Postdocs present at St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center Postdoctoral Symposium

Five postdoctoral fellows took center stage for the second installment of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center Postdoctoral Symposium.

The symposium is an opportunity for postdoctoral fellows conducting cancer-related research to submit abstracts of their work for review and selection by Cancer Center senior leaders. Seventeen postdocs submitted abstracts for this year’s forum. Abstracts were reviewed and ranked by senior faculty members from the five Cancer Center programs.

The presenters each gave 8- to 10-minute talks, which were followed by brief question-and-answer sessions. Brenda Schulman, PhD, Structural Biology, and Stephen White, DPhil, Structural Biology chair, served as event moderators. The talks were scored by a panel of senior leaders that included Comprehensive Cancer Center Director and Executive Vice President Charlie Roberts, MD, PhD; Stephen White, DPhil, Structural Biology chair; Suzanne Baker, PhD, and Michael Dyer, PhD, both of Developmental Neurobiology; and Charles Mullighan, MBBS, MD, Pathology. Roberts served as emcee for the event and announced the winners. The top three presenters were each given cash prizes. 

Aaron Pitre, PhD, Pharmaceutical Sciences, finished in first place. Other presenters included Angela Arensdorf, PhD, Cell and Molecular Biology; Chandrima Sinha, PhD, Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy; Chang-Chih Wu, PhD, Developmental Neurobiology.