Nineteen undergraduate students joined our community of scientists for ten weeks, working with faculty mentors who helped them to define and realize their research projects. The school welcomed our new class of PhD students, who have completed their first laboratory rotation, while our second-year students have completed their core curriculum courses and selected their thesis laboratories. Although many of the summer’s activities took place in the labs, collaborations in settings where students and faculty, as well as their families and friends, could interact informally were also part of the summer’s agenda.
See slide show highlighting the summer’s events.
2009 Summer Undergraduate Research Program
Matthew Wieder The Cooper Union for Advancement of Science and Art
I had an amazing time at Gerstner Sloan Kettering. From the other participants in the program to all of the planned activities, the summer as a whole was one of my favorites. The sessions on interview skills and the works-in-progress sessions will help me now as well as in the future. For me, the highlights of the program were the seminar series, the actual research, and the “chalk talk.” The faculty seminars were extremely interesting and engaging, especially the last two by Mary Baylies and Charles Sawyers. My personal favorite was Charles Sawyers’ talk, as it showed the interconnection between the benchwork in the lab and the immediate effects that that work had on clinical application.
Matthew was mentored by faculty member James Fagin.
- See slide show of 2009 Poster Symposium.
- See what other students had to say about their summer experience.
- Learn more about students’ 2009 summer research projects.
Shaps Scholars
Four summer students are named Rubin and Sarah Shaps Scholars each summer. Students are selected on the basis of their outstanding undergraduate credentials and their performance in our summer program.
Adolfo Cuesta, a junior majoring in biology at Haverford College. He was mentored by Scott Keeney, Molecular Biology. Adolfo’s summer research was sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Exceptional Research Opportunities Program.
Jenny Karo, a junior majoring biochemistry at Tufts University. She was mentored by Harold Varmus, Cancer Biology and Genetics.
Caitlin Sengelaub, a junior majoring in chemistry at Yale University. She was mentored by Minkui Luo, Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry.
Guangnan Tian, a junior majoring in biochemistry at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He was mentored by Kat Hadjantonakis, Developmental Biology.
Our Second-Year PhD Students
Our second-year students declared their thesis laboratories and have begun full-time work on their dissertation research.
Neha Bhagwat
Ross Levine
Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program
John Halliday
Eric Holland
Cancer Biology and Genetics
Moriah Heller
David Solit
Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program
Ellen Hukkelhoven
Andrew Koff
Molecular Biology
Isabel Lam
Scott Keeney
Molecular Biology
Armine Matevossian
Lisa Denzin
Immunology
Kendall Olsen
John Petrini
Molecular Biology
Berenice Ortiz
Andrew Koff
Molecular Biology
Jessica Rios
Marilyn Resh
Cell Biology
William Walkowicz
David Gin
Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry
Elizabeth Wasmuth
Christopher Lima
Structural Biology
Our First-Year PhD Students
Bottom row, from left: Piero Sanfilippo, Alison Spencer, Justine Miller, Daniel Marks, Lindsay Saunders, and Cindy Puente; Top row, from left: Oakley Olson, Lei Wei, and Prashant Monian, and Minna Balbas
Students in the News
- Cindy Puente was given the Elsie Seringhaus Award by Hunter College, her undergraduate alma mater. The award recognizes excellent research skills in the biological sciences. Cindy and her mentors are featured in an article on the Hunter College Web site.
- Pierro Sanfilippo’s choice of graduate training made headlines on Kenyon College’s Web site.
- Alison Spencer, a 2008 SURP student who has returned to Gerstner Sloan Kettering for her PhD studies, was featured in an article in The Scientist with her summer mentor Johanna Joyce.
The School Welcomes New Faculty Members
Jan Grimm
Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry
Research Interests: Developing novel imaging approaches for improved detection and monitoring of disease.
Cole Haynes
Cell Biology
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms that protect mitochondria function, molecular chaperones, and proteases.
Christine Mayr
Cancer Biology and Genetics
Research Interests: Role of the 3’UTR for gene regulation.
Congratulations to Faculty
Congratulations to Charles Sawyers, who has been named a recipient of the 2009 Lasker~DeBakey Award for Clinical Medical Research; to Eric Holland and Alexandra Joyner, who have been elected members of the Institute of Medicine; and to Dinshaw Patel, who was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
Looking Forward to the Class of 2010
Harold Varmus welcomes undergraduate students and student advisors.
On October 9, the school hosted undergraduate students and student advisors for a day of getting to know Gerstner Sloan Kettering. The program began with a welcome from Memorial Sloan Kettering President Harold Varmus and Gerstner Sloan Kettering Dean Ken Marians. The guests were joined by faculty and students for lunch, which was followed by a symposium, tours of core research facilities and laboratories, and a poster presentation featuring the work of Gerstner Sloan Kettering students.