The MIBRC Digestive Disease Summer Research Program culminates in the annual research symposium, at which the students present their work.

Agenda for the 2024 Summer Research Symposium

Friday, August 9th 2024
Building 114 - 1st Floor Conference Room D 

8:30 – 8:35 am
Bryan P. Hurley PhDIntroduction & Opening Remarks 
Director - MGfC Digestive Disease Summer Research Program 

8:35 – 8:50 am
Aleia Gisolfi-McCready, Davidson College
Mentor: Rachel Wooten MD
Characterizing Health Behaviors Among Adolescents with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in a Longitudinal Cohort"

8:50 – 9:05 am
Yicheng "Danie" Liang, University of California (Davis)
Mentor: Chien Wen Su PhD
Quantitative Analysis of Dopamine Levels in Murine Intestinal and Brain Samples Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

9:05 – 9:20 am
Brianna Fountain, College of the Holy Cross
Mentor: Wayne Shreffler MD PhD 
Evaluating the role of the adhesion molecule PECAM1 on GPR15-mediated T Cell Migration in Eosinophilic Esophagitis

9:20 – 9:35 am
Allison Chan, Brown University
Mentor: James Moon PhD 
Testing affinity of T-cell receptors specific to a highly conserved gut commensal bacterial antigen” 

9:35 – 9:50 am
Karen "Kayn" Girsang, Brandeis University
Mentor: Xingbin Ai PhD 
A pipeline to identify specific host factors that interact with RSV viral protein” 

9:50 – 10:05 am
Callie Rheinheimer, DePauw University
Mentor: Enid Martinez MD
Examining mRNA expression of zonulin and the zonulin target receptor (PAR2) in two compartments of the murine gastrointestinal tract

10:05 – 10:25 am
Coffee Break

10:25 – 10:40 am
David Le, Albany Medical College
Mentor: Ali Zomorrodi PhD 
Uncovering Gut Microbiome Biomarkers of Celiac Disease using Long-Read Metagenomic Sequencing

10:40 – 10:55 am
Helen Cedzidlo, Tufts University
Mentor: Christina Faherty PhD
Studying Surface Adherence Proteins in Shigella flexneri” 

10:55 – 11:10 am
Sophie Thompson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mentor: Daniel Irimia MD PhD 
The impact of human serum on modulating neutrophil swarming ex vivo” 

11:10 – 12:15 pm
2024 Keynote Lecture
Introduction of Keynote Speaker – Christina Faherty PhD
Actin poorly: cytoskeletal manipulation by enterohemorrhagic E. coli during intestinal colonization
John Leong MD PhD
Edith Rieva and Hyman S. Trilling Professor and Chair
Molecular Biology and Microbiology
Tufts University School of Medicine

12:15 – 12:20 pm
Bryan P. Hurley PhD: Concluding Remarks & Acknowledgements 

12:20 pm
Lunch 

Past Research Symposiums: