Each year, the Department of Biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis awards a prize to a graduating senior in memory of Marion Smith Spector, a 1938 graduate who studied zoology under the late Viktor Hamburger.
This year, Lily Cao and Jennifer Hsu share the prize.
Cao worked in the lab of Gustav Akk, associate professor of anesthesiology in the School of Medicine. Her thesis was titled “Coapplication of the Steroid Alfaxalone Enhances the GABAergic Effects of Propofol.”
Hsu worked in the lab of Robert Kranz, professor of biology in Arts & Sciences. Her thesis title is “The Analysis of Human HCCS-mediated Cytochrome C Biogenesis.”
The Spector Prize, first awarded in 1974, recognizes academic excellence and outstanding undergraduate achievement in research. Students are nominated by their research mentors for outstanding research that has made substantial contributions to a field.
The two will receive their prizes at a biology awards ceremony May 17.