Will Colley and Mya Smith, who both completed summer research in the UAB Department of Surgery, have been awarded best poster awards in the UAB Medical Student Research Day (MSRD) and the 2024 Cancer Research Symposium.

Summer Research Projects and Awards

Will Colley, a medical student at the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, in the UAB ENRICH program (Enhancing Research in Cancer-Related Health Professions), was under the mentorship of UAB Division of Surgical Oncology faculty members J. Bart Rose, M.D., MAS, and Rachael Guenter, Ph.D. After completing his research project, Colley presented a poster titled “Using 3D Spheroid Models of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors to Study the Effect of Notch Signaling on Proliferation” at the UAB Medical Student Research Day (MSRD), where he tied for first place in the surgery section.

Mya Smith is an undergraduate student at Tuskegee University who joined Guenter's research team this summer as part of the Cancer Research Immersion Student Training Program (CRISP). Her project, titled “Hypoxia Signaling Pathway: Is There a Role in Neuroendocrine Tumors?”, was developed through a collaboration between Guenter and Garima Gupta, M.D., from the UAB Department of Hematology and Oncology. Smith was awarded first place for her poster presentation at Cancer Research Symposium 2024.

"We are so exceptionally proud of Will and Mya’s contributions to the neuroendocrine cancer research and are excited to celebrate their impressive achievements in their projects and presentations. Sparking the interest of the next generation of cancer researchers highlights the importance of the undergraduate summer research programs, " says Guenter.