Students and Teachers as Research Scientists (STARS) 2019

12 Rams Graduate STARS Research Program

MICDS was well-represented at the Students and Teachers as Research Scientists (STARS) program this summer with 12 seniors. For six weeks, program participants “could be seen in labs working with leading biologists on innovative research while others were busy working on advanced initiatives in different sectors of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.” They all created research papers focused on one of four categories: behavioral science, engineering, life science or physical science. At the conclusion of the six weeks, a confirmation ceremony was held on the campus of UMSL. Read more about the program and experience here.

Congratulations to all of our 2019 STARS scholars!

Participant Research Project Title Top St. Louis Scientist 
Nischal Ada ’20 Determining the Most Optimal Alginate Hydrogels as Bone Spacers Dr. Scott Sell, St. Louis University
Megana Atluri ’20 Metal Uptake on Wetland Soil Sediments Dr. Jeffrey Catalano, Washington University
Nishanth Boppana ’20 Synergistic Effects of Curcumin and Silibinin B on Cancer Cell Migration Dr. Uthayashanker Ezekiel, St. Louis University
Tanay Chandak ’20 Improving Ensemble Docking for Drug Discovery by Machine Learning Dr. Chung Wong, University of Missouri- St. Louis
Stanley Ding ’20 UV Mutagenesis and the Identification of Volvox carteri Developmental Mutants Dr. James Umen, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Asha Dundoo ’20 Role of Autophagy Inducers in Parenteral Nutrition Associated Injury in an Ambulatory Neonatal Piglet Model Dr. Ajay K. Jain, St. Louis University
Boyu Liu ’20 Preliminary Evaluation of Impacts for Carvedilol and Dexrazoxane in Doxorubicin-Treated Rat Cardiomyoblasts and Human Breast Carcinoma Cells, Using Live-Cell Optical Imaging Dr. Vijay Sharma, Washington University School of Medicine
Aakarsh Rai ’20 Preliminary Evaluation of Impacts for Carvedilol and Dexrazoxane in Doxorubicin-Treated Rat Cardiomyoblasts and Human Breast Carcinoma Cells, Using Live-Cell Optical Imaging Dr. Vijay Sharma, Washington University School of Medicine
Jude Sorkin ’20 Investigation of Catalytic Activation of Propargylic Alcohols by Iron Complexes Dr. Eike Bauer, University of Missouri- St. Louis
Grihith Varaday ’20 Modulation of Nucleus Pulposus Cell Phenotype by Laminin-mimetic Peptide-coupled Alginate Systems Dr. Lori Setton, Washington University
Jonathan Zhang ’20 The Role of Cognitive Markers in Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease: a Meta-analysis Study Dr. Julie Bugg, Washington University
Aanjaneyaa Venkataraman ’20 The Characterization of the Enzymatic Reaction between Alcohols and Fluorescent Probes by Peroxidase Dr. Dana Morrone, St. Louis College of Pharmacy

Perhaps our newest STARS program graduates are inspired by the program like alumna Gowri Kalugotla ’12 who, earlier this year, was featured here in the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center’s Roots & Shoots Blog. Gowri’s interest in STEM was launched by the STARS program, and she has gone on to earn a B.S. in molecular, cellular and developmental biology from Yale, and she’s currently a research technician at Washington University. Congrats to all of our new and previous STARS graduates!

Photo by August Jennewein.