UAlbany Showcase Day 2026
Department of Biological Sciences
Thursday, April 30th 9AM-1PM, UAlbany Uptown Campus
UAlbany Showcase 2026 highlights and celebrates student excellence through displays and exhibitions of undergraduate and graduate research, scholarship, creative endeavors and applied/experiential learning. The event is open to all and free to attend, and throughout the day visitors will be able to attend presentations, demonstrations, and panel discussions.
Presentations on the research of students in the Department of Biological Sciences will represent a major component of the event and a schedule of their presentations is featured below.
Advisor Name | Presenter Name | Presentation Title | Poster Number | Presentation Time | |
| Alan Chen | Lindsey Farmer | Improved Measurement Strategies for Obstetric Blood Loss | 250 | 9:30am - 11am | |
| Andrew Berglund | Sai Sravani Nimishakavi | Role of domains in Muscleblind-like 1 RNA-Binding Protein in Alternative Splicing Regulation | 287 | 11am - 12:30pm | |
| Sharon Shaughnessy | Innate Immune Activation in Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 | 292 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Carter Wilkins | Bioinformatic Identification and Analysis of Common Splicing Errors in Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 (DM1) and Fuchs' Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy (FECD) | 202 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Annalisa Scimemi | Izabella Czajkowski | Neuronal glutamate transporters encode dopamine co-release with glutamate and GABA | 235 | 11am - 12:30pm | |
| Baran Mohammadi | Neuronal glutamate transporters limit dopamine release in the striatum | 197 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Peter Oloruntola | Hippocampal Layer-Specific Changes in Protein Expression in Circadian Rhythms | 275 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Noah Satterlee | The Neuronal Glutamate Transporter EAAC1 Limits Dopamine Release In The Striatum | 271 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Bijan Dey | Aiden Cho | Transcriptomic Analysis of Gene Expression Changes in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy | 190 | 9:30am - 11am | |
| Ridita das | Comparative Analysis of Different Muscle Samples in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) using RNA seq Analysis | 282 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Adriana Pichardo | Young niche in mice influences the gene expression of aged Muscle Stem Cells | 187 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Senbahavalli Ramasamy | Single-Cell Transcriptomic Comparison Reveals Gut Microbiota Modulation of Muscle Pathology in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy | 290 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Cara Pager | Nurat Affinnih | Investigation of Ilhéus virus infection in mosquito and mammalian cell lines | 272 | 9:30am - 11am | |
| Mya Drake | West Nile Virus | 264 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Giovanna Vianna Esko | Infectious Mononucleosis | 228 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Ellen Heyns | Rabies | 218 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Kaliyah Hull | Viruses Affecting Campus: Noro Virus | 243 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Mehreen Khan | Hepatitis B | 260 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Navid Khosrojerdi | Measles risk to college students: What exactly is the Measles Virus and how can you avoid it? | 268 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Molly McGrath | An Overview of Human Papillomavirus, its Impact on College Students, and Prevention Methods | 262 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Courtney Munderville | Protecting Public Health: Communicable Disease Surveillance in New York State | 209 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Jacklynne Osorio-Hernandez | Hepatitis C Virus: Understanding Risk, Transmission, and Prevention in College Communities | 237 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Chamyuktha Senthilkumar | Human Immunodeficiency Virus: | 205 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| ChangHwan Lee | Sofia Adele Castro | Investigating the role of kinesin microtubule motor genes in stem cell niche nuclear positioning during aging | 298 | 9:30am - 11am | |
| Reagan Conrad | Investigating the role Glutamine-rich domains in Notch Signaling Regulation and Stem Cell Control | 280 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Marissa Kearns | Investigating the effects of stem cell niche on germline stem cell function and fecundity in C. elegans | 256 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Avairee McConnell | Effects of Metabolic Signals on Notch-Dependent Transcription, Germline Stem Cell Activities, and Fertility | 196 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Damian Zuloaga | Maycen Schaefer | Effects of androgens and chronic stress on anxiety-related behavior and stress-induced neural activity | 259 | 11am - 12:30pm | |
| Douglas Conklin | Sidney Charlemagne | A Phylogenetic Analysis of BTK- C Across Various Species | 297 | 11am - 12:30pm | |
| Jessica Teague | Alternative ABL1 Isoforms Generated by Distinct Transcription Start Sites in Leukemia | 240 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Dylan Farnsworth | Serafina Parvattan | Zebrafish Model Systems for Myotonic Dystrophy | 291 | 11am - 12:30pm | |
