Seniors Kristin Bibee and Carolyn Cain have won the Department of Biology in Arts & Sciences’ Spector Prize, presented annually to recognize academic excellence and outstanding undergraduate achievement in research.
Bibee worked with Kelle Moley, M.D., vice chair for basic research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and associate professor in that School of Medicine department. Bibee’s paper was titled “This GLUT Was Made for More Than Walkin’: GLUT9 Membrane Targeting and Diabetes-Related Alteration in Placental Expression.”
Cain worked with Alison Goate, D.Phil., the Samuel and Mae S. Ludwig Professor of Genetics in Psychiatry and professor of genetics and of neurology in the medical school. Cain’s paper was titled “Association of SNPs in Intronic Regions of CHRM2 With Alcohol Dependence and Major Depressive Syndrome.”
Bibee and Cain presented research talks at a biology department seminar April 24.
The Spector Prize, first awarded in 1974, is presented in memory of Marion Smith Spector, a 1938 WUSTL graduate who studied zoology under prominent WUSTL developmental biologist Viktor Hamburger, Ph.D.
Being nominated for the prize by a mentor signals that a student has done research judged to be beyond typical for undergraduates.
Wang wins Stalker Prize
James Y. Wang has won the biology department’s Stalker Prize, given annually to a senior whose undergraduate career is marked by outstanding scientific scholarship as well as contributions to the University in areas of artistic expression and/or community service.
Wang has a superb academic record and has co-authored two peer-reviewed publications stemming from his neurobiology research in the laboratory of Jeffrey D. Milbrandt, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine, of pathology and immunology and of neurology.
Wang has served as concertmaster for the University’s symphony and chamber orchestras and is the violinist in the Florence Piano Trio. He also was a co-founder of the undergraduate interdisciplinary journal APEX.
The prize is named in the honor of Harrison Stalker, a leading WUSTL evolutionary biologist, geneticist and teacher, who also was a fine-arts enthusiast.