Congratulations to 16 of our MSP students who recently received best poster awards for their research at the 2018 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for MinorityStudents (ABRCMS) in Indianapolis, Indiana. Poster and oral presentations were given by over 2,000 undergraduate and postbaccalaureate students from more than 350 U.S. colleges and universities at one of the nation’s largest conferences for underrepresented students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The School’s Minority Science Programs initiative was created in a joint effort with the National Institutes of Health. Its primary goal is to increase minority participation in the biological sciences. The program is run by director Luis Mota-Bravo, Ph.D., and associate director Marlene de laCruz, Ph.D. Participants in the program conduct research projects with faculty mentors and present their projects at national conferences.

The following list includes the names of the MSP students who received an award (first author of the poster), along with the names of co-authors and principal investigators (last author), and their research title:

2018 ABRCMS, Indianapolis, Indiana

• Karina Barragan, Andrey Tatarenkov and Luis Mota-Bravo (PI). Mobilization of Antibiotic Resistance Genes on a Plasmid of Environmental Bacterium Citrobacter freundii.

• Christian Checkcinco, Andrey Tatarenkov and Luis Mota-Bravo (PI). Mobile Class 1 Integron Containing Antibiotic Resistant Genes is Newly Described in Environmental Enterobacter kobei.

• Moisés Favela, Iván Muñoz-Gutiérrez and Luis Mota-Bravo (PI). Various Mobilization Events Leading to the Acquisition of Multidrug Resistance in an Environmental Escherichia coli Plasmid.

• Joseph Garcia, Mark Richardson, Shareen Ashby, Kristen Gabriel, Rebekah Dyer, John Hong, Sudipta Majumdar and Gregory A. Weiss (PI). Optimization of a Selective Sulfhydryldimethylmaleimide Click Reaction.

• Nathalie Iribe, Julius A. Edson and Young J. Kwon (PI). Determining the Optimal Conditions for Synthesis of Acid-Transforming Chitosan for Use as a Nanoantibiotic.

• Micah M. Lawrence, Iván Muñoz-Gutiérrez and Luis Mota-Bravo (PI). Mobilization of Antibiotic Resistance Gene aac(3)-IIa into Escherichia coli by a Single IS26 Transposon.

• Roman A. Meza Jr., Nicholas Chim and John Chaput (PI). Structural Characterization of a Replicative DNA Polymerase with Unexpected Reverse-Transcriptase Activity.

• Sarah Najera, Amelie Garenaux and Luis Mota-Bravo (PI). First Report of an ESBL-encoding blaCTX-M-27 Antibiotic Resistance Gene Coupled with European Antibiotic Resistance Gene Cassette.

• Edward Oropeza, Nicholas Chim and John Chaput (PI). Structural Characterization of an RNA-cleaving FANA enzyme.

• Cuauhtémoc B. Ramirez, Brendan T. Finicle and Aimee L. Edinger (PI). Role of Serine288 Phosphorylation in EndophilinA2 Function.

• Isaryhia Rodriguez, Lorrayne Serra, Bryan Rodriguez, Cassandra McGill and Ali Mortazavi (PI). Comparative Transcriptomics of Heads and Tails between Steinernema carpocapsae and Caenorhabditis elegans.

• Alyza Roman, Amelie Garenaux and Luis Mota-Bravo (PI). Co-occurrence of blaCMY-2 and a TnAs3-Associated Rare Integron on an IncI1 Plasmid in a Multidrug Resistant Environmental Escherichia coli.

• Jack Shanahan, Ivan Munoz and Luis Mota-Bravo (PI). A Novel Combination of Plasmid Mediated Antibiotic Resistant and Heavy Metal Resistant Genes in Environmental Klebsiella pneumoniae.

• Sarah Singh, Andrey Tatarenkov and Luis Mota-Bravo (PI). Complete Sequence of an Escherichia coli IncF Plasmid Showing Mobilization of blaCMY-2 Gene by IS1294 Transposase.

• JoAnne Villagrana, Andrey Tatarenkov and Luis Mota-Bravo (PI). Escherichia coli ST1193 from Natural Environment Carries Novel Multidrug-Resistant Region Formed by Transposition.

• Evelyn Zarate-Sanchez, Andrey Tatarenkov and Luis Mota-Bravo (PI). New Multidrug-Resistant Region in Klebsiella oxytoca from the Environment.