help us understand how specific interventions could be employed to improve cerebrovascular health and cognitive function in this aging population.

Postdoc Scholar Hannah FosterHannah Foster, PhD – Department of Medicine
Mentor: Matthew Merrins, PhD
Presentation: Aged mouse alpha-cells exhibit enhanced glucagon secretion in response to amino acids and GIP
Type 2 diabetes rates are increasing throughout the U.S., particularly among aging populations; however, the majority of diabetes research has been completed using young animals and focusing mainly on the insulin producing cells of the pancreas. In recent years, Dr. Foster and others have established that the health of other cell types in the pancreas, in particular those that secrete the hormone glucagon, are important for overall pancreatic function during aging. Her recent studies indicate and the failure of those glucagon producing cells may also contribute development of T2D, opening up new possibilities for novel interventions and drug development.

Jake HermansonJake Hermanson – Nutritional Sciences
Mentor: Vanessa Leone, PhD
Presentation: Dietary Cholesterol-Induced Gut Microbes Drive Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Pathogenesis in a Murine Model
Mr. Hermanson completed his B.S. in Biochemistry at UW-Madison while working with Dr. Troy Hornberger to identify signaling events that occur in skeletal muscle after resistance exercise. After graduating in the spring of 2020, he began his Ph.D. work under the advisement of Dr. Vanessa Leone. He is interested in identifying interactions between diet, gut microbes, and host organisms that drive metabolic disease at the molecular level. Eventually, identified pathways may be leveraged by precision nutrition or targeted therapeutics to reverse or avoid metabolic dysfunction.

Predoctoral Trainee JerichaJericha Mill – Chemistry
Mentor: Lingjun Li, PhD
Presentation: DiLeu-Enabled Quantitative Analysis of Sphingolipids for Biomarker Discovery in Alzheimer’s Disease
Ms. Mill is a fourth-year analytical chemistry doctoral student. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Butler University in Indianapolis, IN, where she studied volatile organic compounds in the conservation science lab at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. After graduation, she spent a year working for Corteva Agrisciences as an analyst in the Environmental Fate and Metabolism lab. Both of her research experiences fueled her interest in small molecule mass spectrometry, which she now applies to Alzheimer’s disease research in the Lingjun Li lab. In her spare time, she applies her personal experiences with AD and her research experience as a volunteer Ambassador for the Alzheimer’s Association.

Dennis Minton – Department of Medicine
Mentor: Adam Konopka, PhD
Presentation: Rapamycin delays bone-related hallmarks of age-related osteoarthritis in the common marmoset
Mr. Minton is a graduate student in the Konopka lab. His research focuses on understanding the mechanisms involved in the initiation and progression of osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease, using a range of translational models.

 

 

Dr. MurthaJacqueline A Murtha, MD – Surgery
Mentor: Luke Funk, MD
Presentation: Predicting Young Adults at High Risk for Weight Gain Using Machine Learning
Dr. Murtha is a general surgery resident at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who is currently in her second year of research as a post-doctoral fellow funded by the MANTP T-32. She completed medical school at the University of Rochester and her MPH at the University of Georgia. She works with her mentor Dr. Luke Funk to use qualitative and quantitative research methods aimed to improve outcomes for adults with obesity. Projects include addressing barriers to bariatric surgery access and disparities in bariatric surgery outcomes, along with identifying adults at risk for weight gain.

Pre-Doc Trainee Taylor SchoenTaylor Schoen – Medical Microbiology & Immunology
Mentors: Anna Huttenlocher, MD & Nancy Keller, PhD
Presentation: Using zebrafish to explore lipid mediators of inflammation during infection and wound repair
Ms. Schoen is a third-year graduate student in Comparative Biomedical Sciences in the Huttenlocher and Keller labs, where she uses zebrafish to study the function of the lipid receptor GPR132 in polarization of immune cells and tissue regeneration. The goal of this work is to improve therapies for the treatment of infections and skin wounds in the aging population, through a deeper understanding of the signals driving inflammation during wound healing and host defense. Ms. Schoen’s favorite thing about my research is the beautiful live-imaging of zebrafish larvae!

Pre-doc trainee Andrew Sung

Andrew Sung – Bimolecular Chemistry
Mentors: Jim Keck, PhD and David Pagliarini, PhD
Presentation: A deep mutational scanning framework for defining protein function and variant pathogenicity
Mr.Sung is a fourth-year graduate student co-mentored by Dr. Dave Pagliarini and Dr. Jim Keck. His research interest lies in elucidating the biochemical mechanisms of mitochondrial respiratory complex I (CI) assembly. CI dysfunction is the most common cause of mitochondrial dysfunction, a hallmark of the aging process. A deeper understanding of CI biology will thus advance our knowledge of mitochondrial metabolism as a key player in aging and age-related disease vulnerability.

Bayley Waters – Cell and Regenerative Biology
Mentors: Barak Blum, PhD
Presentation: Roundabout Receptors Control Spatial Architecture of the Islets of Langerhans in Adult Mice
Ms. Waters is a 3rd year PhD candidate in the Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology Program. After receiving her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from UW-Madison, she worked as a research intern in the Hector F. DeLuca lab in Biochemistry for three years, where she studied the impact of both dietary vitamin D and vitamin D receptor on the development of colon cancer. Her interest in the intersections of endocrinology, metabolism, and maternal health led her to pursue graduate training in ERP. She is now a student in the Barak Blum lab in Cell and Regenerative Biology, where her research focuses on the impact of islet cytoarchitecture on the function of the islet throughout adulthood and under insulin-resistant stressors such as obesity and pregnancy.

Dr. Yang YehYang Yeh, PhD – Department of Medicine
Mentors: Dudley Lamming, PhD
Presentation: Metabolic benefits of dietary isoleucine restriction is blocked by rapamycin administration
Dr. Yeh has been a postdoc within the Biology of Aging and Age-related Diseases T32 training program since late 2020. He works in the lab of Dr. Dudley Lamming, who has been investigating the effects of various protein-restriction diets in the context of the many existing anti-aging therapies. Dr. Yeh’s current projects involve identifying the mechanisms of action underlying the drastic phenotypes observed in animals fed a low isoleucine diet.