Undergraduate Research and Senior Thesis Presentations / Poster Fair

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AND SENIOR THESIS PRESENTATION - POSTER FAIR

The Undergraduate Research and Senior Thesis Presentation is an annual Poster Fair hosted by the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry to:
  • highlight Departmental research opportunities for undergraduates through a poster session
  • provide a place for the presentation of Senior Capstone/Thesis research projects
  • provide a forum to showcase research projects conducted by our undergraduates
  • answer any questions you have about the Chemistry and Biochemistry majors

2024 Poster Fair Abstracts

Congratulations to the CBC Undergraduate Poster Fair Winners! It was a great turnout, showcasing undergraduate research!

You can view the poster fair Photos HERE. You do not have to have a FB account to view the photo.

Poster Fair Winners Honorable Mentions Viewer’s Choice
Senior Thesis Sam Durfee Daniel Aranda & Delaney Petruzelli
1st Place – Eleanor McBride Rylee Ellsworth Kay Do
2nd Place – Michael Foster Elizabeth Harper Luke Fasse
  Clare Hotze Madison Grams
Biological Life Sciences Emerging David Jurkowitz Elizabeth Harper
1st Place – Ika Lin Pulari Kartha Clare Hotze
2nd Place – Jaden Todd-Nelson Marie Ojeh Eliza Johnson
  Chloe Park Sai Julakanti
Biological Sciences Advanced Natalie Rawlings David Jurkowitz
1st Place – Sean Chen Kristen Roehling Pulari Kartha
2nd Place – Madison Grams Ashley Wellington Heather Kwapiszeski
    Ika Lin
Physical Sciences Emerging   Alison Mason
1st Place – Jake Shaw   Anna Ramsook
2nd Place – Luke Fasse   Jake Shaw
     
Physical Advanced    
1st Place – Maddie Tibayan    
2nd Place – Megan Hahn    

Neel Ahmed
Poster Title: Studying the functional roles of 7.5 kDa, 9 kDa, and 11 kDa proteins and the helicase activity of the NS1 protein from the human parvovirus B19.
Research Mentor: Nancy Horton, Molecular and Cellular Biology
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Structural and functional studies of proteins
Poster location: 25

Daniel Aranda
Poster Title: Synthesis, Characterization, and Application of Pyrene-Functionalized Carbenium 
Research Mentor: Thomas Gianetti, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: SynSenior, Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
Poster location: 46

Tressa Baker
Poster Title: The Efficacy of RNAi Gene Silencing of VP28 in WSSV Exposed P. vannamei Shrimp
Research Mentor: Arun Dhar, Animal & Comparative Biomedical Sciences
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Aquaculture Pathology, Antiviral Thearpeautics
Poster location: 34

Cole Bellomo
Poster Title: Synthesis of novel sulfur based polymers for IR imaging
Research Mentor: Jeffrey Pyun, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Organic Chemistry
Poster location: 50

Olivia Bertuca
Poster Title: Gene knockdown and Mortality in Potato Psyllid by RNA Interference Toward Biopesticide Development
Research Mentor: Judith Brown, Plant Sciences
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis
Poster location: 42

Yoneri Bueno-Diaz
Poster Title: Adenovirus Wastewater Treatment Analysis with qPCR Methods
Research Mentor: Luisa Ikner, Environmental Science
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Physical Science
Poster location: 39

Lara Burhans
Poster Title: Molecular binding between opioid receptor subtypes and 9 newly developed synthetic opioids
Research Mentor: Minying Cai, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Drug Development
Poster location: 14

Julio Camacho
Poster Title: Osseosurface electronics for evaluation of fracture healing.
Research Mentor: David Margolis, College of Medicine, Orthopedic Surgery Department of Surgery 
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis 
Poster location: 28

Anna Campbell
Poster Title: A comparison of venom and non-venom expressed phospholipase D homologs from recluse spiders
Research Mentor: Matthew Cordes, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Life sciences; emerging research
Poster location: 65

Alejandra Carreon Torres
Poster Title: The impact of heavy metals: arsenic, chromium, and  cadmium exposure on Beas-2b nucleolus fragmentation
Research Mentor: Bernardo Lemos, Pharmaceutical Sciences
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Toxicology and Environmental Health
Poster location: 4

