Past Pathology and Immunology Trainee Research Symposiums

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!

Trainee Research Committee

• 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

Oral Presentation Award Winners

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)

Poster Presentation Award Winners

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)

The 2024 Annual Pathology and Immunology Trainee Research Symposium was held as an in-person meeting with a hybrid option for remote attendees.

• Program book
• See the flyer

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!

Keynote Lecture - Jason Huse M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Jason Huse is a Professor in the Departments of Pathology and Translational Molecular Pathology and Section Chief of Neuropathology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Huse’s research focuses on the molecular pathogenesis of primary gliomas and brain metastases with translating the findings to the development of more effective therapies and diagnostic tools. Of particular interest is in defining the global genomic alterations and epigenomic dysfunction driving these deadly tumors. 

Trainee Research Committee

• Thomas A. Cooper, M.D.
• Choladda V. Curry, M.D.
• William K. Decker, Ph.D.
• Sridevi Devaraj, Ph.D., DABCC, FRSC
• Sagar Dhamne, MBBS, M.D.
• 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

The 2023 Annual Pathology and Immunology Trainee Research Symposium was held on Wednesday, April 19 as an in-person meeting with a hybrid option for remote attendees. The Program Committee hosted an exciting program, including a keynote address, invited speakers, as well as platform and poster presentations by the trainees. 

The keynote speaker, Dr. Miguel Cruz, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Medicine and the Division Chief of Thrombosis Research as well as the Co-Director for the Center for Translational Research on Inflammatory Diseases (CTRID) at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center of Baylor College of Medicine, gave an inspirational talk.

Members of the faculty, Drs. Ya Xu, Kevin Fisher and Stephanie Pangas presented their work. 

Trainees from basic sciences and clinical residents and fellows presented their work at the symposium. Trainees received awards for the best oral and poster presentation of their research work. In addition, two medical students – Zachary Kadow and Mark Montgomery– were recognized at the symposium with Stuart A. Wallace awards given by Drs. Martin M. Matzuk and James Versalovic.

Oral Presentation Award Winners

Clinical Resident
Mohamed Eltahir: PD-L1 Expression is Prevalent in Pediatric Large B-Cell Lymphomas (Faculty Mentor: Choladda Curry)

Clinical Fellow
Anil K. Chokkalla: Validation of MeMed-BV immunoassay for distinguishing bacterial vs. viral infection in a pediatric cohort (Faculty Mentor: Sridevi Devaraj)

Graduate Student
Matthew Seasock: Let-7 MicroRNA Controls AT2 Progenitor Stemness and Prevents Interstitial Lung Disease (Faculty Mentor: Antony Rodriguez)

Research Fellow
Larissa Nitschke: The Compensatory Mechanism of MBNL Paralogs and its Role in Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 (Faculty Mentor: Tom Cooper)

Poster Presentation Award Winners

Clinical Resident
Kelsey Hummel: Evaluation of Performance of p16 Immunostaining in Cell Blocks for the Detection of Recurrence in HPV-Associated Cervical Malignancies (Faculty Mentor: Ramya P. Masand)

Clinical Fellow
Belkys C. Sanchez: Analytical Performance of a Rapid, Molecular Fungal Pathogen Panel for Direct Identification of Fungi from Aerobic Blood Culture Bottles (Faculty Mentor: James J. Dunn)

Graduate Student
Katarzyna Kent: Structure-function analysis of the OVCH2 domains and their roles in sperm maturation and male fertility (Faculty Mentor: Martin M. Matzuk)

Research Fellow
Meike E. van der Heijden: Dysfunction of Cerebellar Cortical and Nuclei Neurons Differentially Constrain Developmental Compensation for Motor and Social Deficits (Faculty Mentor: Roy V. Sillitoe)

Thank you for your support of the Trainee Research Symposium and we look forward to your participation next year! 

Trainee Research Committee

Drs. Thomas A. Cooper, Choladda V. Curry, William Decker, Sridevi Devaraj, Sagar Dhamne, Ashley Holloman, Martin M. Matzuk, Angshumoy Roy, Jun Teruya, Chief Residents (Drs. Gustafson and Levett), Associate Chief Residents (Drs. Eltahir and Platero Portillo). 

Special note of appreciation to Yvetter Boney, Rosario Guzman, and Susan Zapata for assistance with meeting planning.

The 2022 Annual Pathology and Immunology Trainee Research Symposium was held on Friday, April 22 as an in-person meeting with a hybrid option for remote attendees. The Program Committee hosted an exciting program, including a keynote address, invited speakers, as well as platform and poster presentations by the trainees. Recordings from the scientific program will be available soon at this site. 

The keynote speaker, Maria Elena Bottazzi, Ph.D., FASTMH, associate dean, National School of Tropical Medicine, and co-director, Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, gave an inspirational talk and was recognized at the event for her lifelong contributions to developing vaccines for infectious diseases including COVID-19.

Members of the faculty, Drs. Peyman Dinarvand, Amir Navaei and William Decker presented their work.  

Trainees from basic sciences and clinical residents and fellows presented their work at the symposium. Trainees received awards for the best oral and poster presentation of their research work. In addition, two medical students – Brandon Taylor and Maria Chen – were recognized at the symposium with the Stuart A. Wallace awards given by the Chair, Dr. Martin M. Matzuk.

Oral Presentation Award Recipients

Basic Research 
Feiyan Mo - Engineering T-Cells to Prevent Graft-versus-Host Disease and Leukemia Relapse following Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation (Faculty Mentor: Maksim Mamonkim)

Clinical Resident
Kelsey Hummel - Utilization of Endoscopic Ultrasound Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy (EUS-FNA) for Management of Pancreatic Lesions in Pediatrics: A Single Site 10 Year Study (Faculty Mentor: Norma Quintanilla)

Clinical Fellow
Annie Garcia - Comprehensive NTRK Fusion Detection by Next-Generation Sequencing for Identifying Patients Eligible for TRK Targeted Therapy: An Assessment of Diagnostic Utility (Faculty Mentor: Angshumoy Roy)

Poster Presentation Award Recipients

Basic Research
Janel Peterson - MBNL Loss of Function in Visceral Smooth Muscle as a Model of Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 (Faculty Mentor: Tom Cooper)

Clinical Resident
Hanna Siatecka - Experience of Using BRAF V600E Immunohistochemistry in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma with Extrathyroidal Extension (Faculty Mentor: Ya Xu)

Clinical Fellow 
Yan Chen Wongworawat - Frequent detection of CBFA2T3/GLIS2 fusion and RAM phenotype with possible novel relationship between RAM phenotype and aberrant cytoplasmic CD3 expression in pediatric non-Down syndrome acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (Faculty Mentor: Kevin Fisher)

Trainee Research Committee

Drs. Thomas A. Cooper, Choladda V. Curry, William Decker, Sridevi Devaraj, Sagar Dhamne, Martin M. Matzuk, Angshumoy Roy, Jun Teruya, Neda Zarrin-Khameh, Chief Residents (Drs. Hummel and Siatecka), Associate Chief Residents (Drs. Gustafson and Levett). 

Special note of appreciation to Yvetter Boney and Rosario Guzman for assistance with meeting planning and to Kristin Banaszak and Julian Gaton for meeting logistics.