| Elise Vogt | Grace Bullard | Mad Cow in Humans! (variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) | 229 | 11am - 12:30pm | |
| Emma Doughty | Cervical Cancer | 220 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Unisha Gurung | Eczema | 308 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Patrick Johnson | Psoriasis | 274 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Nevin Joseph | Hyperthyroidism (Graves Disease) | 269 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Minsang Kim | Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva(FOP) | 263 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Esther Kyambadde | Alzheimer's Disease | 224 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Sachin Lachman | Bells Palsy | 286 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Taniyah Larkins | Parkinson's Disease | 302 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Catherine Lienemann | Guillain-Barré Syndrome | 203 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Yutaro Matsuzawa | Carcinomatous Meningitis | 315 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Raina Waraich | Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy | 279 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Gabriele Fuchs | Evan Corwin | Generation of a dual luciferase reporter construct to investigate the relationship between translation initiation and frameshifting efficiency | 226 | 9:30am - 11am | |
| Elizabeth Hacker | Analyzing Ribosomal Frameshifting via a Reporter Assay | 216 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Grace Heiner | Ribosome Frameshifting on the PLEKHM2 Signal | 231 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Shecid Millan | Measuring the Impact of Ribosome Spacing on HIV-1 Frameshifting Efficiency | 293 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Hannah Shorrock | Afifa Ahmed | Cross-Disease Small Molecule Screening Identifies Therapeutic Candidates for CAG Repeat Expansion Disorders | 189 | 11am - 12:30pm | |
| Ryan O'Connell | Synthesizing Analogs of CAGbr01 for Improved Reduction of CAG Repeat Expression | 284 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Adrianna Vidot | Alternative Splicing and Differential Gene Expression Reveal Potential Blood Biomarkers in SCA2 and SCA3 | 188 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| J. Andres Melendez | Esam Abisse | Investigating Oxidative Control of SASP Markers to Identify DNA Nanostructures Inflammatory Potential | 223 | 11am - 12:30pm | |
| Jazlynn Sotelo | Redox Regulation of SASP Gene Expression During Hydrogen Peroxide–Induced Senescence | 239 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Jeanette Altarriba | Camryn Clark | Attentional Biases in Anxiety: A Comparative Review of Cognitive and Neurobiological Theories | 200 | 9:30am - 11am | |
| John Polk | Heeqmat Bakrin | Assessing gait stability during gait tasks using wearable sensors. | 230 | 9:30am - 11am | |
| Kaalak Reddy | Aatia Mreedu | Screening Candidate Modifiers of Toxic RNA in Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 | 186 | 9:30am - 11am | |
| Ken Halvorsen | Mariam Sow | Fluorescently Labeled Oligonucleotides into DNA Nanoswitches for Improved Detection | 255 | 11am - 12:30pm | |
| Max Turner | Rishita Nagothi | The effect of motivational state on visual processing | 285 | 11am - 12:30pm | |
| Gabriela Valdivieso | Visual Processing in Drosophila melanogaster | 227 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Melinda Larsen | Pearl De-Veer | Radiation-Induced Senescence Remodels Salivary Gland Epithelial Cell States and Is Modulated by Fisetin Treatment | 276 | 9:30am - 11am | |
| Julissa Forde | Using antagomirs to knockdown TGFβ1-induced miRNAs driving fibrosis during Myofibroblast Transition | 242 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| erin gillan | Age Related Alterations in Aging Salivary Glands | 222 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Taiwo (Annabelle) Ogunyale | Schwann Cells as Potential Drivers of Fibrotic Remodeling in the Salivary Gland | 301 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Rafael Pena | Remediating salivary gland fibrosis following injury through scaffold-mediated delivery of stromal cells | 277 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Michael Gerdes | Matthew Conover | Chemical profiling of Coral Mucosa Extracts and their Potential Antibiotic Properties | 257 | 11am - 12:30pm | |
| Michelle Lennartz | Ishaan Singh | Role of PKCε in Endocytosis of Lipid by Macrophages | 236 | 9:30am - 11am | |
| Elianna T. Cruz Gonzalez | Commonalities and differences between ATF4 and ATF3 upon induction of different branches of the integrated stress response (ISR) | 215 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Parmesh Thakoordial | Dissecting transactivation by the ∆N-specific N-terminal domains of p63 and p73 | 273 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Paolo Forni | Margaret Amarjargal | Gli3 Mutant Mice as a Model to Observe the Effects of Aberrant Olfactory Ensheathing Cell Development and Terminal Nerve Migration | 253 | 11am - 12:30pm | |
