Winners announced in four categories spanning all College of Pharmacy programs

After investigating subjects as varied as cancer, Alzheimer’s Disease, hypertension, kidney health, and many more, dozens of University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy students showed off their research projects during the fifth annual Student Research Showcase in the lobby of Avedisian Hall on April 24.

Faculty members reviewed the research and issued awards for the top projects in each of four departments in the college. See a gallery of all winners below, pictured with Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education Niall Howlett, along with their faculty mentor. Award winners include:

Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D)

First place: J.T. Berard-Moore, Krista Dariotis, Paige Donato, Kristen Ohlinger
Faculty mentor: Xuerong Wen
The Discord Study: Discordant vs concordant self-reported smoking status and cardiometabolic risk differences among cotinine-confirmed adults

Second place: Grace Bevins, Sophannara Bun, Dillan Day, Andreana Moutopoulos
Faculty Mentor: Xuerong Wen
Comparison of the incidence of gastroesophageal reflux disease in patients taking non-dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers versus dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers.

Third place: Kayla Aquliante, Andrew Jones, Nicole Sagias, Sara Yahya
Faculty Mentor: Xuerong Wen
Association between antidepressant class and obesity status across levels of depressive symptom severity.

Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences (BSPS), Neuroscience., Pharm.D.

First place: Delaney Abetacola, Nikki Fernando (not pictured)
Faculty advisor: Jaime Ross
Validation of the Inducible mtDNA Mutator Model of Mitochondrial Dysfunction

Second place: Anna Schumacher
Faculty advisor: Meghan Varghese
Post-mortem Analysis of Von Economo Neurons in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Frontoinsular Cortex in Prader-Willi Syndrome

Third place: Camila Quiroga
Faculty advisor: Kathryn Quinlan
Mapping the Corticospinal Tract in a Neonatal Rabbit Using Pyramidal Tracer Injections for a Better Understanding of Cerebral Palsy

Graduate student in Pharmaceutical Science

First place: Qiwen Chen (not pictured)
Faculty advisor: Ryitang Deng
Mechanistic Insights into USP2b-Mediated Cell Proliferation and Cell Apoptosis Pathways in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Second place: Ololade Gbadebo
Faculty advisor: David Rowley
Does the marine pathogen Tenacibaculum discolor lift iron to outcompete rivals?

Third place: Evans Boateng-Boakye
Faculty advisor: Deyu Li
AlkB-family Enzymes Catalyzed Oxidation of Exocyclic Dimethyl RNA Nucleobases: Kinetic and Computational Insights

Post-doctoral Fellows

First place: Emily Reedich
Faculty advisor: Marin Manuel
Spinal motoneurons show a dysregulated homeostatic response to chronic inhibition in the SOD1 mouse model of amytrophic lateral scierosis

Second place: Xiaoyue Zhu
Faculty advisor: William Van Nostrand
Gene editing in rats produces a cerebral amyloid angiopathy model with distinct vascular and molecular signatures

Third place: Tasneem Al-Huniti
Faculty advisor: Ruitang Deng
ER Stress as a Suspected Driver of Bile Acid-Induced Cellular Senescence in HepG2 Cells