Sean Chen
Poster Title: Effect of Water and Lipids on GPCR Activation
Research Mentor: Michael F. Brown, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Biophysics
Poster location: 56

Jackie Choi
Poster Title: Utilization of a Molecule/Electrode System in Breaking Anticorrelation Between IE and RNE
Research Mentor: Oliver Monti, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Physical Chemistry
Poster location: 15

Devin Collins
Poster Title: Empowering Virtual Screening with Computational Chemistry
Research Mentor: Rui Xiong, Pharma/Tox
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Drug Discovery
Poster location: 6

Kay Do
Poster Title: Synthetic Modifications and Coordination Chemistry of the Redox-active Tripyrrindione Scaffold
Research Mentor: Elisa Tomat, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Chemistry
Poster location: 60

Aranea Dunckley
Poster Title: Uncovering Hsp60’s Role in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy
Research Mentor: Marielle Walti, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Protein structure and function
Poster location: 63

Samuel Durfee
Poster Title: Molding, processing and analysis of novel optical polymers from Sulfenyl Chloride Inverse Vulcanization
Research Mentor: Jeffrey Pyun, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Materials Science
Poster location: 51

Sam Ellis
Poster Title: Photo-induced Proximity Labeling of Mitochondrial Permeability Transition Pore
Research Mentor: Michael Taylor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Physical Science
Poster location: 57

Rylee (Rei) Ellsworth
Poster Title: Impact of nutrient scarcity on competition between aflatoxigenic and non-aflatoxigenic biocontrol strains of Aspergillus flavus
Research Mentor: Hillary Mehl, School of Plant Sciences
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Life Science
Poster location: 43

Luke Fasse
Poster Title: Seperation of Helical Enantiomers
Research Mentor: Thomas Gianetti, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Physical Sciences
Poster location: 47

Michael Foster
Poster Title: Towards a Total Synthesis of Apomorphine: Novel Structures for the Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease
Research Mentor: Jon Njardarson, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Total synSenior Thesis
Poster location: 8

Joshua Goldring
Poster Title: Investigating the structure-function relationship of end-capping groups on a selective DYRK1A inhibitor
Research Mentor: Christopher Hulme, Pharmacy
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis
Poster location: 11

Marcus Gomez
Poster Title: Autophagy Induced Chemoresistance
Research Mentor: Noel Warfel, Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Cancer Biology
Poster location: 31

Madison Grams
Poster Title: Prooxidant ligand improves the antiproliferative activity of glycoconjugated iron prochelators in ovarian cancer cells
Research Mentor: Elisa Tomat, Chemistry and Biochemistry 
Poster Topic: Life sciences 
Poster location: 61

Brandy Hadley-Nihiser
Poster Title: Heat Stress Response in Tomato Reproduction: Investigating  Thermotolerant and Thermosensitive Pollen Tube Growth Phenotypes
Research Mentor: Ravishankar Palanivelu, Plant Sciences
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Genomics
Poster location: 44

Megan Hahn
Poster Title: Development and Fabrication of High Verdet-Constant nanoparticle-polymer colloid materials for use in magnetic-optic devices.
Research Mentor: Jeffrey Pyun, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Polymer/Materials Chemistry or Organic Chemistry 
Poster location: 52

Elizabeth Harper
Poster Title: Investigation of Calmodulin Binding Partners in D. discoideum Chemotactic Pathways
Research Mentor: Pascale Charest, Molecular and Cellular Biology
Poster Topic: Senior Senior Thesis
Poster location: 23

Clare Hotze
Poster Title: Investigating the Molecular Basis of Glutathione Transport by Yeast Cadmium Factor I
Research Mentor: Thomas Tomasiak, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Life Science
Poster location: 22

Anna Jaison
Poster Title: Utilizing Minimally Competent Lewis Acids for Glycosylation
Research Mentor: Robin Polt, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Organic Chemistry 
Poster location: 13

Honor Jang
Poster Title: Batch effect correction in cfDNA fragmentation data using deep generative models
Research Mentor: Kamel Lahouel / Cristian Tomasetti, Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen, outside UofA)
Poster Topic: Computational Biology
Poster location: 24

Eliza Johnson
Poster Title: Glucose Responsiveness of a Novel Synthetic Ovine Super Promoter
Research Mentor: Sean Limesand, Animal & Comparative Biomedical Sciences
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Life Science
Poster location: 35

