Event honors student achievements in cancer research

The Harris Award for Cancer Research and the Shawn Jessen Memorial Award were presented at the annual Eppley Institute Town Hall, held Aug. 27.

The Harris Award, which includes a $500 scholarship, recognizes UNMC doctoral students for work in cancer research. Recipients included:

• Stephanie Barbari (cancer research);
• Saswati Karmakar (biochemistry and molecular biology);
• Dannah Miller (biochemistry and molecular biology);
• Rama Krishna Nimmakayala (biochemistry and molecular biology); and
• Jiuli Zhou (pathology and microbiology).

The Jessen Award is awarded annually to a student in the Cancer Research Doctoral Program. The year’s recipient was Stephanie Barbari, a fourth-year student in the laboratory of Polina Shcherbakova, Ph.D.

During the meeting, Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, reiterated the mission and vision of the university and the Eppley Institute and answered questions from the audience.

Notable highlights also recognized at the meeting:

• More than 30 regional and national presentations, and two international presentations by students in Eppley Institute laboratories.
• Kimiko Krieger was invited to participate in the American Association for Cancer Research Early-Career Hill Day in Washington, D.C., and spoke with representatives from Nebraska, Georgia (her home state), Alabama, Oregon and Washington about the importance of the NIH to the states’ economies.
• Aneesha Dasgupta, a fourth-year student from the biochemistry and molecular biology program in the lab of Pankaj Singh, Ph.D., was one of 25 students from across the United States selected to participate in the Graduate Student Recruiting Program at the National Cancer Institute.

“Students in the Eppley labs work very hard and have so many impressive accomplishments,” said Joyce Solheim, Ph.D., director of the Cancer Research Doctoral Program. “I am happy to acknowledge them.”