Lucy Fry from the Weinkopff Lab successfully defended her dissertation (“Host Factors in Cutaneous Leishmaniasis: Mechanisms of Inflammatory Response, Lymphatic Remodeling, and Protective Immunity”) last April 10, 2025. Lucy will be pursuing her postdoctoral training in the lab of Dr. Beth Tamburini at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Denver, CO. Congratulations Dr. […]
Dr. Gyan Sahukhal Receives Inaugural AR Health Ventures Accelerator (ARHVA) Award
Dr. Gyan Sahukhal, Assistant Staff Scientist in Dr. Mohamed Elasri‘s lab, received one of three inagural AR Health Ventures Accelerator Award from UAMS BioVentures. This program is designed to accelerate the development of therapies from bench to bedside. Dr. Sahukhal’s project aims to target biofilm regulators when treating staph infection. He is featured in the […]
July 2024: Presentations, Publications and Grants
Presentations Our undergraduate interns completed their summer programs on July 26. This culminated in the presentation of their research in the Arkansas Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium last July 24, 2024 here at UAMS. Congratulations to all the students! They are: Oral Presentation (12 chosen from 53 submissions) Allie Farrar, Hendrix College (Manzano Lab), pictured above […]
June 2024 Presentations, Publications, Grants
Presentations by Trainees in International Meetings LeKivia Cobb (Boehme Lab), oral presentation at the American Society for Virology Annual Meeting at Columbus, OH last June 25. Steven Murdock, Jr. (Forrest Lab), oral presentation at the International Symposium on EBV and KSHV and Related Agents and Diseases at Boston, MA last July 3. Shana Owens, Ph.D. […]
Dr. Jorgenson receives an NIGMS R35 Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award
Bacterial pathogens are coated by a wide array of glycan layers that protect against antimicrobials, immune systems, and environmental hazards. Though formidable, these protective layers harbor a critical weakness: most are assembled on a vulnerable lipid carrier known as undecaprenyl phosphate (Und-P). While most studies have focused on the consequences of decreasing Und-P levels, very […]
May Updates: Publications, Grants, Awards
Dr. Cannon receives the UAMS College of Medicine Red Sash Dr. Martin Cannon received the Red Sash at the UAMS College of Medicine Honors Convocation last May 17, 2024. Red Sash honorees are outstanding teachers voted by the members of the seniors class. New R21s awarded to Drs. Cannon (National Cancer Institute) and Li (National […]
Alumni Spotlight: Dr. Ashley Groshong
Dr. Ashley Groshong is an alumnus of our Ph.D. program in Microbiology & Immunology (2014). Working in the laboratory of Dr. Jon Blevins, she studied virulence factors of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi. She continued her work on B. burgdorferi as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Connecticut Health Center focusing on gene […]
Undergraduate Students Start Summer Research Programs at MBIM
We welcome eight undergraduates joining MBIM labs for their Summer Research Programs. They are: Youssef Baghat, University of South Carolina (Forrest Lab) Nicole Chong, UC Berkeley (Lee Lab) Allie Farrar, Hendrix College (INBRE, Manzano Lab) Armari Jackson, Arkansas State University (SURP, Aachoui Lab) Kalayna King, Arkansas State University (SURP, Liu Lab) Brianna Lee, Xavier University […]
Ph.D. Student Lucy Fry Takes Top Prize at Student Research Day
Lucy Fry, fourth year Ph.D. student, Weinkopff Lab) won the best poster (Graduate Student category) in this year’s Student Research Day (SRD) on March 5, 2024, which highlighted her parasitology project involving a non-healing form of cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania amazonensis.
ASM Branch Meeting
The Department of Microbiology and Immunology hosted the American Society for Microbiology South Central Branch Meeting at the Statehouse Convention Center last November 10-11. Close to 200 scientists and trainees from Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi participated in the two-day event and shared their work in the plenary and poster sessions. This include several trainees from […]