Pictured is doctoral student Allison Mitchell, who won first place for her poster at the Molecular Therapeutics Research Symposium.

The latest advances in cancer research were brought to life at the 2018 Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute's 2018 Molecular Therapeutics Research Symposium, an annual gathering of faculty members, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students held June 20 at the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

The Molecular Therapeutics Program is one of four KCI research programs. Faculty presentations and a keynote address by Dr. Maria Jasin from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center took place at the Margherio Family Conference Center. Lunchtime poster presentations featuring Cancer Biology Graduate Program doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows and clinical fellows were held in the atrium of the Louis Elliman Building. Four WSU students from the Cancer Biology program received awards for their posters.
Poster presentation prize winners:

FIRST PLACE:
Allison Mitchell, mentored by Guojun Wu, Ph.D., "FOXQ1 Interacts with the KMT2/MLL Core Complex to Promote Transcriptional Activation of the Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) Program"

SECOND PLACE
Joshua Heyza, mentored by Stephan Patrick, Ph.D., for "Mechanisms of Resistance to Interstrand Crosslinks with ERCC1 Deficiency"

THIRD PLACE (tie):
Niko Moses, mentored by Xiaohong (Mary) Zhang, Ph.D., "HDAC6 Regulates Chk1 Stability in Response to Ionizing Radiation-Induced DNA Damage"

Aamod Dekhne, mentored Larry Matherly, Ph.D., for "Dual Targeting Mitochondrial and Cytosolic One-Carbon Metabolism with Novel 5-Substituted Pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidine Antifolates"