August 25, 2014
The 2014 Interdisplinary REU students painting the "rock", an annual IREU tradition.

The Interdisciplinary REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) Program in the Structure and Function of Proteins (IREU) celebrated the end of its 6th year of service at the IREU Closing Symposium on Thursday, August 7, 2014. 

The IREU Program is funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation, Division of Biological Infrastructure (NSF-DBI(Award #DBI-1263079) and is designed to provide summer research experiences to non-U-M undergraduate students, with a focus on students from institutions with limited resources for research and students from underrepresented minority groups. The program has received an average of 392 applications per year (for 10 positions) and has served 72 students since its inception. There are currently 11 IREU alumni on the University of Michigan campus pursuing PhD degrees. The names of these students, along with their IREU Program year and graduate program, are listed below. One IREU alumnus, Dr. Laurence Briski (2009), is a 2014 graduate of the U-M Medical School.

This year the program hosted 16 students with support for 10 positions through the NSF IREU grant. In addition to the 10 NSF IREU positions, an NSF supplement was awarded to the College of Pharmacy to support the return of a 2013 IREU participant, Sashary Ramos, who was invited to continue her research with Dr. Gus Rosania and Dr. Kathleen Stringer. Five additional positions were available to students of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Minority Access to Research Careers-Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research (MARC-USTAR) and Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) Programs. These scholars were fully funded (room/board, stipend, and travel) by the NIH to participate in the IREU Program. Funding was received through a U-M Rackham Faculty Allies grant to the Department of Medicinal Chemistry to cover the miscellaneous program expenses for these scholars. Kelly Montgomery, one of the MARC scholars, was a co-participant of the NSF Center for Selective C-H Functionalization (CCHF) - Summer Undergraduate Research Program at Emory University. Ms. Montgomery worked with Dr. David Sherman, who is a member of the CCHF.

The 2014 IREU students represent 12 states, with three from schools in the state of Michigan. Of this group, 10 are from underrepresented minority groups and seven are first-generation college students.

The participants of the 2014 IREU Program discussed the results of their research at the IREU Closing Symposium.  Prior to the symposium, the participants received a warm welcome from incoming College of Pharmacy Dean, Dr. James Dalton.  The symposium began with a keynote presentation entitled “Bones, Stones, Raphides, and Canines; How SURFing on Membranes Waved a Trail to Biomineralization” by Dr. Aaron Wyman, Assistant Professor of Biology at Spring Arbor University.  Dr. Wyman had a unique connection to the 2014 IREU Program as he has an active research collaboration with one of the IREU faculty mentors, Dr. Laura Olsen, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. Dr. Wyman is also the faculty advisor and mentor of one of the 2014 IREU participants, Alyssa Castle. Dr. Wyman’s presentation was followed by brief oral presentations by three IREU participants: Alyssa Castle, Katherine Harms and Danielle Widner. The symposium concluded with a poster session where each participant had an opportunity to share their accomplishments with the College of Pharmacy community. The schools/majors, project titles, and faculty mentors of the 2014 IREU participants are listed below.  

In addition to the research experience, the IREU students were required to attend a weekly evening seminar & dinner, as well as two journal club sessions facilitated by Dr. Zaneta Nikolovska-Coleska, Department of Pathology. The students also had the benefit of an eight-week Princeton Review GRE preparation course, courtesy of Dean Janet Weiss of the Rackham School of Graduate Studies.

The students were housed off-campus in the Ecumenical Center and International Residence (ECIR) where they had opportunities to participate in a number of ECIR-coordinated social activities. Other social activities were coordinated by the IREU Program Student Assistant, Mariah Gnegy.

The Interdisciplinary REU Program is co-directed by Dr. Ronald Woodard, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, and Dr. Cherie Dotson, Student Affairs Program Manager for Graduate Student Recruitment and Outreach at the College of Pharmacy. Administrative support for the program is provided by Ms. Rachel Miller, Student Administration Assistant at the College of Pharmacy. The research training activities of the program are supported by 23 faculty mentors representing eight departments at U-M. Of this group of faculty mentors, nine are from the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, four are from the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and seven are associated faculty members of the Interdepartmental Program in Medicinal Chemistry. 

Dr. Woodard and Dr. Dotson would like to acknowledge the support and assistance of Dean Frank Ascione, U-M and College of Pharmacy staff members, and the 2014 IREU faculty & laboratory mentors for another successful summer. 

