Ashley Smith Wins Best Science Presentation Award

By: TAMU Biology

TAMU Biology is proud to announce that Ashley Smith, an undergraduate researcher from the Jen Dulin lab in the Department of Biology, has been awarded the Best Science Presentation Award in the undergraduate category at the UT CARE Research Day.

The UT CARE Research Day is a prestigious conference dedicated to promoting research aimed at developing rehabilitative therapies to restore musculoskeletal or neurological function lost due to injury, disease, or other disabling events. This year’s conference featured groundbreaking research from leading scientists and promising young researchers.

Ashley Smith presented her research titled “Effects of manipulating anterior and posterior identities of spinal cord neural progenitor cell grafts for spinal cord injury.” Her work focuses on how the phenotypic identity of neural progenitor cells (NPCs) plays a role in the successful integration of grafted NPCs into a host after a cervical spinal cord injury. This research highlights the importance of understanding NPC phenotypes to improve the outcomes of spinal cord injury treatments.

In addition to her recent accolade at UT CARE Research Day, Smith also won an award at Student Research Week earlier this year with the same poster, further demonstrating the impact and significance of her research.

The Jen Dulin lab at TAMU focuses on advancing our understanding of neural repair mechanisms and developing effective therapies for spinal cord injuries. Smith’s achievements underscore the lab’s commitment to excellence in research and its dedication to training the next generation of scientists.