URCAD Presenters: Biological Sciences

Of Mice and Men

Undergraduate Research

March 26, 2026 at 8:38 AM

URCAD is Wednesday, April 22, 2026 in the RAC!

For the full schedule see:

urcad.umbc.edu

Setutsi Abdallah | Characterizing Cellular Proliferation and Apoptosis Following Oral Nicotine Pouch Exposure in a Tongue Organoid Model | Weihong Lin | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #1

Titilayomi Adesanya | Characterizing the Role of Plexin A and Semaphorin1a in Drosophila Melanogaster Border Cell Migration | Michelle Starz-Gaiano | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #3

Alaa Ahmed | Facilitating Motor Restoration in Spinal Cord Injuries Through BCI Neural Decoding and Neuroplasticity | Sydney Do | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #5

Farah Ahmed | Understanding Female Preference for Male Fin Coloration in Etheostoma Olmstedi | Tamra Mendelson | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #4

Boluwatinsola Alawode | Analyzing the Expression Patterns of GFP-Protein Traps: Is It There, Or Is It Lost? | Michelle Starz-Gaiano | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #7

Kafui Ameko | SMOKEY CHOICES: ROLE OF ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES EFFECTS ON THE MOUSE MOTILITY OVER TIME THROUGH ODOR THRESHOLD TEST | Weihong Lin | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #8

Djina Awungnjia | Impact of APPL Gene Mutation on Food Preference Behavior in Aging Drosophila Melanogaster | Fernando Vonhoff | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #14

De'Onna Battle | Role of CD68+ Monocyte-Derived Macrophages in Regulating Adipose Tissue Growth During Diet-Induced Obesity | Diana Elizondo | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #17

Madeline Blattau, Desmond Seybold | Local Adaptation to Conflict Over Mating Frequency in the Facultatively Parthenogenetic Opiliones Leiobunum Manubriatum | Mercedes Burns | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #18

Phoenix Bryant | Investigating the Function of the PHD Finger in Chromatin Regulator Set4 | Erin Green | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #20

Kamarya Buckley | Effect of Predicted Chromatin Regulator MTA1-like on Border Cell Migration in Drosophila Melanogaster oogenesis | Michelle Starz-Gaiano | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #21

Aniket Camarushi | Estrogen-Responsive Astrocyte Networks and Blood-Brain Barrier Integrity Across Injury and Menopause Models | Carmen Munoz-Ballester | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #9

Jane-Frances Chia | Investigating the Role of Methyl CPG-Binding Domain on Tumorigenesis in Prostate Cancer Using the BMPC Mouse Model | Charles Bieberich | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena 10-11am, Poster #26

Mia Coon | Anchor Gene in Drosophila Melanogaster: A Modulator of Alcohol Preference Behaviors | Fernando Vonhoff | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #28

Marley Cosgrove | Yeast Mutation Spectrum in Alternative Carbon Sources Reflects the Influence of Reactive Oxygen Species | Charles Bieberich | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #29

Natasha Dao | Investigating the Influence of Estrogen Levels on ERβ Expression in Astrocytes | Carmen Munoz-Ballester | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #32

Darrell Davis | Estrogen and Aging: What Can Mouse Models Tell Us About Sex-Dependent Changes in The Aging Brain? | Todd Gould | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #33

Isabella Dressler | Investigating Domino as a Potential Link Between Ecdysone Signaling and JAK/STAT Regulation | Michelle Starz-Gaiano | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #36

Faridah Folorunsho | Structural and Functional Analysis of the KH-Domain Protein FLK in Regulating Arabidopsis Defense and Development | Hua Lu | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #20

Alexandra Foster | Effects of Prenatal Stress on Auditory Cortex Development | Carmen Munoz-Ballester | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #21

Dinesh Ganesan | Computational Analysis of Age-Associated Gene Expression in Acral Melanoma and Primary and Metastatic Cutaneous Melanoma | Gretchen Alicea | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #38

Soleyana Gelaw, Petra Tembei | AI Benchmarking for Predicting Cancer Treatment Response and Recurrence in Lung and Prostate Cancer | Maricel Kann | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #40

Christopher Guerreo | Determining the Role of the Cell Junction Protein Transferrin 2 in Border Cell Migration in Drosophila Melanogaster | Michelle Starz-Gaiano | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #44

Emily Hernandez | Testing Ethanol Treatment for the Reduction of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) In Drosophila | Fernando Vonhoff | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #28

Alleanna Hines | A Genetic Interrogation of FLK Interacting Genes in Pathogen Defense of Arabidopsis | Hua Lu | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #29

