Student Accomplishments

The Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine provides a training environment and ample opportunities to be prolific in the sciences and active in the community.  Here are just a few of our students' recent accomplishments.

Leadership Roles

• Erin Cohn, M3, Served as a Scientific Officer for Rise Up: Northeast Ohio
• Rupleen Kaur, Systems Biology and Bioinformatics, Served as a Scientific Officer for Rise Up: Northeast Ohio

Recent Publications

• MSTP students Hannah Kondolf, Meghan O'Keefe and Bowen Zhou, and MSTP alumni and current faculty member Chris Ryder co-authored the following: Ryder CB, Kondolf HC, O'Keefe ME, Zhou B, Abbott DW. Chemical Modulation of Gasdermin-Mediated Pyroptosis and Therapeutic Potential. J Mol Biol. 2022 Feb 28;434(4):167183.
• Emily Klemm published the following paper in Nature Communications:  Gibbs E, Klemm E, Seiferth D, Kumar A, Ilca SL, Biggin PC, Chakrapani S. Conformational transitions and allosteric modulation in a heteromeric glycine receptor. Nat Commun. 2023 Mar 13;14(1):1363.
• Three of our M4 MSTP students, Kevin Allan, Otis Pinkard, and David Sweet published the following article: Martin S, Allan KC, Pinkard O, Sweet T, Tesar PJ, Coller J. Oligodendrocyte differentiation alters tRNA modifications and codon optimality-mediated mRNA decay. Nat Commun. 2022 Aug 25;13(1):5003.
• Alicia Vagnozzi published a paper entitled, "Coordinated cadherin functions sculpt respiratory motor circuit connectivity' in eLife: https://elifesciences.org/articles/82116 

Conferences and Presentations

• Syrena Bracey presented her work at the 2023 Keystone Symposia Conference in Snowbird, Utah. 
• Alicia Vagnozzi presented her work at the 2022 International Society of Developmental Neuroscience meeting in Vancouver, BC. Received both travel award and best poster award.
• Jennings Luu received the Qais Farjo Memorial Travel Grant award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) and presented a poster at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting in Denver, CO.

Research Grants and Scholarships

Twenty of our current students have been awarded F30 or F31 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  Many more have received scholarships or fellowships from other organizations. Below is a list of those newly awarded 2023 and 2024.

• Lucie Ahn was awarded an F30, a Futures in Neurologic Research Scholarship by AAN and a KSEA-Kusco Graduate Scholarship 
• Katie Dominic received an AHA Fellowship
• Razaq Durodoye was awarded an F30
• Emily Klemm was awarded an F30 
• Erik Koritzinsky was awarded an F30
• Angela Liu received a National Psoriasis Foundation Early Investigator Grant
• Kevin Newhall was awarded an F30
• Vanessa Salazar was awarded an F31
• Joseph Schindler was awarded an F30

Medical School Graduation Awards 2024

MSTP students were well represented this year at the CWRU School of Medicine Graduation Awards Ceremony:

• Graduates receiving Honors with Distinction in Research:
  Alicia Vagnozzi
  Sarah Venus
• Adam Lauko:  The Andrew J. Fishleder, MD, Leadership Award
• Jessica Anne Scarborough:
      The Max Miller Award
      The Martin Wahl Memorial Fund Award
• Adrian S. Gomez-Nguyen and Uriel Kim: 
  The Leslie T. Wester, Jr. Graduation Award
• Alicia Vagnozzi: The Miverva and Carl Wiggers Prize in Physiology

Graduate and Doctoral Excellence Awards 2024

Doctoral Excellence Awards are given for Original Scholarly Work, Significant Contribution to the Field, and Significant Service Contributions.  

• Nicholas Venetos received the award from the Department of Biochemistry
• Morgan McGrath Lewis received the award from the Clinical Translational Sciences Program
• Yi Fan Chen received the award from the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences
• Hannah Kondolf received the award from the Department of Pathology
• Davis Weaver received the award from Systems Biology and Bioinformatics Program
• Erin Cohn received the Arthur F.W. Hughes Award in Developmental Biology

Other Awards 2024-25

• Christina MacAskill was named the 2024 inaugural Young Investigator awardee for the Research Institute for Children's Health
• Walter Zhao was the recipient of the Hiro Fujita Award, a top imaging trainee award.  Walter also won the 2024 Excellence in Menorship award
• Razaq Durodoye was named as a 2024-2026 Human Genetics Scholar by The American Society of Human Genetics

PhD Defenses 2025

• Sarah Barker "Traumatic brain injury induced acceleration of aging related neurodegenerative disease"
• Razaq Durodoye "The Roles of Race, Ethnicity, Ancestry, and APOE in Late-Onset Alzheimer's Disease"
• Zachary Grimmett "Uncovering and Harnessing Enzymatic Regulation of Protein S-Nitrorsylation in Health and Disease"
• Meghan O'Keefe- "Beyond Pyroptosis: Cellular Consequences of Inflammasome Stimulation"
• William Wulftange- "Microengineered Systems for Advancing Hematological Precision Therapies"
• Walter Zhao " Clinical Translation of Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting for Glioblastoma Infiltration Imaging"

Match List 2025

Our MSTP students had an incredible year. The key here is not only where they went, but where they wanted to go and whether they had options. First choice was once again the rule rather than the exception. 

Students: If you have something new to add, tell us about it here.