Marmur Symposium Recognizes Graduate Student Research

On March 18, 2013, the 17th annual Julius Marmur Symposium - A Graduate Student Research Symposium was held to honor exemplary research contributions made by graduate students at Einstein. The event honors the memory of Dr. Julius Marmur, a distinguished professor at Einstein who was respected and admired throughout the research community for his milestone discoveries in the fields of molecular biology and microbial genetics, and for his lifelong commitment to the education of graduate students.

The all-day event began with an awards ceremony in the morning, which featured introductory remarks from Dr. Victoria H. Freedman, associate dean for graduate programs and Dr. Edward R. Burns, executive dean of Einstein.

Next, three of this year’s awardees — Laura Barreyro, Clarissa Melo Czekster and Hashem Dbouk — gave presentations of their award-winning research. A fourth awardee, Xiaoxuan Jia, who studied the gamma rhythm and its relationship with neuronal activity in early visual cortex under the guidance of Dr. Adam Kohn, was unable to attend the ceremony due to the pending arrival of her first child.

Ms. Barreyro‘s discussed her efforts to identify new therapeutic targets in acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplatic syndromes in the laboratory of Dr. Ulrich Steidl. Dr. Czekster, who currently is a postdoctoral associate at Yale University, described the thesis work she completed in the lab of Dr. John Blanchard, working with enzymes involved in folate metabolism in tuberculosis. And Dr. Dbouk, who completed his doctoral research under the mentorship of Dr. Jonathan Backer, presented his work on the regulation of p110β signaling and functions. He has since begun his postdoctoral studies at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

The morning session concluded with Mrs. Mildred Marmur, widow of the award’s namesake, joining Dr. Freedman in presenting awards to the three recipients.

The event concluded with an afternoon session and reception at which nearly 50 graduate students and candidates in Einstein’s Medical Scientist Training Program presented posters of their research findings. Typically attended by faculty members, graduate students and postdocs at Einstein, this session provides a valuable opportunity for students to showcase their research and interact with other members of Einstein’s science community.

The Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences organized the symposium, with significant contributions from graduate students Rachel Salamon and Samantha Wilner in their roles as moderator and abstract editor, respectively.