ABI Students and Faculty Attend Professional Meeting
Those receiving awards included (from left) Neha Verma, Lana Elkins, Cristofer Calvo, Dr. Ningning Zhang (former postdoc at ABI), Xiaoting Wang and Tristen Wright.
JONESBORO – Several students and post-doctoral scientists from the Arkansas Biosciences Institute at Arkansas State University represented ABI and A-State very well, receiving awards in recognition of their work during the annual meeting of the Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB) in St. Louis.
A number of A-State faculty from two colleges and ABI also attended the meeting. SIVB is the premier professional society for plant and animal biotechnology and cell sciences.
The winners and respective awards and categories are:
-- Neha Verma: second place, Plant Biotechnology Student Poster Presentation Competition.
-- Lana Elkins: The Cellular Toxicology Award, and first place, In Vitro Animal Cell Sciences Student and Postdoctoral Oral Presentation Competition.
-- Cristofer Calvo: first place, Plant Biotechnology Student Poster Presentation Competition.
-- Dr. Ningning Zhang: second place, Plant Biotechnology Postdoc Oral Presentation Competition. Zhang recently received her Ph.D. in molecular biosciences at A-State and is now a postdoctoral researcher at Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis.
-- Xiaoting Wang: first place, Plant Biotechnology Student Oral Presentation Competition.
-- Tristen Wright: The Philip R. White Memorial Award. Wright also won third place, Plant Biotechnology Student Poster Presentation Competition, and served as a student co-chair of the meeting;
A-State faculty in attendance were Drs. Maureen Dolan, Biological Sciences; Fabricio Medina-Bolivar, Biological Sciences; Gregory Phillips, Agriculture; Brett Savary, Agriculture; and Jianfeng Xu, Agriculture, all of whom have their research labs in the Arkansas Biosciences Institute (ABI).
Students, post-doctoral scientists, and research technicians from ABI at A-State-included:
-- Graduate students: Xiaoting Wang, Neha Verma, Cristofer Calvo, Kelin Key, Lana Elkins, Martina Garda, Hong Fang, Mohammad Fazle Azim, Abbas Karouni, Rokib Hasan, Patrick Roberto, Sepideh Mohammadhosseinpour.
-- Undergraduate students: Tristen Wright, Colton Batten, Kiera O'Keefe, Oliver Dozier
-- Postdoc/Research associates: Maria Elena Gonzalez, Tianhong Yang (former postdoc)
-- Research technician: Lingling Fang.
The Arkansas Biosciences Institute encompasses collaborative research efforts of five institutions through agricultural and medical research in order to improve the health of Arkansans. The ABI was created as the major research component of the Tobacco Settlement Proceeds Act of 2000 (sometimes referred to as Initiated Act I).
Scientists from the five member campuses -- Arkansas Children's Hospital; Arkansas State University; the University of Arkansas-Division of Agriculture; the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences -- focus on agriculture and basic and clinical science research that will lead to health improvement, especially in the area of tobacco-related diseases.
Students, postdocs and faculty from the Arkansas Biosciences Institute at Arkansas State University attended the annual meeting of the Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB) in St. Louis.
