24th Annual K-INBRE Symposium

Program Schedule

Friday, January 16, 2026

3:00 PM	Early Registration	Ballroom Foyer
	Open Poster Practice (Until 6:30PM)	Leatherwood Ballroom

4:30 PM	Early Registration Closes

6:30 PM	Friday Night Dinner	Cottonwood Ballroom

7:30 PM	Dinner Ends

Saturday, January 17, 2026

7:15 AM	Breakfast Buffet	Cottonwood Ballroom
7:15 AM	Registration	Ballroom Foyer

8:15 AM	General Session	Cottonwood Ballroom
	Dr. Doug Wright, Ph.D., K-INBRE Principal Investigator, University of Kansas Medical Center
	Opening Remarks and Moderator

8:35 AM	Dr. Hubert Tse, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Kansas Medical Center
	Welcome from KUMC

8:45 AM	Dr. Heather Wilkins, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Neurology, University of Kansas Medical Center
	Keynote Speaker
	Title: The Role of K-INBRE in My Career in Alzheimer’s Research

	Dr. Michael Gruenstaeudl, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Fort Hays State University
	Moderator: Trainee Presentations

9:15 AM	Juliane Simmons , Langston University, Langston, OK
	Title: Exploring the Connection Between NUAK and 14-3-3zeta in Muscle Tissue

9:30 AM	Madison Craig , University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS
	Title: Methylglyoxal Drives Axon Degeneration and Metabolic Changes in Dorsal Root Ganglion

9:45 AM	Patryk Hupert , University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
	Title: Differential Gene Expression in Astrocytes, Microglia, and Neurons in an Accessible Triculture Model as Compared to Monoculture

10:00 AM	Yara Abdine , Wichita State University, Wichita, KS
	Title: Evaluation of FSH glycoform ratios in female serum by ELISA

10:15 AM	Break	Ballroom Foyer

10:15 AM	University Photos	Maple Room Foyer
	10:20 AM: University of Kansas Medical Center Photo
	10:25 AM: Fort Hays State University Photo
	10:30 AM: Haskell Indian Nations University Photo
	10:35 AM: Wichita State University Photo
	10:40 AM: Langston University Photo

10:45 AM	General Session	Cottonwood Ballroom
	Dr. Maz Gashti, Assistant Professor, Pittsburg State University
	Moderator: Trainee Presentations

10:50 AM	August Weishaar-Wilson , Washburn University, Topeka, KS
	Title: Characterizing the achromatic visual acuity of Terrapene ornata across populations using the optokinetic response.

11:05 AM	Hazel Frans , Fort Hays State University, Fort Hays, KS
	Title: Impact of one nucleotide on organ enumeration and phyllotaxy in Arabidopsis thaliana

11:20 AM	Amelia Koehn , Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
	Title: Real-time gene expression mapping in a tissue-engineered microvessel to study Alzheimer's Disease

11:35 AM	Noah Freiburger , Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, KS
	Title: Infusing Zinc Hydroxide/Biotin/Gelatin Composite Particles in Sorghum Fibers for Biomedical Applications

11:50 AM	Jessica Molesworth , EPSCoR/IDeA Foundation
	Brief Legislative Update

12:00 PM	Lunch	Cottonwood Ballroom

1:15 PM	Breakout Sessions

	Undergraduate Career Panel	Cottonwood Ballroom 3
	Moderator: Dr. Carolyn Hovde Bohach, University of Idaho
	Panelists: Dr. Maz Gashti, Joel Sydzyik, Dr. Riley Middendorf, Dr. Tara Phelps-Durr

	Faculty Debate Panel	Cottonwood Ballroom
	Moderator: Dr. Doug Wright, University of Kansas Medical Center
	Panelists: Dr. Sue Lunte, Dr. Olivia Veatch, Dr. Hubert Tse, Dr. Robin Orozco, Dr. Ann Wozniak

2:30 PM	General Session Concludes/Break	Ballroom Foyer

2:45 PM	University Photos	Maple Room Foyer
	2:45 PM: Pittsburg State University Photo
	2:50 PM: Washburn University Photo
	2:55 PM: Emporia State University Photo
	3:00 PM: Kansas State University Photo
	3:05 PM: University of Kansas Lawrence Photo

3:15 PM	Poster/Oral Judge Meeting	Hawthorne 2

3:30 PM	Reception/Poster Session A	Leatherwood Ballroom

4:30 PM	Reception/Poster Session B	Leatherwood Ballroom

5:30 PM	Reception/Poster Session C	Leatherwood Ballroom

6:30 PM	Dinner	Cottonwood Ballroom

7:00 PM	Award Presentations
	John Stanford, Ph.D., K-INBRE Program Director, University of Kansas Medical Center

	VIP Speaker
	Virginia Rider, Ph.D., K-INBRE Icon, Retired from Pittsburg State University

7:30 PM	Closing Remarks
	Doug Wright, Ph.D., K-INBRE Principal Investigator, University of Kansas Medical Center

Sunday, January 18, 2026

7:15 AM	Breakfast Buffet	Cottonwood Ballroom

8:15 AM	General Session	Cottonwood Ballroom
	John Stanford, Ph.D., K-INBRE Program Director, University of Kansas Medical Center
	Opening Remarks

8:20 AM	Data Science Core Session
	DSC Introduction

8:30 AM	Bryce Steffan , Fort Hays State University, Fort Hays, KS
	Title: Using de novo hybrid genome assembly approaches to characterize a new cyanobacterial strain in western Kansas

8:50 AM	Olivia Delmas , University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS
	Title: Identification of Monitoring and Response Biomarkers for ADPKD Using Bulk RNA Sequencing in Mouse Models

9:10 AM	Carter Gray , University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
	Title: On the Evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 Mpro and its Substrate

9:30 AM	Md Saiful Islam Saif , University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS
	Title: From Design to Deployment: Optimizing Bridge Samples for Robust Batch-effect Correction in Olink Proteomic Data


9:50 AM	Poster Session D	Leatherwood Ballroom

10:30 AM	Poster Session E	Leatherwood Ballroom

11:15 AM	Robin Orozco, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas - Lawrence	Cottonwood Ballroom
	Keynote Speaker
	Title: Risk and Reward: Understanding the context-dependent consequences of the disease-associated PTPN22 allele

11:45 AM	Oral Presentation Awards	Cottonwood Ballroom
	John Stanford, Ph.D., K-INBRE Program Director, University of Kansas Medical Center

11:55 AM	Closing Remarks
	John Stanford, Ph.D., K-INBRE Program Director, University of Kansas Medical Center

12:00 PM	Boxed Lunches Available for Pickup	Ballroom Foyer