MCG/UGA Student Seminar Exchange Award

The BHSI and the Medical College of Georgia School of Graduate Studies select two students each year (one student from UGA and one from MCG) for the annual MCG/UGA Student Exchange Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research. The winners each receive a cash award of $250, an award certificate and an invitation to present a research seminar at the other institution with travel and accommodations provided. The award, now in its fourth year, was created to foster research interactions between UGA and MCG and honor the overall scientific merit and quality of the students’ work, as well as mastery of their scientific field and verbal presentation skills. The BHSI selects UGA’s Student Exchange Award winner from graduate student participants in the BHSI Annual Retreat Poster Competition held each fall. MCG winners are selected during MCG’s Annual Graduate Research Day poster competition each spring.

For more information, contact the BHSI office at (706) 542-5922.

UGA	MCG
2002-2003 "Acinetobacter: A Bacterial Model for Elucidating Gene Amplification in Cancer" - Andrew Reams (Ph.D. student, microbiology) "The Prohormone Processing Protease amontillado is Required During Early Development in Drosophila" - Lowell Rayburn (Ph.D. student, genetics)	"The Role of Tetrahydrobiopterin in Glucocorticoid-Induced Hypertension" - Brett Mitchell (Ph.D. student, physiology) Co-sponsor: Dept. of Physiology and Pharmacology "Rab11-Family Interacting Proteins (Rab11-FIPs): Integral Components in Plasma Membrane Recycling" - Chadwick Hales (Ph.D. student, molecular medicine) Co-sponsor: Dept. of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences
2003-2004 "Microarray Analysis of Early Differentiation Events in Human Embryonic Stem Cells" - John Calhoun(Ph.D. student, biochemistry and molecular biology) "Investigating the Potential Role that Endosymbiotic Wolbachia May Play in the Pathogenesis of Lymphatic Filariasis" - George Punkosdy (Ph.D. student, cellular biology)	“The Rat Granulosa Cell Cycle During Follicle Development and Luteinization”- Jennifer Cannon (Ph.D. student, physiology) Co-sponsor: Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
2004-2005 "Cell Culture RNAi Assay for Novel Components of Chromatic Boundaries in Drosophila" - Vladimir Belozerov (Ph.D. student, biochemistry and molecular biology)	“New Players in DNA Double Strand Break Repair: PSF and p54(nrb)”- Durga Udayakumar (Ph.D. student, molecular medicine) Co-sponsor: Dept. of Cellular Biology
2005-2006 "Endocannabinoid Mechanisms of Stress Antinoception and their Sites of Action" - Richard Suplita (Ph.D. student, psychology) Co-sponsor: MCG Department of Physiology	"AIRE Controls Dendritic Cell Function: New Insights into the Balance Between Tolerance and Autoimmunity" - Daniel Eisemann (Ph.D. student, molecular medicine) Co-sponsor: Dept. of Cellular Biology
2006-2007 "Exercise Enhances Learning of Conditioned Place Preference to Morphine in Rats" - Sarah Eisenstein (Ph.D. student, neuroscience) Co-sponsor: MCG Program in Neuroscience	"Ceramide-mediated Cell Signaling During Early Embryonic Development" - Kannan Krishnamurthy (Ph.D. student, molecular medicine) Co-sponsor: Developmental Biology Group