Theses/Dissertations from 2026
Structural Insights into Host-Pathogen Interactions of Coronaviruses and Alphaviruses, Lucas Adams
Role of Mesencephalic Reticular Formation Perineuronal Nets in Nociception, Migraine and Alcohol Withdrawal-induced Hyperalgesia, Jhoan Aguilar
Phylogenomic Insights into the Evolution, Biogeography, Systematics, and Taxonomy of Weinmannia (Cunoniacea) in the Neotropics, Eduardo Aguirre Mazzi
Inside 'n Out: ETV2 Specification of Hemangiogenic Lineages from FLK1+ Mesoderm, Dereck Antonio Shakeel Alleyne
Using single cell multi omics and spatial transcriptomics to characterize the inflammatory- fibroblast axis in cardiovascular disease, Junedh Mahesh Amrute
Valuation in Time: Mesolimbic Dopamine tracks Decision Strategy, Commitment and Persistence, Apoorva Arora
Function, Regulation and Plasticity of Reactive Microglial States in Brain Development and Disease, Kia Marie Barclay
Genetic Mechanisms of Urinary Tract Infection Pathogenesis by Escherichia coli, Jesus Bazan Villicana
More than one way to keep an ILC in Line: Circadian and Epigenetic regulation of group 3 ILCs homeostasis, Bishan Bhattarai
Aberrant Activity of the Calcium Sensor STIM1 Drives Thrombocytopenia and Bone Marrow Fibrosis in Stormorken Syndrome, Molly Brakhane
The Invisible Crop: Harnessing Root System Architecture in Heirloom Collards for Climate-Resilient Urban Agriculture, Vincent Antonio Brazelton
Impacts of Anthropogenic Landscape Change on Plant-Associated Microbes, Mahal Bugay
Unraveling the Role of the C-Terminal Intrinsically Disordered Linker in the Bacterial Cell Division Protein FtsZ, Jessica Louise Bullock
Dissecting the Roles of Microglial Proteostasis and Innate Immune Signaling in Neurodegeneration, Zhangying Cai
Interplay Between Patterning and Morphogenesis During Zebrafish Embryonic Development, Chia-Teng Chang
Understanding Whole-Brain Dynamics Through Generative Modeling, Ruiqi Chen
Piloting a Scalable Workflow to Identify Drivers of Mammalian Aging Using C. Elegans, Ariella Lucia Coler-Reilly Colasanti
Incorporating Pectic Glycans into Microbiome-Directed Therapeutic Foods for Childhood Undernutrition, Marie Crane
Dissecting MS4A4A Function in Microglia and its Role in Alzheimer’s Disease Pathogenesis, Emma Pascal Danhash
Investigating Tumor-stromal Interactions that Drive Breast Cancer Angiogenesis and Metastasis, Alessandra DiMauro
From Bench to Bedside: Unraveling the Role of SARM1 in Chronic Human Neurodegenerative Disease, Caitlin Dingwall
The Function and Regulation of LAIR1 and LAIR2 in Inflammation and Staphylococcus aureus Infection, Hannah Dorando
Development of Cell-Free DNA and Immune Cell Liquid Biopsies to Stratify Risk of Disease Progression and Treatment Toxicity, Noah Earland
Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cell Reprogramming During Breast Cancer Progression Promotes Myeloid-Biased Hematopoiesis, Emily Maria Eul
Retinal Circuits for Pupil Control: Neural Mechanisms, Visual Functions, and Capacity for Plasticity, Michael John Fitzpatrick
Aspartic Protease Inhibition as an Anti-Malarial Strategy, Katherine Lillie Floyd
Apoptotic cells as a physiological source of β-alanine to modulate MrgprD-expressing sensory neurons, Sofia L. Gasperino
Elucidating the Coordinated Role of Histone Modifications on the Establishment and Regulation of a Neuronal-specific Methylome, Nicole Hamagami
Diversity and Regulation of Biosynthetic Gene Clusters for Polycyclic Tetramate Macrolactams, CHRISTOPHER PATRICK HARPER
Investigating the Intra-host Relationships of the Microbiota at Multiple Sites, Ariel Jose Hernandez-Leyva
Investigating the Regulatory Functions of Long Noncoding RNAs in Retinal Development, Jade Hostetler
The Role of lncRNA, RAMS11, in KEAP1-Mutant Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Gejae George Jeffers
Ribosomal Stress in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Kimberly Bridget Johansson
The Role of Autophagy in Intestinal Infection in Mice and C. elegans, Gowri Kalugotla
Mass Spectrometry Profiling and High-Throughput Sequencing of HDACi-Induced Histone Modification Changes, Rashmi Karki
A ‘Don’t Eat Too Much’ Signal in Phagocytes via the SIRP⍺-SHP2 Axis Tunes Efferocytosis of Apoptotic Cells, Shannon Kelley
Reprogramming of Myeloid Cells for Anti-Tumor Immunity, Darya Khantakova
An In Vivo Framework for Decoding the Regulatory Logic of RNA Localization and Local Translation in Astrocytes: From Cis-Regulatory Sequences to Trans-Acting Factors, Sarah Kathleen Koester
Atypical Genetic Mechanisms: Uniparental Disomy, Somatic Mosaicism, and Mitochondrial Variation, Na Hyun Kong
Characterizing the Brain's Functional Architecture in Early Infancy, Alyssa Kimberly Labonte
Molecular mechanisms and factors regulating plant DNA methylation, Huy Le
The defining role of AGO4 and its catalytic activity during de novo RNA-directed DNA methylation, Tianyi Li
