Four University of Mary Washington students get Virginia Academy of Science grant funding

Four University of Mary Washington students received competitive grants from the Virginia Academy of Science at its Fall Meeting in November.

The meeting, held at Ferrum College, brought together aspiring scientists from across Virginia to present their research and compete for funding. Four UMW biology majors stood out among their peers from larger institutions, securing nearly half of the available grants.

“Having the opportunity to share what I’ve been working on for nearly a year was rewarding,” said senior Bonnie Butler, a grant recipient recognized for her project The Effects of PDGFRb Activation on Vasculature in HUVEC Cells Transfected with Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 Repeats. Working with Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Ginny Morriss, Butler examined the role of growth factors in blood vessel formation.

Butler said that receiving grant funding “is truly an honor. The success UMW had at VAS speaks volumes about the University and the opportunities and support it provides its undergraduate students.”

Max de la Cruz Morrobel, a UMW senior, focused on plant hormones that regulate growth. Their project, Expression of Plasmodesmal Regulatory Genes in Response to Brassinosteroids, conducted under the mentorship of Associate Professor of Biological Sciences April Wynn, has meaningful implications for crop production. Wynn is an elected officer in VAS.

“I will work hard to pay the grant I generously received from the VAS conference forward to society through my agricultural research,” de la Cruz Morrobel said.

Also under Morriss’s mentorship, junior Eleni Kepler investigated The Effects of Myoglianin Knockdown in Drosophila melanogaster with Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1, identifying ways to improve muscle growth and reduce insulin resistance.

“Presenting at VAS was an incredibly rewarding experience. It gave me a lot of pride to be from a smaller institution among much larger schools and still win an award. It speaks to the quality of research at UMW,” Kepler said.

Tyler Downs, a UMW junior, also received grant funding for his project, Genome-wide Cytotoxicity Effects of Mycobacteriophage Mercurio, which explored how to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. His work, conducted under Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Swati Agrawal, tackles a global health challenge.

The Fall Undergraduate Research Meeting, established in 2001, serves as a poster presentation competition and networking opportunity for students from Virginia.