Student research forum inspires careers in academic medicine

Published on: April 14, 2023 By: Rachel Stowe Master

six medical students as background — This year's winners at the Medical Student Research Forum included, clockwise from top left: Adeeb Alomar, Henry W. Chen, Linh Lieu, Mahad Rehman, Roshni Thachil, and Lily Xu

UT Southwestern’s 61st Medical Student Research Forum provided a venue for its future doctors to showcase their work from the unique research opportunities available on campus. The annual event is intended to spark interest in academic medicine as a career.

Out of 140 applicants, 54 students were selected to present posters on their projects at the Jan. 31 forum, which was held virtually this year. The broad range of research topics included base editors, gene expression, enzyme replacement therapy, cross-facial nerve graft, cancer epithelial cells, and more.

The posters were evaluated by 22 faculty judges. The six 2023 winners listed below were each awarded $75.

Mentor: Eric Olson, Ph.D.
Research: Tunable Control of Base Editors

Mentor: Heidi Jacobe, M.D.
Research: Single-Cell Resolution of Morphea Skin Gene Expression Reveals Inflammatory Fibroblasts Dominated by CXCL9

Mentor: William T. Dauer, M.D.
Research: Characterization of β-glucuronidase for Enzyme Replacement Therapy in DYT6 Dystonia

Mentor: Danielle Robertson, O.D., Ph.D.
Research: ULK1 Inhibition Reduces Bacterial Load and Promotes Mitochondrial Homeostasis During Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Infectious Keratitis

Mentor: Shai Rozen, M.D.
Research: Addition of a Cross-Facial Nerve Graft to a Masseteric to Facial Nerve Transfer for Smile and Periorbital Reanimation – Five Years of Experience

Mentor: Isaac Chan, M.D., Ph.D.
Research: InteractPrint Predicts Clinically Meaningful Interactions Between Cancer Epithelial Cells and Immune Cells

Dr. Dauer holds the Lois C. A. and Darwin E. Smith Distinguished Chair in Neurological Mobility Research.

Dr. Jacobe holds the James N. Gilliam, M.D. Chair in Dermatology.

Dr. Olson holds The Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in Science, the Pogue Distinguished Chair in Research on Cardiac Birth Defects, and the Annie and Willie Nelson Professorship in Stem Cell Research.