Sai Julakanti
Poster Title: THE EFFECT OF ORAL DELIVERY OF CNP-MIR146A IN THE COLON IN MURINE CROHN’S MODEL
Research Mentor: Anisha Apte, Surgery
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Biochemistry
Poster location: 29

Joseph Jung
Poster Title: Synthesis and Fabrication of Transparent Optical Components for IR Imaging
Research Mentor: Pyun, Jeffrey, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Organic chemistry, Optical Spectroscopy
Poster location: 55

David Jurkowitz
Poster Title: Conservation-Based  Prediction of Protein Binding Pockets
Research Mentor: Travis Wheeler, Pharmacy Practice and Science
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Computational Biology
Poster location: 1

Isaac Kailat
Poster Title: Activity-based Lysosomal Sensing
Research Mentor: Michael Taylor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Bioorganic
Poster location: 58

Pulari Kartha
Poster Title: Fluctuations in Plant Nitrogen and Carbon across Elevation Gradients in the Rocky Mountains
Research Mentor: Brian J. Enquist, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Plant stoichiometry
Poster location: 41

Brennan Kennedy
Poster Title: Characterize Phenotypic Effects of Deletion in the CS Domain of CSP 
Research Mentor: Konrad Zinsmaier, Neuroscience
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis 
Poster location: 33

Caleb Konecek
Poster Title: Role of Rap1 in Regulating mTORC2 Function in Breast Epithelial Cells
Research Mentor: Pascale Charest, MCB (Molecular & Cellular Biology)
Poster Topic: Cancer Biology
Poster location: 67

Heather Kwapiszeski
Poster Title: Studying the Structure of Hsp10 and its Interaction with the Alzheimer’s Peptide
Research Mentor: Marielle Walti, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Biochemistry
Poster location: 21

Ika Lin
Poster Title: Exploring Caged Diazonium Ions as Fluorogenic Detection Tools
Research Mentor: John Jewett, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Chemical Biology
Poster location: 64

Angela Mankin
Poster Title: Characterization of vascular patency and impact of anatomic variation on flow modeling in a novel high fidelity whole body donor cadaveric model for simulated surgical and procedural training
Research Mentor: Hahn Soe-Lin, College of Medicine
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Life Science/Medical Education
Poster location: 27

Allison Mason
Poster Title: Perceptions and Attitudes Surrounding COVID-19 Prevention Strategies and Risk Perceptions
Research Mentor: Kacey Ernst, Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Life Science
Poster location: 36

Eleonor McBride
Poster Title: Electronic structure of efficient circularly polarized emitters based on organic chiral molecules
Research Mentor: Veaceslav Coropceanu, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Physical Science
Poster location: 18

Gal Melman
Poster Title: New Frontiers of the Anionic Amino-Cope Cascade
Research Mentor: Jon Njardarson, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Physical Science
Poster location: 10

Andriy Myloserdnyy
Poster Title: A Synthesis of a Glycosylated Oxytocin Derivative for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder
Research Mentor: Robin Polt, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Organic Chemistry
Poster location: 12

Jacob Narr
Poster Title: Disulfide Glass: A Novel Commodity Polymer to Plastic Optics
Research Mentor: Jeffery Pyun, Chemistry and Biochemistry 
Poster Topic: Polymer Chemistry 
Poster location: 53

Marie Ojeh
Poster Title: Isolation and phenotypic characterization of chemotactic Methylotrophs from arid-environment agricultural site
Research Mentor: Rebecca Schomer, Plant Sciences
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Microbiology
Poster location: 45

October Owen
Poster Title: Removal of artifacts from Hadamard Transform Multiplexing of coupled online SEC with CD-MS
Research Mentor: Michael T. Marty, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Analytical Chemistry
Poster location: 17

Grace Parekh
Poster Title: Reversal of Oxycodone Opioid-Induced Respiratory Depression
Research Mentor: Todd Vanderah, Pharmacology
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Life Science
Poster location: 3

Chloe Park
Poster Title: Role of a Hypothetical Protein (TGME49_207210) in Toxoplasma gondii Persistence and Latency
Research Mentor: Anita Koshy, Department of Neurology, Department of Immunobiology
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis
Poster location: 32

