ASPET congratulates all the poster awardees at Experimental Biology 2021.

Division for Behavioral Pharmacology

Undergraduate Students

• 1st place, “Estradiol-Specific Neural Regulation of Social Stress Susceptibility in Female Rats.” Mott, Sarah, University of South Carolina School of Medicine
• 2nd place, “The Hsp90 Isoform-Selective Inhibitor KUNG65 Enhances Opioid Anti-Nociception while Reducing Tolerance.” Chou, Kerry, University of Arizona

Graduate and Post-baccalaureate Students

• 1st place, “The Role of Peripheral Opioid Receptors in the Development of Tolerance to Mu-Opioid Receptor Agonists.” Sears, Bryan, University of Michigan
• 2nd place, “Interactions Between Mu Opioid Receptor Agonists in Rats Discriminating Fentanyl.” Flynn, Shawn, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
• 3rd place, “Assessment of Monoacyglycerol Lipase Inhibition for Acute and Chronic Antinociception in a Behavioral Battery for Testing Candidate Analgesics in Mice.” Diester, Clare, Virginia Commonwealth University

Division for Cancer Pharmacology

Graduate and Post-baccalaureate Student

• 1st place, “Mad1 Upregulation in Breast Cancer: Causes & Consequences.” Copeland, Sarah, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Postdoctoral Scientist

• 1st place, “Deciphering the Mechanisms of Action of Altertoxin II in Ewing Sarcoma.” Robles, Andrew, Greehey Children's Cancer Research Institute, UT Health San Antonio

Division for Cardiovascular Pharmacology

Undergraduate Student

• 1st place, “In Vitro Acute Ischemic Injury Altered Human Brain Endothelial MMP-9 Activity and Associated Cell Surface Adhesion Protein Expression in Part by S1PR Type 1 Activation.” Sin, Kristina, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Phoenix

Graduate and Post-baccalaureate Students

• 1st place, “Endothelial P2Y2-mediated vasoconstriction is inhibited in middle cerebral arteries of rabbits treated with clopidogrel.” Kuszynski, Dawn, Michigan State University
• 2nd place, “Loss of Salt GlucocorticoidKinase (SGK) 1 in T cells abrogates Memory  T Cell Formation, Hypertension and End-Organ Damage.” Maaliki, Dina Salem, American University of Beirut

Postdoctoral Scientists

• 1st place, “Cardiomyocyte NLRP3 Contributes to the Cardiac Inflammatory Response.” Ninh, Van, University of California San Diego

Division for Drug Discovery and Development

Undergraduate Student

• 1st place, “Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Regulation of NF-κB by GPCRs through the modulation of interactions between p65/RelA and the β-arrestins.” Honeycutt, Christopher, Duke University

Graduate and Post-baccalaureate Students

• 1st place, “Bromodomain-Containing Protein 4 (BRD4) Inhibitors as Emerging Therapeutics for Opioid Use Disorder.” Silva, Jacqueline, University of Texas Medical Branch
• 2nd place, “Evaluation of the Terpenes β-caryophyllene, α-terpineol, and γ-terpinene in the Mouse Chronic Constriction Injury Model of Neuropathic Pain: Possible Cannabinoid Receptor Involvement.” Ortiz, Yuma, University of Florida, College of Pharmacy
• 3rd place, “Optimization of ML321: a D2 dopamine receptor-selective antagonist for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders.” Rocereta, Julia, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Postdoctoral Scientist

• 1st place, “Discovery of Small Molecule Modulators targeting Secretin Receptors.” Dengler, Daniela, SBP Medical Discovery Institute

Division for Drug Metabolism and Disposition

Graduate and Post-baccalaureate Students

• 1st place, “Characterization of a Novel HEK293 Cell Line (HEK293-ENT1KO) to Assess the Role of Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter Subtype-2.” Shahid, Nayiar, University of Alberta
• 2nd place, “Inter-individual variability and differential tissue abundance of mitochondrial amidoxime reducing component 1 (mARC1) enzyme in human.” Ahire, Deepak, Washington State University
• 3rd place, “Development of a High-throughput Fluorescent-Based Assay to Assess Cytochrome P450 CYP3A7 Activity in Neonatal Human Liver Microsomes.” Work, Hannah, University of Colorado, Skaggs School of Pharmacy

Postdoctoral Scientists

• 1st place, “Can Cannabinoids Precipitate UGT-mediated Drug Interactions?” Bansal, Sumit, University of Washington, Seattle
• 2nd place, “Structural and Functional Insights into Aldosterone Biosynthesis.” Brixius-Anderko, Simone, University of Michigan
• 3rd place, “Proteomics-Informed Scaling of Irinotecan Metabolism, Transport, and Gut Microbial Activation Explain its Intestinal Toxicity after Intravenous Dose.” Parvez, Md Masud, Washington State University

Division for Molecular Pharmacology

Graduate and Post-baccalaureate Students

• 1st place, “A high-throughput CRISPR interference screen for dissecting functional regulators of GPCR/cAMP signaling.” Semesta, Khairunnisa, Duke University
• 2nd place, “Optical Interrogation of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor-Mediated Modulation of Cortical Circuits using Optimized Photoswitchable Tethered Ligands.” Gutzeit, Vanessa, Weill Cornell Medicine
• 3rd place, “Signaling Specificity of the Gαi G Protein Subfamily 8.5.5.” Lefevre, Tyler, University of Michigan

Postdoctoral Scientists

• 1st place, “Cryo-EM Structure of Atypical Chemokine Receptor 3 (ACKR3) in Complex with its Endogenous Ligand CXCL12.” Yen, Yu-Chen, Purdue University
• 2nd place, “Location Bias in cAMP Signaling and its effects on Parathyroid Hormone Receptor Biological Effectiveness.” Pena, Karina, University of Pittsburgh
• 3rd place, “Molecular Mechanism of GPCR-mediated ERK Pathway in Cancer.” Kwon, Yonghoon, University of California, San Diego

