{"id":103811,"date":"2025-04-25T11:15:45","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T15:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/?p=103811"},"modified":"2025-04-25T11:15:45","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T15:15:45","slug":"breadth-and-depth-of-gms-research-on-display-at-inaugural-research-symposium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/2025\/04\/25\/breadth-and-depth-of-gms-research-on-display-at-inaugural-research-symposium\/","title":{"rendered":"Breadth and Depth of GMS Research on Display at Inaugural Research Symposium"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was first published<\/a> on the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine news website on April 25, 2025. Please find a full slideshow of pictures from the Research Symposium at the bottom of this article.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Fifth-year MD\/PhD student Rose Zhao explaining her research to judge Adam Hall, PhD, assistant professor of anatomy & neurobiology during the poster contest session of symposium.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The inaugural Graduate Medical Sciences (GMS) Research Symposium was held on April 10 in Hiebert Lounge with more than 150 students, faculty and staff attending. The symposium featured talks by postdoctoral fellows, PhD and MD\/PhD students who were selected for Research Talk Awards, as well as nearly 80 poster presentations highlighting the wide range of work being done by postdoctoral researchers, MD\/PhD, PhD and master\u2019s students.<\/p>\n

Participants said the symposium helped them experience the broad scope of GMS research and was an opportunity to sharpen the science communication skills that are essential tools in academia and in their careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing presentations is a fundamental part of being a scientist, being a graduate student or a postdoc,\u201d said Nicholas Skvir, PhD, MS\u201914. \u201cIt\u2019s how you sell yourself and your research, how you get recognition, and that\u2019s very necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally from Westwood, Massachusetts, Skvir is a postdoctoral researcher in aging and gerontology. He was presenting research he\u2019d done with others in the Murphy Laboratory at the Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM) investigating the role of megakaryocytes, cells typically found in the bone marrow and responsible for producing blood platelets, that are also found in lung tissue.<\/p>\n

Skvir appreciated that lab director\u00a0<\/span>George Murphy<\/a>, PhD, associate professor of medicine, provided opportunities to present research.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s given me lots of chances to get out there, become more experienced at speaking, going to lots of conferences,\u201d Skvir said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fifth-year MD\/PhD student Linzheng Shi was one of six student and post-doctoral researchers selected to present their research to the symposium.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gillian Fennell<\/a>, PhD, a first-year postdoctoral quantitative researcher working under a NIH National Research Service Award fellowship in rheumatology, stood ready beside her poster to explain her research on the prevalence and burden of chronic pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the first in my family to take this academic path,\u201d said Fennell, who went to Cornell as an undergraduate and received her PhD from the University of Southern California. \u201cI\u2019m excited to come and work in my cubicle every day, figure out problems and come up with creative, more accurate interpretations of data.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as a postdoc, with relatively few people in her program, Fennell said you can feel siloed by the daily routine, and part of the appeal of the GMS symposium for her was admittedly social.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to get the opportunity to meet your same-age peers,\u201d Fennell said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fourth-year PhD student Ana Morello Megias talking about her research during poster session.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Poster contest judge\u00a0<\/span>Adam Hall<\/a>, PhD, assistant professor of anatomy & neurobiology, thought the symposium was useful and informative to both students and faculty.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost everyone, faculty and students, in their day-to-day work become very focused on what they\u2019re doing and what they\u2019re knowledgeable about, even though there\u2019s a lot of research that\u2019s occurring across campus,\u201d Hall said. He said the GMS symposium format is an easy introduction to the presentation process that is integral throughout a researcher\u2019s career, whether it\u2019s at a scientific conference, applying for grants, or in defense of a graduate thesis.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some of the younger students, who may not have presented yet at a conference, this is an easier format; it\u2019s a smaller venue, they don\u2019t have to travel and yet it still gives them the same type of experience,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important for me to understand what my colleagues are doing, and this (symposium) helps broaden my horizon,\u201d said Guanghao Yu, a second-year student in the MS in Medical Sciences (MAMS) program. MAMS is the largest GMS program, and most graduates continue on to medical school.<\/p>\n

Yu was presenting research from the Majmundar Lab at Boston Children\u2019s Hospital on a novel mechanism in a rare kidney disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think research is an integral part of being a well-rounded physician\/scientist. My mentors have had their patients in clinic inform their research and vice versa. To be a great physician, it\u2019s important to be part of the scientific discovery aspect, to better take care of our patients,\u201d Yu said.<\/p>\n

As a fifth-year MD\/PhD student Rose Zhao is nearing the end of the research portion of her medical education. Her poster outlined her work with the Ganem Lab studying how specific types of errors in cell division give rise to specific tumor cells.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese symposiums are great. They\u2019re internal, so everyone is very supportive. No one\u2019s here to challenge you\u2026they\u2019re just trying to understand what you\u2019re doing,\u201d said Zhao.<\/p>\n

Gwen Beacham<\/a>, PhD, is a postdoctoral research fellow working in the\u00a0<\/span>Hagedorn Lab<\/a>. She was one of six presenters selected, from an applicant pool of 33 PhD and MD\/PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, to receive the GMS Research Symposium Talk Award. She said she was drawn to BU by\u00a0<\/span>Elliott Hagedorn<\/a>, PhD, assistant professor of medicine, and his work on understanding how blood and cancer cells migrate into and out of distinct tissues and organs.<\/p>\n

Beacham said she appreciated the collaborative approach to research at BU.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is supportive of each other and it\u2019s really a special environment here,\u201d said Beacham. Working near Boston Medical Center and collaborating with clinicians was also a draw.<\/p>\n

Other GMS Research Talk Award winners included: third-year PhD students Isabel Orbe and Dilnar Mahmut; fifth-year MD\/PhD student Linzheng Shi; fifth-year PhD candidate Chelsey Skeete; and postdoctoral researcher Jose Andres Alepuz Guillen, PhD.<\/p>\n

Poster contest winners<\/h4>\n

Nine students winners were selected by judges out of the 79 posters.<\/p>\n

Master\u2019s Programs: Samuel Camilli and Kai Blumen.<\/p>\n

Early Career PhD or MD\/PhD programs: third-year PhD students Andre Krunic and Thomas Murphy.<\/p>\n

PhD or MD\/PhD programs: fourth-year PhD students Angela Capriglione and Ivy Hughes and \u00a0Todd Dowrey, who was a fifth-year PhD student, but has since successfully defended his thesis and is a postdoctoral researcher.<\/p>\n

Postdoctoral Fellows:\u00a0<\/span>Ioanna Yiannakou<\/a>, PhD, MS, and\u00a0<\/span>Madeleine Nowak<\/a>, PhD.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story was first published on the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine news website on April 25, 2025. Please find a full slideshow of pictures from the Research Symposium at the bottom of this article. The inaugural Graduate Medical Sciences (GMS) Research Symposium was held on April 10 in Hiebert Lounge with more than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20706,"featured_media":103777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,795,54],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103811"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20706"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103812,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103811\/revisions\/103812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/gms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}