The Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Department of Physiology hosted 39 undergraduate and high school students from Michigan and other states who took advantage of research programs for students during the summer semester, culminating in the department’s 12th annual Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium, held Aug. 6 in the Margherio Family Conference Center.
Summer research opportunities are provided to allow undergraduate students to be exposed to, and involved in, cutting-edge biomedical research, expanding their knowledge of the educational and career possibilities in not just Physiology, but various clinical and basic science fields at Wayne State and beyond.
The day included three poster presentation sessions and two oral presentation sessions. 
“It helps them decide what they want to do with their life. You don’t know all the things you can do until you see it,” said Joseph Dunbar, Ph.D., a professor and the William T. Traitel Endowed Chair of Physiology.
The symposium, iterations of which have been held since the early 1990s, gives the School of Medicine faculty and staff the opportunity to showcase the school and encourage the next generation of biomedical scientists.
“It builds community and shows them the possibilities that it’s not just academics, and it helps them build a peer group,” said event organizer Christine Cupps, the Department of Physiology’s Academic Services Officer.
The symposium showcased research completed by students who participated in 12 programs, including AmeriCorps Community Training; Biomedical Career Advancement Program; Center for Leadership in Environmental Awareness and Research; Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Columbia’s DREAM-High Program; Wayne State’s James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering, John D. Dingell VA Medical Center/Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences; NextGen Oncology Scholar Fellowship with WSU Cancer Biology Graduate Program and Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute; REBUILDetroit Research Program;  Research Experience for Undergraduates, or REU, by the Summer Academy for Sustainable Manufacturing; Temple University REU; Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program; as well as independent participants with no program affiliation.
The presentations were judged by School of Medicine graduate students.
The winners:
ORAL PRESENTATIONS:
First place: Jenny Liao, an independent researcher, for “Contribution of IL-17 to Impaired Endothelium-Dependent Vasorelaxation in Diabetes”
Second place: Ruhaim Ali, from CMMG-SURF, for “Subunit 4 isoform switching in Cytochrome c Oxidase (COX)”
Third place: Lekhana Katuri, from CMMG-SURF, for “Role of lncRNA TTN-AS1 in the Expression of the Contractile Marker ACTA2 in VSMCs”
POSTER PRESENTATIONS:
First place: Lara Ibrahim, an independent researcher, for “Effects of SIN3 Recruitment on Wing Phenotype in the Model Organism Drosophila”
Second place: Melodi Yilmaz, from Next Gen, for “Dual Activity of NRF2 Pathway Driving Myeloid and Tumor Cell States”
Third place: Salina Pandey, an independent researcher, for “Durvalumab’s ability to disrupt intrinsic PD-L1 function leading to an increase of IFN-I expression in relation to small cell lung carcinoma”
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