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Student Research Day 2000 held Nov. 3

Each year on the first Friday of November, MUSC holds its annual Student Research Day (SRD). 

SRD has a threefold mission: 1). to give all students the opportunity to develop and perfect their presentation skills in a ‘safe’ environment which resembles a major meeting; 2). to showcase the research conducted on campus, and 3). to give other students the chance to view the research process in action. 

Following a reception and presentation of Research Day awards, the winners, along with MUSC President Dr. Ray Greenberg (left), gather on the steps of the Administration Library Building lobby for photos. Winners are listed in the box below. 

Experience gained through participation in SRD allows students to be better equipped to present not just here at MUSC but also at major meetings and to act as ambassadors for MUSC. 

Participants in SRD are drawn from all six MUSC colleges and SRD benefits all the colleges and all research programs at MUSC, and is also used as a tool in the recruitment of students and faculty. 

SRD2000 attracted 197 abstract submissions via the SRD Web site. 

A. Cherie Bell, College of Dental Medicine, presents to Research Day judges her investigation of Phospholipase D1 in the adherence of Candida albicans, a yeast 
infection common to denture wearers.

Presentations were divided into 22 separate sessions, comprising 98 oral and 109 poster presentations submitted from the six MUSC colleges (Graduate Studies, Medicine, Dental Medicine, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Nursing), delivered in five parallel morning and four afternoon oral sessions and two poster sessions. 

Jim Tuxworth, left, College of Graduate Studies, explains his investigation of MAP kinase activation in electrically-stimulated adult heart cells to Ricky Peterson, graduate student.

Each of the presentations was judged and, in each section, a first place prize of $500 and a second place prize of $200 was awarded. Feedback to the participants was provided by interactions with the judges and also by return of the judges’ score sheets to the presenters—104 faculty and alumni served as judges in teams of four covering the 22 sessions. 

SRD2000 was organized by a committee of representatives from the six colleges and was sponsored by the deans of the colleges as well as by the president, the provost/vice president for academic affairs, the MUSC Library, the Graduate Alumni Association, and the Graduate Student Association. Corporate sponsorship to assist with the prizes was provided by Glaxo-Wellcome Eli Lilly and Novartis, and there was a vendor exhibition by 10 lab equipment and supply vendors. 

Jeannie Chapman, College of Graduate Studies, accepts the Kinard-Gadsden Award  for the best overall Ph.D. poster. The award was presented by the Graduate Alumni Association. Chapman's project studied a cell growth suppressor and its expression in transfected cell lines.

The keynote lecture was delivered by Dr. Steven Projan, Wyeth-Ayerst Research—and was entitled “Bacterial Virulence as a Target for Drug Discovery:  Will there be a Kinder and Gentler Approach to Antibacterial Therapy?”

In association with SRD2000 there was also a special “Careers Workshop” on Nov. 4 which gave graduate students and postdocs an opportunity to question recent MUSC Graduate Alumni working in the following areas: academ, the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, bioinformatics and consultancy and forensic science.

Student Research Day 2001 will be held on Friday, Nov. 2.

Student Research Day 2000 Winners
Undergraduate Oral (Session 1):  1st place—Chapman Knott,  2nd place—Carlin Rosengartin
Undergraduate Poster (Session 17):  1st place— Fredilyn Lipata, 2nd place—Kevin Desrosiers

Clinical Professional Basic/Clinical Science Oral -A (Session 2): 1st place—William F. Ingram III, 2nd place—Satish Nadig
Clinical Professional Basic/Clinical Science Oral-B (Session 3):  1st place —Stephen Shafizadeh, 2nd place—Valerie Opala
Clinical Professional Basic/Clinical Science Poster-A  (Session 18): 1st place—J. Felder, 2nd place—Eric Sribnick
Clinical Professional Basic/Clinical Science Poster-B (Session 19):  1st place—William Bradham, 2nd place—Holly Brewster
Clinical Professional Social/Behavioral Science Oral and Poster (Sessions 5 and 20):  1st place—Christie Smith, 2nd place—Kari Alford
Masters Oral and Poster (Sessions 10 and 12):  1st place—Yuri Peterson, 2nd place—Yoko Otake
Ph.D. year 1 Oral (Session 9):  1st place—Andy Whitlock, 2nd place—Caroline Evangelista
Ph.D. year 1 Poster (Session 13):  1st place—Bill Wu, 2nd place—R.E. Peterson
Ph.D. year 2 Oral (Session 6):  1st place—Ashley Smithwick, 2nd place—Kerin McCormack
Ph.D. year 2 Poster (Session 14): 1st place—V.J. Rao, 2nd place—Brian Giles
Ph.D. year 3+ Oral - A (Session 7):  1st place—Michelle Crosby, 2nd place—Christopher Willey
Ph.D. year 3+ Oral -  B (Session 11):  1st place—Christopher Cioffi, 2nd place—Alema Galijatovic
Ph.D. year 3+ Poster - A (Session 21):  1st place—Michael Bernard, 2nd place—S.R. Crowe
Ph.D. year 3+ Poster - B (Session 22):  1st place—Jeannie Chapman, 2nd place—William Tuxworth.
Residents and Fellows Oral and Poster (Sessions 4 and 16):  1st place—Shane K. Wolf, 2nd place—Brodie McKoy
Postdocs Oral (Session 8): 1st place—Tapas Sengupta, 2nd place—Sajeevani Gunasinghe.
Postdocs Poster (Session 15):  1st place—H. Lang, 2nd place—William Burkhalter

Kinard-Gadsden Award for overall best Ph.D. poster (presented by the Graduate Alumni Association): Jeannie Chapman

Bioinformatics Awards (presented by MUSC Library):  1st place—Ruth G. Jenkins, 2nd place—Russell A. Goodman.