Mass General Brigham for Children Digestive Disease Summer Research Symposium
The MIBRC Digestive Disease Summer Research Program culminates in the annual research symposium, at which the students present their work.
Agenda for the 2025 Summer Research Symposium
Friday, August 15th, 2025
CNY Building 114 - 1st Floor Conference Room D
8:30 – 8:35 am
Bryan P. Hurley, PhD: Introduction & Acknowledgements
Director - Mass General Brigham for Children Digestive Disease Summer Research Program
8:35 – 8:50 am
Elizabeth Skinner, Williams College
Mentor: Victoria Martin, MD, MPH
“Developmental Shifts in Th2B Cell Populations Among Atopic Children Ages 1-3 years".
8:50 – 9:05 am
Emily Muenzer, Carleton College
Mentor: Sarita Patil, MD
“Molecular Determinants of a Cooperative Antibody Interaction during Peanut Oral Immunotherapy".
9:05 – 9:20 am
Max Reinhardt, College of the Holy Cross
Mentor: Wayne Shreffler, MD, PhD
“Regulation of IL-9 production by TGF family members in memory CD4+ Th2 cells".
9:20 – 9:35 am
Taryn Lane, Colgate University
Mentor: Maureen Leonard, MD
“Maltodextrin and Corn Syrup Solids-Induced Changes to the Gut Microbiome and the Implications for GI Pathology”.
9:35 – 9:50 am
Tessa Venanzi, Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart
Mentor: Lael Yonker, MD
“RSV Immunology: A Summary”.
9:50 – 10:00 am
Coffee Break
10:00 – 10:05 am
Introduction of Keynote Speaker – Sarita Patil, MD
10:05 – 11:05 am
2025 Keynote Lecture
“From endotoxin to microbiome: Environmental and microbial influences on lung health”
Peggy S. Lai, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine
Mass General Brigham
Agenda for the 2024 Summer Research Symposium
Friday, August 9th, 2024
Building 114 - 1st Floor Conference Room D
8:30 – 8:35 am
Bryan P. Hurley PhD: Introduction & Opening Remarks
Director - MGfC Digestive Disease Summer Research Program
8:35 – 8:50 am
Aleia Gisolfi-McCready, Davidson College
Mentor: Rachel Wooten MD
“Characterizing Health Behaviors Among Adolescents with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in a Longitudinal Cohort"
8:50 – 9:05 am
Yicheng "Danie" Liang, University of California (Davis)
Mentor: Chien Wen Su PhD
“Quantitative Analysis of Dopamine Levels in Murine Intestinal and Brain Samples Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography"
9:05 – 9:20 am
Brianna Fountain, College of the Holy Cross
Mentor: Wayne Shreffler MD PhD
“Evaluating the role of the adhesion molecule PECAM1 on GPR15-mediated T Cell Migration in Eosinophilic Esophagitis"
9:20 – 9:35 am
Allison Chan, Brown University
Mentor: James Moon PhD
“Testing affinity of T-cell receptors specific to a highly conserved gut commensal bacterial antigen”
9:35 – 9:50 am
Karen "Kayn" Girsang, Brandeis University
Mentor: Xingbin Ai PhD
“A pipeline to identify specific host factors that interact with RSV viral protein”
9:50 – 10:05 am
Callie Rheinheimer, DePauw University
Mentor: Enid Martinez MD
“Examining mRNA expression of zonulin and the zonulin target receptor (PAR2) in two compartments of the murine gastrointestinal tract"
10:05 – 10:25 am
Coffee Break
10:25 – 10:40 am
David Le, Albany Medical College
Mentor: Ali Zomorrodi PhD
“Uncovering Gut Microbiome Biomarkers of Celiac Disease using Long-Read Metagenomic Sequencing"
10:40 – 10:55 am
Helen Cedzidlo, Tufts University
Mentor: Christina Faherty PhD
“Studying Surface Adherence Proteins in Shigella flexneri”
10:55 – 11:10 am
Sophie Thompson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mentor: Daniel Irimia MD PhD
“The impact of human serum on modulating neutrophil swarming ex vivo”
11:10 – 12:15 pm
2024 Keynote Lecture
Introduction of Keynote Speaker – Christina Faherty PhD
“Actin poorly: cytoskeletal manipulation by enterohemorrhagic E. coli during intestinal colonization”
John Leong MD PhD
Edith Rieva and Hyman S. Trilling Professor and Chair
Molecular Biology and Microbiology
Tufts University School of Medicine
12:15 – 12:20 pm
Bryan P. Hurley PhD: Concluding Remarks & Acknowledgements
12:20 pm
Lunch