December 8, 2024
Marana Rekedal, a rising fifth-year student in the Emerging Infectious Disease (EID) program at USU, has been named as the recipient of the 2024 Henry M. Jackson Fellowship Award. This award, which provides one year of salary and travel support, is presented each year to an outstanding senior USU School of Medicine graduate student working to complete their Ph.D. dissertation work.
Rekedal works under the mentorship of Dr. Eric Lang in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, where she investigates the circulation of bat–borne viruses. She uses serological testing as an indirect measurement of infection history to trace bat virus circulation within reservoirs and other relevant species. Her dissertation aims to increase our understanding of areas at risk for virus spillover with the specific objective of identifying relevant bat wildlife hosts and possible mechanisms for virus maintenance in understudied areas at risk of spillover.
Rohini Manickam and Summer Paulson received honorable mentions and travel awards to attend an upcoming scientific conference. Manickam is a rising sixth-year student in the Molecular and Cell Biology (MCB) program in the laboratory of Dr. Jeremy Rotty. Paulson, a rising fifth-year student in the Neuroscience (NES) program, is also in the laboratory of Dr. Jeremy Rotty.