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“My Summer in the Abdulmalik Lab”
Felicitas Tananibe, a 3rd-year fellow, drew inspiration from our collaboration with the Sickle Cell Association of America Philadelphia/Delaware Valley Chapter. This partnership underscored the urgent need for more research and awareness about sickle cell disease, which disproportionately affects African communities. Motivated by this experience, Felicitas is now advancing her studies as a researcher in the Abdulmalik Lab, which focuses on red blood cell disorders including Sickle cell disease and thalassemia .
To learn more about her lab experience, check out the article!
ABRCMS 2024
Kehinde Adeaga, Prabh Kaur, Isabella Contreras, Alondra Betancourt, Angelina Jala, Jorge Rodriquez, Diego Barragan, and Reginald Kwarteng proudly represented the 3rd and 4th year cohorts at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS) in Pittsburgh. A special congratulations to Jorge and Angelina for earning poster awards in the Microbiology and Biochemistry categories respectively!
Mentor Fellow Nick Sapp, Advisory Board members Andrew Santiago-Frangos and Blanton Tolbert, and FERBS Director Mecky Pohlschroder thoroughly enjoyed being among thousands of exceptional young talents!
The PennFERBS team welcomed the 2024-2025 cohort on October 10, 2024. We are so excited for our new group as they begin their first year as PennFERBS Fellows!
Scientists from Merck, Drs. Jorge Vazquez, Greg Tolbert, and Geronda Montalvo lead a workshop on Pharma Internship Applications as one of several efforts to help our fellows to participate in Pharma/Biotech summer internships.
Congratulations PennFERBS Class of 2024
Click the image below to learn more about the PennFERBS Class of 2024 and their plans for after graduation!
1st Annual PennFERBS Spring Symposium
On May 3rd, first annual PennFERBS Spring Symposium was hosted right here on campus! Students attended a career panel and guest speaker series featuring Dr. Greg Tabor, Director of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Merck Research Labs and Dr. Blanton Tolbert, Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics with the Perelman School of Medicine and HHMI’s Vice President of Science Leadership and Culture.
Students, faculty, mentors, and guests enjoyed oral presentations and a poster session reception featuring research from FERBS student projects.
Thank you to all who attended, especially our friends and sponsors, Merck Research Laboratories. We look forward to another successful event next year!
Visit with Dr. Nyeem Harris
Dr. Nyeem Harris visited PennFERBS for a seminar entitled “Inside the coupling of human carnivore interactions”. Dr. Harris joined us as part of our community partnership focus on Urban Ecology and Environmental Justice. She also shared her career path leading her to becoming an Ecology professor at Yale University and how she has spent her time working in the field in Philadelphia, West Africa, and India!
FERBS fellow Prabh Kaur ’26 was featured in Penn Today! Prabh describes her early days at Penn, balancing time spent in the lab with classes and other academic responsibilities that presented challenges for dedicating herself to the lab work. During the Summer 2023 semester, Prabh was able to work full-time within her lab and saw herself grow into a knowledgable and skilled scientist! Read more about Prabh’s journey into taking on her own project within the Wagner lab here!
Seven FERBS fellows, Amy Fernandez, Amy Vidal, Anisa Robinson, Diego Barragan, Marco Garcia, Peace Oloko, and Ummayh Siddiqua presented at ABRCMS in Phoenix, Arizona, all of them receiving partial or full travel scholarships. Congratulations to Marco, Peace, and Ummayh for receiving poster awards in the Microbiology, Cell Biology, and Cancer Biology categories, respectively!! (November, 2023)
FERBS Fellows presented their research at Penn’s annual Center For Undergraduate Research CURF, Research Symposium. From Left to right fellows pictured, Kehinde Adeaga, Celine Adomakoh, Ivy Liu, Alondra Betancourt, Klarissa Isabela Diaz, Prabh Preet Kaur. Fellows not depicted here but who presented their work included: Winson Liu, Arianna Mejia, Abetzi Vazquez Ochoa, Amy Vidal, Aleena Alex, Isabela Contreras, Maricela Guzman, and Xoshill Saldana Gamez. Congratulations to all the fellows on excellent work and scientific communication!!
FERBS fellows met with visiting professor Shane Campbell-Staton, assistant professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University, who most recently starred in a six-part PBS documentary called “Human Footprint”, where he explores and discusses ways in which humans have transformed the planet. Dr. Campbell shared his perspective on education, graduate school, biology, and how he followed his passions. We thank Dr. Campbell-Staton for a memorable visit.
“After hearing Dr. Kariko’s story, I felt deeply inspired, moved by her perseverance, bravery, and
utmost humility. “
“She reminded me of why I am a scientist: to
understand nature, to help others, and to inspire the next generation of scientists and educators.”
FERBS Fellow Anisa Robinson was featured in Penn Today! Take a look here where she discusses her research experiences at Penn. Anisa is apart of Dr. Corlett Woods Lab in the Biology department and is focused on understanding genetic tradeoffs underlying mutualistic and parasitic relationships in legumes. Anisa is in her second year at Penn and we are excited to see where her research takes her!
FERBS Fellow Criston Young presenting his work at an international conference! Criston is currently working in Dr. Pohlschroder’s Lab in the Department of Biology using Archaea as a model organism. Criston joined the FERBS program in 2020. Great work Criston!
FERBS fellows as panelists for Penn LENS students this past summer. FERBS fellows from left to right, Olivia Howard, Ruqaiyyah Lucas-Caldwell, Criston Young, and Kevin Huang. Students from Philadelphia’s school districts engaged in an immersive science summer program at Penn were able to ask current fellows about their experiences applying to and attending college.
Educating Community-Oriented Biologists
PennFERBS students were featured in this July 2022 Penn Today article featuring an in-depth discussion with FERBS Director, Mecky Pohlschröder about the FERBS course dedicated to blending STEM research with community outreach!
First-Year Research is Hands-On From The Start
The PennFERBS inaugural class was featured in Penn Today!
Read more about our amazing cohort of students and of the start of PennFERBS in this May 2021 article