| Mia Call | Prokr2CreERT2 Mouse Line Unravels the Mysteries of the Terminal Nerve | 261 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Shraddha Divekar | Trp73 involvement in the rodent olfactory system development | 294 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Layla Farmer | Utilizing Necdin-Null Mice as a Model to Study GnRH-1 Neuron Migration and Terminal Nerve Development | 248 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Noah LeFever | Trp73: A Critical Transcription Factor for Maturation and Survival of Neurons of the Olfactory Systems | 270 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Catherine Lienemann | Prokr2, a Key Marker of the terminal nerve is expressed by a subset of GnRH-1 Neurons | 204 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Pauline Carrico | Khadija Williams | A Comparative Look at Healthcare Access and Equity in Portugal | 247 | 11am - 12:30pm | |
| Ryan Thurman | Kiran Smitka | GC/MS Analysis of Volatile Organic Compounds from Sus scofia domesticus Bones | 246 | 9:30am - 11am | |
| Shannon Stephens | Tristan Suarez | Atlas Alignment of Mouse Brain Sections Using FIJI and the BigWarp Plugin | 306 | 9:30am - 11am | |
| Soma Dash | Aminata Fofana | Inside the Regulatory Switchboard: Med23 & the Control of Developmental Gene Programs | 194 | 9:30am - 11am | |
| Kate Hayes | Global Transcriptional Regulation of Tissue-Specific Development | 244 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Diya Mangatt | Med24 Is Required for Normal Feeding Behavior in Zebrafish | 211 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Yomilka Valerio | Mutations in Mediator Complex Results in Cranial Skeletal Abnormalities | 314 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Stephanie Da Silva Rodrigues De Souza | Sania Bhanger | Genome-based exploration of Secondary Metabolite Potential in Acidomicrobial Bacteria from Amazonian forest and adjacent cattle pasture soil | 289 | 11am - 12:30pm | |
| Inca Borges | Microbial Ecosystems: Visualizing Biodiversity Loss with Chromogenic Agar | 234 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Maeve Donnelly | Uncovering Virulence in the Human Microbiome: A Focus on Virulence Factors in Commensal Bacteria | 254 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Emma Doughty | Genomic Surveillance of Guillain-Barré Syndrome-Associated Genes in Campylobacter Isolates from Non-Human Sources | 219 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Mya Drake | Genome Mining of different bacterial group isolated from platinum mine tailings in South Africa. | 265 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Sylvia Drenkalo | Exploring Biosynthetic Gene Clusters in Bacteroidota and Actinobacteria from Platinum Mine Tailings Soils in South Africa through Genome Mining | 300 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Matthew Duell | Exploring Biosynthetic Gene Clusters in different bacterial genomes from South African mine tilling's soils through Genome Mining | 258 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Sophia Giler | Global Analysis and Comparative Genomics of Klebsiella pneumoniae ST258 | 299 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Wayde Huang | An analysis of Amazonian soil microbes’ antibacterial properties through BGC analysis | 310 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Rahid Khan | Biosynthetic Gene Cluster Diversity in Burkholderiales from a Fire-Adapted Ecosystem | 278 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Vivek Lanka | Using genome-mining approach to detect biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) isolated from soil samples from the Albany Pine Bush Preserve (APBP) | 309 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Alexis Mastrantuono | "Yin-Yang of Micro-Organisms | 191 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Baran Mohammadi | Biosynthetic Gene Cluster Diversity in Heavy Metal–Impacted South African Soils | 198 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Wendy Oppong | Exploring Biosynthetic Gene Clusters in Pseudomonadales group from metal-stressed soil environments in South Africa through Genome Mining | 311 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Jacklynne Osorio-Hernandez | Exploring Bacterial Biosynthetic Gene Clusters from Brazil for Novel Antimicrobial Discovery | 238 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Ethan Palacio | Dissemination and Diversity of Antimicrobial Resistance Genes in the Human Microbiome | 225 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Andre Piper | Visualizing Antibiotic Resistance: “The Silent Pandemic” Through Agar Art | 193 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Ibraheem Ropri | Exploring Biosynthetic Gene Clusters in the Actinomycetota bacterial phylum from Amazonian rainforest soils through Genome Mining | 233 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Tristan Suarez | Evaluation of Commercial Disinfectant Wipes for Removal of Escherichia coli K-12 from a Non-Porous Acrylic Surface | 305 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Thomas Begley | Dylan Ehrbar | Functional Gene Clusters Revealed by Codon Usage Patterns in the Human Genome | 213 | 11am - 12:30pm | |
| Humphrey Omeoga | The tRNA Writer MnmA Translationally Regulates Key Transcription Factors Critical to Environmental and Physiological Changes | 232 | 9:30am - 11am | ||
| Cady Roselli | Investigating the Role of tRNA Sulfurtransferase-Mediated Modification in Regulating Growth and Cellular Properties in E. coli | 201 | 11am - 12:30pm | ||
| Ting Wang | Sanjida Ahmed | Small Molecule Modified Polycyclic Compound (MPC03) Synthesis and Screening in Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 | 288 | 9:30am - 11am | |
| Yubing Xie | Winnie Ou | Evaluation of Extracellular Matrix (ECM) Changes in Steroid-Induced 3D Glaucoma Models | 313 | 11am - 12:30pm | |