Centenary students sweep awards at biomedical research event
SHREVEPORT, LA — Centenary students dominated the undergraduate poster competition at the 2023 Biomedical Research and Industry Day (BRAID) held at Louisiana State University-Shreveport in early November, winning the top three prizes. BRAID is an annual collaborative effort between LSU Health Shreveport, LSU-Shreveport, the University of Louisiana Monroe, Louisiana Tech, Grambling State University, and Centenary College that focuses on bringing scientists at all career stages together with industry experts for research presentations, panels, and networking opportunities.
The poster competition included participants from LSUS, ULM, Tech, and Grambling as well as Centenary. The winning students and projects are:
1st place – Cameron Cason (Chemistry and Biology, Class of 2024)
Project Title: Paradoxical Regulation of Cellular Redox Homeostasis by Hydropersulfides and Hydropolysulfides via Cystathionine γ-Lyase Phosphorylation
Mentor: Dr. Christopher Kevil, LSU Health Sciences Center, Department of Pathology
2nd place – Caymen Hawkins (Biology/Neuroscience with a minor in Chemistry, Class of 2024)
Project Title: The Effects of Sulfide-Releasing Pharmaceutical Drugs on Xanthine Oxidase Dependent Nitrite Reduction to Nitric Oxide
Mentor: Dr. Christopher Kevil, LSU Health Sciences Center, Department of Pathology
3rd place – Tarif Islam (Biology/Neuroscience, Class of 2025)
Project Title: Functional Characterization of Novel lncRNA in Arabidopsis thaliana
Mentor: Dr. Rebecca Murphy, Centenary College of Louisiana, Department of Biology
“Students who attend BRAID have the opportunity not only to present their own research, but to see presentations and make connections with other students and faculty from local colleges,” said Dr. Rebecca Murphy, associate professor of biology at Centenary. “Sharing in this exchange of research is really beneficial to students at smaller schools because at events like BRAID they can access a broad variety of research areas and practice presentation skills in real-life scenarios. Moreover, biomedical industry is a very interdisciplinary field and our students can begin building their own network with professionals at many levels, which can help them navigate internship and career opportunities that they may not have realized were available to them previously.”