Rhode Island IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence

Recognition of Investigators and Students

---

Happenings

• Dr. Brenton DeBoef was promoted to the Dean of the graduate school on August 3, 2021. Dr. DeBoef was RI-INBRE’s Training Core Director before being promoted to Associate Dean and serving as Interim Dean.

Student Updates

• Caroline Williams (SURF ’19) started her Ph.D. in the Chemistry-Biology Interface Program, in Dr. Catherine Grimes’ lab at the University of Delaware. Fall 2021. Caroline graduated from Bryant University in 2021 with a B.S. in Biology (Christopher Reid’s Lab)

---

Student Presentations

• Taryn Lee Rauff (SURF ’21), Thi Mai Anh Nyugen (SURF ’21), Sam Pollack (SURF ’21), Bryant University presented their virtual poster “Neural circuits for low and moderate alcohol responses in Drosophila melanogaster” at the Society for Neuroscience’s 50th Annual Meeting.  November 11, 2021 (Kristen Scaplen’s Lab)
• Eric Almeida (ECD ’17-’19), University of Rhode Island, presented a talk entitled “Investigating Mechanisms of Metabolic Interaction Between Corynebacterium matruchotii and Oral Streptococci” at the NEMPET Conference. June 25-27, 2021 (Matthew Ramsey’s Lab)
• Dr. Dinesh Dhamecha (ECD ’18-20), University of Rhode Island, presented “Porous Polymeric Microspheres as Scaffold for In Vitro Lung Cancer Model Development” at the virtual New England Complex Fluids (NECF) conference. January 2021 (Jyothi Menon’s Lab)

---

Student Publications

• Sophia Silvia (SURF), University of Rhode Island, was the first author on the publication “A Survey of Spontaneous Antibiotic-Resistant Mutants of the Halophilic, Thermophilic Bacterium Rhodothermus marinus.” November 11, 2021. Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland). PMC 8614978. PMID 34827322 (Steven Gregory’s Lab)
• Dasith Perera (ECD ’17-’19) and Eric Almeida (ECD ’17-’19), both of the University of Rhode Island, published “Mechanisms underlying interactions between two abundant oral commensal bacteria” with their lab group. November 3, 2021. ISME Journal doi: 10.1038/s41396-021-01141-3 (Matthew Ramsey’s Lab)
• Benjamin Piraino (SURF, SURF+), University of Rhode Island, published “Cyclin-Dependent Kinase-Mediated Phosphorylation of FANCD2 Promotes Mitotic Fidelity” with his lab group. July 23, 2021. Molecular and Cellular Biology. PMC 8300791. PMID 34096775 (Niall Howlett’s Lab)
• Anna S. (Lally) Bock (Bridge ’19, SURF ’16, ’17), Brown University, was the first author on the publication “N-terminal acetylation modestly enhances phase separation and reduces aggregation of the low-complexity domain of RNA-binding protein fused in sarcoma.” July 2021. Protein science. PMC 8197426. PMID 33547841 (Nicolas Fawzi’s Lab, Brown: Bridge to Graduate School Program; William Holmes’ Lab, Rhode Island College SURF Program)