Division for Neuropharmacology

Undergraduate Students

• 1st place, “Cocaine Self-administration Modulates Brain Ceramide Metabolism.” Major, Alexander, Wake Forest University
• 2nd place, “Microglial regulation of social stress susceptibility in Female Rats.” Augenblick, Lee, University of South Carolina School of Medicine

Graduate and Post-baccalaureate Students

• 1st place, “Fentanyl and Morphine Cause Dose-Dependent Sleep Disruption in C57BL/6J (B6) Mice.” Zebadua Unzaga, Diana, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• 2nd place, “Fentanyl, but not Morphine, Increases Cortical Electroencephalographic (EEG) Delta Power during Wakefulness in C57BL/6J (B6) Mice.” O'Brien, Christopher, University of Tennessee - Knoxville
• 3rd place, “Ablation of optineurin impairs metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 signaling in mouse hippocampus.” Ibrahim, Karim, University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute

Postdoctoral Scientists

• 1st place, “Oleamide Analogues as Positive Allosteric Modulators of the Serotonin (5-HT) 5‑HT2C and 5‑HT2A Receptors.” Chen, Jianping, The University of Texas Medical Branch
• 2nd place, “Impact of Cell Membrane Cholesterol Alterations on Function, Oligomerization, and Binding Affinity of Monoamine Transporters.” Rudin, Deborah, Medical University of Vienna
• 3rd place, “Selective mGlu1 potentiation enhances cortical inhibition to rescue schizophrenia-like cognitive and social deficits.” Luessen, Deborah, Vanderbilt University

Division for Pharmacology Education

Graduate and Post-baccalaureate Students

• 1st place, “Pharmacologic Management and Treatment of Osteoporosis: A Small Group Case-Based Learning Activity.” Nguyen, Bianca, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University
• 2nd place, “A Virtual Platform for Teaching ACLS Pharmacology to Undergraduate Medical Students.” Conway, Nicholas, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University
• 3rd place, “Real-Time Virtual Naloxone Training for Fourth Year Medical Students.” Ehrhardt, Tori, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University

Division for Toxicology

Undergraduate Student

• 1st place, “Farnesoid X Receptor Regulates Immune Cell Activation and Recruitment to the Lung following Exposure of Mice to Nitrogen Mustard.” Banota, Tanvi, Rutgers University

Graduate and Post-baccalaureate Students

• 1st place, “Selenide stimulates the biliary excretion of arsenic in human HepaRG cells.” Zhou, Janet, University of Alberta
• 2nd place, “The Evaluation of Acute Lung Injury Induced by Nitrogen Mustard in Mouse Precision Cut Lung Slices.” Bellomo, Alyssa, Rutgers University
• 3rd place, “Development of Feed Forward and Conditional Models Based on Rodent Imaging Data to Predict Effects of Nitrogen Mustard on Pulmonary Function.” Andres, Jaclynn, Rutgers University

Postdoctoral Scientists

• 1st place, “Rosiglitazone restores pulmonary surfactant and lipid homeostasis in mice exposed to ozone.” Smith, Ley, Rutgers University
• 2nd place, “Phosgene Oxime Dermal Exposure Induces Inflammation, Mast Cell Activation and Oxidative stress.” Singh, Satyendra, Michigan State University
• 3rd place, “Chronic Intermittent Access to Alcohol Increases Cav1.2 in Dopamine Cells of the Substantia Nigra Pars Compacta.” Rodriguez, Eric, Indiana University School of Medicine

Division for Translational and Clinical Pharmacology

Graduate and Post-baccalaureate Students

• 1st place, “Which QT Correction Method is Most Consistent?” Ether, Nicholas, Michigan State University
• 2nd place, “Identifying and Validating Plasma Circulating Renin-Angiotensin System Components as Reliable Biomarkers of Rheumatoid Arthritis.” Khajehpour, Sana, Idaho State University
• 3rd place, “Dosing Time Optimization of Enalapril and Propranolol through Inclusion of the Circadian Rhythm in Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Modeling.” Cortés, Javiera, Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile

Dolores C. Shockley Competition

Undergraduate Student

• 1st place, “Analysis of Formalin-depressed Wheel Running and its Reversal by Ketoprofen.” Quintana, Taylor, California State University, East Bay

Graduate and Post-baccalaureate Students

• 1st place, “Role of β-arrestin Isoforms in Delta Opioid Receptor Agonist-Induced Seizures.” Blaine, Arryn, Purdue University
• 2nd place, “The N40D Variant Presents Distinct Trafficking and Signaling Properties to the Mu-Opioid Receptor.” Hernandez-Casner, Caroline, University of Michigan
• 3rd place, “Endocytic trafficking and signaling of proton-sensing receptor GPR65.” Morales-Rodriguez, Loyda, University of Michigan Ann Arbor

Postdoctoral Scientists

• 1st place, “Location Bias in cAMP Signaling and its effects on Parathyroid Hormone Receptor Biological Effectiveness.” Pena, Karina, University of Pittsburgh
• 2nd place, “Chronic Intermittent Access to Alcohol Increases Cav1.2 in Dopamine Cells of the Substantia Nigra Pars Compacta.” Rodriguez, Eric, Indiana University School of Medicine
• 3rd place, “Deciphering the Mechanisms of Action of Altertoxin II in Ewing Sarcoma.” Robles, Andrew, Greehey Children's Cancer Research Institute, UT Health San Antonio