Department of Pathology & Immunology

  1. Baylor College of Medicine
  2. Departments
  3. Pathology and Immunology
  4. Research
  5. Trainee Research Symposium

2025 Annual Pathology and Immunology Trainee Research Symposium

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2025 Symposium Highlights

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The 2025 Annual Pathology and Immunology Trainee Research Symposium was held on April 17, 2025 as an in-person meeting with a hybrid option for remote attendees.

The Program Committee hosted an exciting and comprehensive program, including a keynote address, invited speakers, platform presentations, poster presentations, and networking opportunities. The symposium is an opportunity for clinical and research trainees to showcase their research work. We welcome everyone to join us in person and support the research done by trainees!

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Keynote Lecture - Huda Y. Zoghbi, M.D.

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Dr. Huda Y. Zoghbi, MD is an internationally renowned neurogeneticist and Professor of Pediatrics, Neurology, Neuroscience and Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Zoghbi is the founding director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital where she serves as Research-in-Chief. She is an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a member of the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Zoghbi’s research focuses on the molecular pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders with the goal of developing effective therapies.

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Trainee Research Committee

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  • Thomas A. Cooper, M.D.
  • Choladda V. Curry, M.D.
  • William K. Decker, Ph.D.
  • Sridevi Devaraj, Ph.D., DABCC, FRSC
  • Ashley Holloman, M.D.
  • Martin M. Matzuk, M.D., Ph.D.
  • Angshumoy Roy, M.D., Ph.D.
  • Jun Teruya, M.D., DSc
  • Chief Residents, Associate Chief Residents, and Sonal Italiya
     
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Oral Presentation Award Winners

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Clinical Resident

First place: Georgia Huffman: Analysis of Wastage, Savings, and Maternal and Pediatric Outcomes for Pooled Pathogen Reduced Cryoprecipitate versus Conventional Cryoprecipitate (Faculty Mentor: Derek Danner)

Runner up: Mary Clay Bailey: Rare Oncogenic Structural Variations in FGFR Genes in Childhood Brain Tumors Provide Potential Therapeutic Targets (Faculty Mentor: Angshumoy Roy)

Clinical Fellow

First place: Heather Binns: Impact of Diagnostic Stewardship for Broad Range Polymerase Chain Reaction Testing in Pediatrics (Faculty Mentor: Denver Niles)

Runner up: Nazmin Bithi: Validation of NGAL Assay in a Pediatric Population (Faculty Mentor: Sridevi Devaraj)

Graduate Student

First place: Nalini Bisht: Sexual Dimorphism in Dendritic Cell-Expressed CTLA-4 Regulation of Type 1 Immunity (Faculty Mentor: William Decker)

Runner up: Sydney Parks: TGFBR2 Coordinates the Endometrial Response to Estrogen, Preventing Endometrial Hyperplasia and Associated Infertility (Faculty Mentor: Diana Monsivais)

Research Fellow

First place: Larissa Nitschke: Understanding the Mechanisms Underlying the Neurological Manifestations of Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 (Faculty Mentor: Tom Cooper)

Runner up: Goutham Davuluri: Splicing Factor SF3B1 Governs Innate Immunity to Coordinate Early Host Defense Against Pathogens (Faculty mentor: Ramakrishna Kommagani)

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Poster Presentation Award Winners

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Clinical Resident

First place: Lois Dodson: Spectrum of Liver Histology Findings in Patients with Transient Abnormal Myelopoiesis (TAM) (Faculty Mentor: Kalyani Patel)

Runner up: Dilshad Dhaliwal: Unlocking the Dual Potential Of EUS-Guided Liver Biopsies: Diagnostic Adequacy in the Setting of Benign and Malignant Gastrointestinal and Pancreatobiliary Pathology (Faculty Mentor: Shilpa Jain)

Clinical Fellow

First place: Kimberly Hein: Programmed Cell Death Ligand 1 and Programmed Cell Death 1 in Pediatric Post-Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorders: Expression Frequency and Genetic Mutations (Faculty Mentor: Choladda Curry)

Runner up: Ridwan Ibrahim: Analytical and Clinical Validation of the Quidel Microvue sc5B-9 Enzyme Immunoassay in a Pediatric Population (Faculty Mentor: Sridevi Devaraj)

Graduate Student

First Place: Zaniqua Bullock: Development of small molecule modulators of CTLA-4 as a novel strategy for safe and effective immunotherapies (Faculty Mentor: William Decker)

Runner up: Keenan Ernste: Dendritic cell-intrinsic AIMp1 governs adaptive immune polarization and anti-tumor immunity through NMNAT1 (Faculty Mentor: William Decker)

Research Fellow

First place: Chandni Talwar: A Role for Gut Mycobiome and Altered Fungal-Bacterial Interactions in Women with Endometriosis (Faculty Mentor: Ramakrishna Kommagani)

Runner up: Per Adastra: Development and Validation of a Metagenomic-Based Method for Pathogen Identification in Pediatric Patients (Faculty Mentor: Ruth Ann Luna)