Delaney Petruzelli
Poster Title: Synthesis, Characterization, and Application of Pyrene-Functionalized Carbenium
Research Mentor: Thomas Gianetti, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: SynSenior Thesis, Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
Poster location: 46

Nguyen Pham
Poster Title: Evaluation of the Membrane Permeability of Nitroxyl and Its Implications for Novel Drug Design
Research Mentor: Craig A. Aspinwall, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Bioc, Pharm, Cellular Bio, Analytical Chem
Poster location: 19

Niko Racciato
Poster Title: UCEs as a method of inferring phylogeny in Bombardier Beetles
Research Mentor: Wendy Moore, Entomology
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Bioinformatics/Phylogeny
Poster location: 40

Anna Ramsook
Poster Title: THE EFFECT OF pH ENVIRONMENTS ON ARYL DIAZONIUM ION RELEASE FROM TRIAZABUTADIENES ON DNA
Research Mentor:  John Jewett, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Physical Science 
Poster location: 20

Natalie Rawlings
Poster Title: The Quantification of TORC1 Activity using Fluorescence Microscopy 
Research Mentor: Andrew Capaldi, Molecular and Cellular Biology 
Poster Topic: Cell Signaling/Fluorescence Microscopy/Proteomics/Systems Biology
Poster location: 66

Asia Richardson
Poster Title: Exploring New Avenues and Applications of the  Underutilized Anionic Amino-Cope Rearrangement
Research Mentor: Jon Njardarson, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Physical Science
Poster location: 9

Kristen Roehling
Poster Title: Internal rotation analysis and calculations of the ammonia-formic acid complex
Research Mentor: Stephen Kukolich, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Physical Science
Poster location: 16

Erin Schuette
Poster Title: Promoting embryonic stem cell derived cardiomyocyte maturity by gene editing sarcomeric proteins
Research Mentor: Jared Churko, Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Poster Topic: Biological Sciences
Poster location: 68

Jakob Sera
Poster Title: Five Step Synthesis of Retinamide
Research Mentor:  Jon Njardarson, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Physical Science
Poster location: 7

Brian Shaw
Poster Title: Hexavalent Chromium Induces Stress Granules and Malignancy in a G3BP1 Dependent Manner
Research Mentor: Haining Zhu, Pharmacology & Toxicology
Poster Topic: Senor Thesis, Life Science
Poster location: 2

Jake Shaw
Poster Title: Chlorophyll-derived iron sensors for photoacoustic imaging
Research Mentor: Elisa Tomat, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Bioinorganic Chemistry
Poster location: 62

Madeleine Tibayan
Poster Title: Arginine-based Glyonic Liquids from Rhamnolipids
Research Mentor: Jeanne E. Pemberton, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Physical Science 
Poster location: 48

Skyler Tilden
Poster Title: Mechanism of action of natural products' inhibition of viral activity
Research Mentor: Charles Gerba, Environmental Science
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Environmental Science
Poster location: 37

Jaden Todd-Nelson
Poster Title: Investigating the role of a putative copper transporter in the differentiation of Toxoplasma gondii
Research Mentor:  Anita Koshy, Neurology
Poster Topic: Immunobiology/Parasitology
Poster location: 69

Raydon Tran
Poster Title: The effects of Cadmium on BEAS-2B bronchial cells
Research Mentor: Bernardo Lemos, Pharmacy
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Epigenetics 
Poster location: 5

Matthew Urbanski
Poster Title: Synthesis of Glycosides for CNS Glycopeptide Drug Development
Research Mentor: Robin Polt, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Pharmacology and Organic SynSenior Thesis
Poster location: 49

Karen Valencia
Poster Title: Synthesis of Solution Processable High Sulfur Content Polymers for Coatings and Photolithography
Research Mentor: Jeffrey Pyun, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Topic: Organic Chemistry 
Poster location: 54

Vara Vungutur
Poster Title: Insight into ZIP8, ZIP14, and ZnT10 expression in male mouse testes
Research Mentor: Ningning Zhao, Nutrition
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Biochemistry
Poster location: 30

Michelle Wei
Poster Title: Modeling the Depth of Cellular Dormancy from RNA-sequencing data
Research Mentor: Guang Yao, Molecular and Cellular Biology
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis, Life Science
Poster location: 26