Nneamaka Ibe | Engineering Antigen Specific Regulatory T Cells (CAR TREGS) For Type 1 Diabetes Immunotherapy | Diana Elizondo | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #31

Leen Jawhar | β-arrestin2 Signaling Modulates Kappa Opioid Receptor Induced Sedation | Laurie Sutton | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #38

Shanmukha Josyam | Characterizing Astrocytic GPER1 Expression in the Cortex Across Estrous Cycle Stages | Carmen Munoz-Ballester | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #47

Jariatu Kargbo | A Conserved YED Motif Regulates BFD2 Function Across Toxoplasma Gondii Life Stages | Sebastian Lourido | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #48

Onkarpreet Kaur | Early-Life Maternal Care Programs Social Behavior Through Dnmt3ab Mediated DNA Methylation | Cheng-Yu Li | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #49

Hira Khan | Female Choice for Body Size in Rainbow Darters (Etheostoma Caeruleum) | Tamra Mendelson | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #40

Dennis Lee, Ehsan Alam | Investigating the Role of DEWAX in the Interface of Defense and the Circadian Clock in Arabidopsis | Hua Lu | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #54

Ryan Lee | Intracellular Mechanisms Underlying Formaldehyde-Evoked Calcium Signaling in Mouse Olfactory Sensory Neurons | Weihong Lin | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #41

Daniel Mirahmadian | Exploring Conditioned Place Preference in Etheostoma Caeruleum | Tamra Mendelson | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #46

Iksandar Nassar | Impact of E-Cigarette Aerosol Exposure on Morphology of Gustatory Tissue and Taste Buds | Weihong Lin | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #65

Lea-Pearl Njei | Investigating the Role of Muscarinic Receptors in Microtentacle Formation in Human Colon Cancer Cells | Jean-Pierre Raufman | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #109

Amarachukwu Onaga | The Effects of Sex and Age on Sleep in Drosophila Models of Autism | Fernando Vonhoff | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #70

Oluwanifemi Oyejide | Role of Preadipocyte-Derived CTRP6 in Extracellular Matrix Stiffness of Epididymal White Adipose Tissue in Obesity | Diana Elizondo | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #71

Antuan Palmer | Temporal Control of ADCK5 Expression By TET-ON Inducible Cell Line Achuth Padmanabhan | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #72

Daniel Palus | Developing a Behavior Tracking GUI to Examine the Modulatory Role of Juvenile Hormone on Social Cues in D. Melanogaster | Fernando Vonhoff | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #73

Nemaa Patel | Evaluating Idebenone Treatment Following Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) | Brian Polster | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #50

Leon Potisk | Uncovering the Genetic Basis of Idiopathic Epilepsy in Siberian Huskies | Tracy Smith | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #52

Talia Raysor, Sameera Chaudhry, Zahraa Al Aanizy, Ryan Palladino | Investigating the Role of Socs36E on Age-related Decline in Physical Performance in Drosophila Melanogaster | Jeff Leips | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #54

Charles Rogers | Assessing the Reliability of Neural Network Bird Song Detection | Kevin Omland | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #84

Joaquin Seminario, Zoha Waleed | Cost-effective Detection of Microplastics Using Fluorescence Microscopy and Nile Red Staining | Mickey Dehn | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #17

Branwen She | Using Data to Inform Models of Nucleus Accumbens Neurons | Tara LeGates | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 2-3pm, Poster #64

Shreya Singh | USP8 Manipulations Lead to Synaptic Morphology Alterations and Sensory Behavior Disruptions in Drosophila Larvae | Fernando Vonhoff | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #93

Zoya Syed | Determining the Direct Downstream Substrates of MAPK15 in Ovarian Cancer Cells | Achuth Padmanabhan | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #99

Irene Teye | Investigating Extracellular Matrix-derived Factors in the Activation of Adipose Tissue T-cells During Severe Obesity | Diana Elizondo | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #102

Trisha Grace Tomcy | Investigating Estrogen-Dependent Neuroimmune Response Across Menopausal-like Stages in Astrocytic Culture | Carmen Munoz-Ballester | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #104

Jordan Wandja Petnji | Age-Dependent Innate Behavioral Preferences Shaped by Founder Effects in Drosophila Melanogaster | Fernando Vonhoff | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #107

Roza Zareidoodeji | Advancing Antibody Engineering for Broader and Longer-Lasting HIV Protection | Mohammad Sajadi | Biological Sciences | RAC Arena, 10-11am, Poster #112

URCAD Presenters: Biological Sciences

Of Mice and Men

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