Third-year PhD student Bahar Bakhshi, MS, explains her research on continuous glucose monitoring.

Student Research

Symposium Showcases Variety, Depth of GMS Student and Post-Doctoral Research

Sharing research is a deep and meaningful experience for trainees and faculty.

Originally from Texas, now in her fourth year as an MD/PhD student, Brittny Garcia thought she’d made her peace with New England winters. Despite this year’s relentless snowstorms and bitter cold, which may have made her long for warmer places, she didn’t second-guess her decision to choose Boston University’s combined program—four years toward a medical degree sandwiching four years of PhD research.

I really fell in love with the mission of the Medical Campus, the research being done here and the mentors.

Brittny Garcia

“I really fell in love with the mission of the Medical Campus, the research being done here and the mentors,” said Garcia who was one of six students and post-doctoral researchers selected as Research Talk Awards winners at the second Annual Graduate Medical Sciences (GMS) Research Symposium. Held on April 9 in Hiebert Lounge, an estimated 200 students, faculty and staff attended the symposium that featured presentations by the Research Talk Awards winners and nearly 100 poster displays showcasing the wide range of work being done by post-doctoral fellows, MD/PhD, PhD and master’s students.

“This event gives you an idea of the breadth and depth of the research on the Medical Campus and the strength of the programs in general,” said Thomas Clarke, PhD, an assistant professor of pathology & laboratory medicine and one of the volunteer judges selecting the top poster presentations. 

Clarke said the symposium helped students become better communicators but it also was an opportunity for faculty to learn about the research and techniques of the various labs on the Medical and  Charles River campuses, plus at VA Boston Healthcare and Boston Medical Center.

“You can see techniques that you’re maybe thinking about incorporating into your research that other labs are already doing, and it can spur collaborations,” said Clarke.

Fourth-year biomolecular pharmacology PhD student Andre Krunic’s Research Talk Award presentation was honed at department seminars and the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting last year. His research exploring the use of microRNAs for early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease was published recently in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

The first year of a PhD program is spent in the classroom, rotating into various labs intent on finding a good match for their research interests. Other than an affinity for neuroscience, Krunic said he was initially undecided about what research he’d specialize in.

“When I first came here, I wasn’t set on Alzheimer’s disease (as the focus of his research). However, when I joined the lab and learned about the novel approaches we were researching to prevent Alzheimer’s disease, such as using microRNAs, I started to become really invested in the field,” said Krunic.

The reputation of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and BU’s affiliation with the Framingham Heart Study helped to attract Krunic to the school.

“BU is really an excellent place to do Alzheimer’s and dementia research,” he said.

The famed Framingham study, the longest running longitudinal study in the U.S., also proved to be a big draw for Bahar Bakhshi, MS. Originally from Iran, Bakhshi is in her third year as a PhD candidate in molecular & translational medicine. Her research investigates how to better utilize data from continuous glucose monitoring to predict diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk.

“I’m really interested in diet and other lifestyle interventions. I’m hoping to build a career that leverages these different tools to come up with better ways of self-monitoring for individuals who are at risk for chronic diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” said Bakhshi.

GMS Research Symposium Poster Award Winners

 MASTER’S DEGREE

•Gillian Earthman (MS in Medical Sciences [MAMS], 2nd year)

•Hongyuan Ren (MAMS, 2nd year)

•Blaine Stevens (MAMS, 2nd year)

EARLY CAREER PhD AND MD/PhD

•Madeline Labott (Molecular & Translational Medicine PhD, 3rd year)

•Adriana Chiaramida (Pharmacology PhD, 2nd year)

LATE CAREER PHD AND MD/PhD

•Joelle Johnson (Virology, Immunology & Microbiology, 4th year)

•Nadia Mirza-Romero (Biochemistry & Cell Biology, 5th year)

•Davis Reina-Guerra (Anatomy & Neurobiology, 5th year)

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS

•Hoi Lam Li, PhD, (Ophthalmology & Vision Sciences)

•Ioanna Yiannakou, PhD, (Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology)

GMS Research Symposium Talk Award Winners

EARLY CAREER PhD AND MD/PhD

•Brittny Garcia (Virology, Immunology & Microbiology MD/PhD, 4^th year [including 2 years in MD program])

•Diana Yeritsyan (Biochemistry & Cell Biology PhD, 2nd year)

LATE CAREER PHD AND MD/PhD

•Andre Krunic (Pharmacology PhD, 4th year)

•Rose Zhao (Pharmacology, MD/PhD 6^th year[including 2 years in MD program])

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS

•Noorul Huda, PhD, (Pharmacology, Physiology & Biophysics)

•Sarah Walachowski, PhD, (Pulmonary Center)