Weaver Selected for INBRE Award for Summer Research Fellowship
JONESBORO – Alexx Weaver of Lonoke is conducting research this summer at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) as recipient of the 2022 INBRE Mentored Research Summer Fellowship.
Weaver is a junior biotechnology and biological sciences major at Arkansas State University. The award is valued at $6,000 for housing, board and a stipend while she conducts her work.
“The INBRE award has allowed me to spend my summer working in a microbiology and immunology lab at UAMS,” Weaver said. “So far, I have been able to learn many new techniques and make connections with others in my field. I feel as if this internship has been a practical look into what my next educational and career steps will look like.”
Before starting the INBRE Fellowship, Weaver has been working on a research project in the lab of Dr. Fabricio Medina-Bolivar, studying the anticancer effects of compounds from peanuts in triple-negative breast cancer cells. Medina-Bolivar, her mentor, is professor of plant metabolic engineering, and also is affiliated with the Arkansas Biosciences Institute.
Weaver recently traveled to Philadelphia to present a poster at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Conference, and in April made a virtual presentation to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR).
At the annual Create@State research symposium, she and her co-presenter won the Chancellor’s Undergraduate Award for their work.
INBRE is the acronym for IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence, and IDeA is the acronym for the Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program conducted by the National Institutes of Health. INBRE supports a statewide biomedical research development network in each IDeA-eligible state.
Alexx Weaver