Ashley Wellington
Poster Title: Synthesis of Doxorubicin Liposomes as Nano-Carriers for Cancer Therapy
Research Mentor: Roberto Guzman, Chemical and Environmental Engineering
Poster Topic: Senior Thesis 
Poster location: 38

Jamison White
Poster Title: New methods for photochemical protein modification
Research Mentor: Michael Taylor, Chemistry & Biochemistry 
Poster Topic: Protein modification
Poster location: 59
 

Poster entrants must be a declared chemistry or biochemistry major, or conducting chem/biochem research with a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Posters are initially placed in one of several categories. They include:

  • Physical Science projects involve non-living systems. While your work may have the potential to affect living creatures or be used by living creatures, the research problem you are working to solve does not directly involve the study of living or biological tissues, cells, etc.
  • Life (or Bio) Science projects involve most other areas beyond physical described above. If the project deals with the study of living tissues, creatures, biological processes, affects on human life, etc. it is most likely that your poster will fit this category.

Then the poster will either be judged as accomplished research or emerging research within its category:

  • Advanced Research: This category reflects the level of accomplishment on the project. Students will most likely have over a year of experience (but not always) and have made progress such that there are results to report.
  • Emerging Research: This category suits new researchers (with a year or less of experience) who have defined a problem, designed a project, may be collecting data, but may lack results at this point.

Senior Thesis: If you did research for your senior thesis requirement, you will be automatically placed in this category. Every poster in this category is judged using the same standards.

For poster preparation and presentation advice, see your research mentor, watch for emails on the CBC student listserv regarding upcoming workshops, and check out the following links, (some compiled by the American Chemical Society):

Congratulations to this year's Poster Fair winners!

You can find more photos on CBC's Facebook page. You do not need a Facebook account to view the photos. Go ahead and tag yourselves if you wish.

Poster Fair Winners Honorable Mention Viewer’s Choice
Senior Thesis Vanessa Addison Vanessa Addison
1st Place – Maddie Milner Ellie Browne Alexis Cruickshank-Taylor
2nd Place – Julie Fan Carson Freeling Julie Fan
  Terese Kulangara Carson Freeling
Biological Life Sciences Emerging Krista Potter Aunita Hakimi
1st Place – Emma Slenkovich Hillary Schiff Clare Hotze
2nd Place – Katelyn Boone Veronica Hode Shayna Maddern
  Madison Grams Maddie Milner
Biological Sciences Advance Janelle Amegatse Sami Muslmani
1st Place – Clare Hotze Luke Fasse Allison Steedman
2nd Place – Aunita Hakimi Olivia Bertuca  
     
Physical Sciences Emerging    
1st Place – Benjamin Koppe    
2nd Place – Ronald Palmenberg    
     
Physical Advanced    
1st Place – Briana Pomales    
2nd Place – Anthony DiGirolamo    
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Poster Fair Winners Together

 

 

 

 

 

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Poster Fair Students

Congratulations to the 2022 Poster Winners!
You can check out the photos on FB. You don’t have to have a FB account to view the photos. Go ahead and tag yourselves if you wish.

Poster Fair Winners Honorable Mention Viewer’s Choice
Senior Thesis Matthew Schott Wael Almasri
1st Place – Arturo Lujan Dorien Haney Rosa Araujo
2nd Place – Rorie Robinson Joshua Goldring Kawthar AlElg
  Abel Cherian Alejandra Betancourt Ramirez
Biological Life Sciences Emerging Franky Torres Matheo Herrera
1st Place – Vanessa Addison   Trevor Tankersley Clare Hotze
2nd Place – Aunita Hakimi Cong Pham Aiden Li
  Yuyin Wang Andrew Matiatos
Biological Sciences Advance Avani Kumar Alicia Power
1st Place – Cristian Chavira Amanda Platt Kiah Sleiman
2nd Place – Nick Mortimore   Sophia Volpe
     
Physical Sciences Emerging    
1st Place – Natalya Stanisic    
2nd Place – Kawthar AlElg    
     
Physical Advanced    
1st Place – Parker Geffre     
2nd Place – Greg Clarke    

Congratulations to the Poster Winners!

You can check out the photos on FB. You don’t have to have a FB account to view the photos. Go ahead and tag yourselves if you wish.

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If Interested in This Program, Contact:

Olivia Mendoza
Phone: (520) 621-3868
Email: omendoza@arizona.edu