Accordion Row
  • Interdisciplinary REU Program Alumni
    Name / School IREU Program Year U-M Graduate Program / Department
    Omari Baruti 
    (Morehouse College)
    2013 Chemical Biology
    Elizabeth Baumeister
    (Evangel University)
    2012 Chemical Engineering
    Laurence Briski
    (Kalamazoo College)
    2009 Medical School (2014 graduate)
    Laura Cesa
    (Grinnell College)
    2009 Chemical Biology
    Christine Cuthbertson
    (Alma College)
    2013 Medicinal Chemistry
    Brittany Dixon
    (Alma College)
    2010 Pathology
    Alaina Engdahl
    (Wittenberg University)
    2011 Medicinal Chemistry
    Amy Fraley
    (Millersville University of Pennsylvania)
    2013 Medicinal Chemistry
    Kip-chumba Kaitany
    (Grand Valley State University)
    2013 Program in Biomedical Sciences
    Jeffrey Lopez
    (University of Delaware)
    2011 Chemical Biology
    Jonathan Pollock 
    (Benedictine University)
    2010 Pathology
    Christopher Sumner
    (William Jewell College)
    2012 Program in Biomedical Sciences
  • 2014 Interdisciplinary REU Program Participants
    Name School / Major Project Title
    (Mentor / Department)
    Justin Arredondo University of the Incarnate Word (Texas) / Biochemistry

    Defining the mechanism of inhibition of HTS-derived compounds targeting the virulence transcription factor VirF, from Shigella flexneri

    George Garcia / Department of Medicinal Chemistry

    Nekko Batista University of Puerto Rico / Chemistry

    Investigating Inhibitors of API KpsF in Klebsiella pneumoniae

    Ronald Woodard / Department of Medicinal Chemistry

    Alyssa Castle Spring Arbor University (Michigan) / Biology

    An Investigation of Two Putative Peroxisomal Proteins: AtFHIT and AtHINT2

    Laura Olsen / Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

    Kyle Dubiak Winona State University (Wisconsin) / Biochemistry

    Study of RbBP4, RbBP7, and SUZ12's Role in the Binding of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 

    Duxin Sun / Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

    KeiAuyndria Edwards**

    Barry University (Florida) / Biology

    Enhancement of Gα expression with co-expression of Ric8 on a baculovirus genome

    Roger Sunahara / Department of Pharmacology

    Nicholas Foster* Jackson State University (Mississippi) / Biology

    Dissecting the Med25-PEA3 Complex

    Anna Mapp / Department of Chemistry

    Eled Gebrehiwot University of Georgia / Pharmaceutical Science

    Synthetic HDL Therapy for Atherosclerosis

    Anna Schwendeman / Department of Medicinal Chemistry

    Katherine Harms Adrian College (Michigan) / Chemistry

    Acute and Chronic Effects of Somatostatin on Fast and Slow Calcium Oscillations in the Pancreatic β-cell

    Les Satin / Department of Pharmacology

    Domonique Jackson Syracuse University (New York) / Biochemistry

    Biological characterization of novel small-molecule Mcl-1 inhibitors in pancreatic cancer

    Zaneta Nikolovska-Coleska / Department of Pathology

    Nathan Jenkins* New Mexico State University / Chemistry & Computer Science

    RNA Docking Through Ligand Fragmentation

    Charles Brooks / Department of Biophysics/Chemistry

    Austin Knight Oklahoma Baptist University / Biochemistry 

    Preparation of mTFP-NS3

    Wei Cheng / Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

    Madeleine Lu* St. Mary's University (Texas) / Biophysics 

    Developing Fluorescent Reporters to Visualize Early Embryonic Cell Cycles 

    Qiong Yang / Department of Biophysics

    Kelly Montgomery* Michigan State University / Human Biology

    Biosynthetic characterization of methyltransferase and P450 monooxygenase in the synthesis of the broad-spectrum antibiotic, baulamycins

    David Sherman / Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

    Sashary Ramos San Diego State University (California) / Chemistry

    Progress towards a quantitative experimental analysis of drug aerosol plumes at a single particle level

    Gus Rosania / Department of Medicinal Chemistry

    Bernard Somers University of Scranton (Pennsylvania) / Neuroscience

    Synthesis of Napthoquinone Analogues for Evaluation as Potential Pancreatic Cancer Agents

    Nouri Neamati / Department of Medicinal Chemistry

    Danielle Widner University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point / Biochemistry

    Investigating Unexpected Products of 5-Deaza Flavin-Dependent Thymidylate Synthase

    Bruce Palfey / Department of Biological Chemistry

    *NIH MARC-USTAR (Minority Access to Research Careers – Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research) Scholar
    **NIH RISE (Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement) Scholar