Learning Sequence Constraints Governing Conformational Ensembles and Function in Intrinsically Disordered Proteins, Jeffrey Lotthammer
Understanding brain borders, Tornike Mamuladze
Disclosing Metabolic Sex Differences in Brain Cancer: Optimization of Amino Acid, Purine, and Pyrimidine Metabolism as a Targetable Sex Difference, Camryn Tyler Marquez
Development and Applications of Optical Imaging Approaches for the Tumor Microenvironment, Megan Suzanne Michie
Macroevolutionary Innovation and the Genomic Basis of Convergent Adaptation in Anolis Lizards, Aryeh Hershel Miller
Molecular Regulation of the Tcf7-Prdm1 Axis in CD8+ T Cells, Maegan Katherine Murphy
Supporting the next generation: bHLH TF complexes regulating maize anther development, Lily Elizabeth O'Connor
Molecular Mechanism of WDFY4-Mediated Cross-Presentation by Type 1 Conventional Dendritic Cells, Ray Andrew Ohara
The Gut-Bladder Axis: How Symbiont Microbes Alter Urinary Tract Infections, Benjamin S. Olson
Molecular Circuits in Dendritic Cell Development, Feiya Ou
Contextual Coding in the Prefrontal Cortex, Jeong Jun Park
Spontaneous Blood Oxygen Level Dependent Signals in Glioblastoma-bearing and Aging Brains, Ki Yun Park
Convergent RNA Pathophysiology in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Hunter Lee Patterson
Synaptic enrichment and diagnostic potential of circular RNA in Alzheimer’s Disease, Bridget Mattie Phillips
Uncovering Hidden Features of Copyback Viral Genomes, Sarah Pye
Understanding p53 Regulation on Transposable Elements in Cancer, Xuan Qu
Defining Replication-Driven Vulnerabilities in High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancers, Natasha Maya Ramakrishnan
Astrocyte Circadian Regulation in Neurodegeneration: In Vivo BMAL1 Occupancy Mapping Using MACS-Calling Cards, India Reiss
CpsA-dependent remodeling of host lysosomal trafficking in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Jully Jitendra Sadadiwala
Epigenetic Mechanisms of Response and Resistance to Therapy in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Reilly Sample
Programming of the Pre-B Cell Checkpoint and Maintenance of B Cell Development by DNA Damage Responses, Haley Schmidt
Development of a Quantitative Top-Down Proteomics Platform for Arginylated Proteoform Analysis, Richard Myer Searfoss
Multiplex Functional Assessment of Variant Effect in the Retinal Transcription Factor CRX, James Lewis Shepherdson
Elucidating the Distinct Roles of EZH2 Gain-of-Function Events in Germinal Center B cells, Sofia R. Smith
MTHFD2 is a selective metabolic vulnerability in AML, Judith Obiageli Sokei
BAP1 Loss Links MYC Activation, Stress Response Vulnerability, and Disease Progression in Kidney Cancer, Ilya Strunilin
BPTF-Dependent Regulation of Vaccine-Induced B Cell Responses, Alexandria Sturtz
PERfect Timing: Metabolic Regulation by Hepatocyte Circadian Gene Period 1, Jiameng Sun
How Species Evolve Through Space and Time: Designing and Disseminating Phylogenetic Methods for Historical Biogeography, Sarah Kathryn Swiston
Beyond Attachment: Endolysosomal Determinants of New World Arenavirus Entry and Fusion, Cassandra E. Thompson
Bacterial Colonization of Medical Devices in the Urogenital Tract, Morgan Rose Wilt Timm
Genetic and Observational Insights into Metabolic Alterations in Alzheimer’s Disease, Ciyang Wang
Unraveling Metabolic Determinants of Isoniazid Susceptibility in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Erin Rilu Wang
Epigenetic Regulators MLL3 and MLL4 Sustain Hematopoietic Stem Cell Multipotency, Helen Chenwei Wang
GABAergic ventral pallidum neurons drive hedonic feeding and are required for obesity, Justin Guang Wang
Chitinase variants establish environmental inflammatory lung conditioning, Yilin Wang
Energetic Heterogeneity in Retinal Ganglion Cells: Role of Neuronal Activity and Implications for Resilience, Zelun Wang
Understanding the Biological Functions of Dual-Localized Mitochondrial Phosphatase PPTC7, Lianjie Wei
Transient activation of potent progenitor cells is required for spinal cord regeneration, Chase Alexander Weinholtz
Astrocytic α7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Signaling and its Contribution to Behavior, Yifan Wu
Progenitor Response during Zebrafish Spinal Cord Regeneration, Yuxiao Xu
Dissecting Tumor Evolution and Immune Composition in PRC2 Loss (H3K27me3 Loss) vs Retained MPNST, Kuangying Yang
Genetic and Mechanistic Dissection of Missing-Self Killing by Natural Killer Cells, Jeesang Yoon
Graph-AI Frameworks for Integrative Multi-Omics Data Analysis, Heming Zhang
Characterization of Ebola Virus VP24-Host Protein Interactions, Junjie Zhao
Dietary Manipulations of the Undernourished Infant Microbiome, Cyrus Zhou
Circuit and Cytokine Regulation of Effort Allocation in Acute and Chronic Sickness States, Xiaoyue Zhu
Theses/Dissertations from 2025
Montane β-diversity: Biodiversity through Space and Time in Earth’s Most Biodiverse Regions, Ethan Ray Abercrombie