Tickets: There will be 3 total tickets in your welcome bag. The 2 yellow tickets are drink tickets for Saturday night, while the blue ticket is for food trucks on Saturday afternoon. Please reach out immediately if you are missing a ticket.

MIKIW 2026 Schedule of Events:

Friday

Time

Agenda Item

Location

3:00 – 5:00 pm

Registration and Hotel Check-in

 

6:00 – 9:00 pm

Welcome Reception

Brown Deer Golf and Country Club

1900 Country Club Drive, Coralville, IA 52241

Saturday

8:00 – 8:50 am

Breakfast and Poster Set-up

CPB

180 S Grand Av. Iowa City IA, 52242

8:50 – 9:00 am

Opening Remarks

CPB 210

 

Student Presentations – Session 1

CPB 210, 110 Overflow

9:00 – 10:00 am

Speakers 1-3

 

9:00 – 9:20 am

Speaker 1: Rachel Crawford

The University of Iowa

Beyond H2O2: Carnosine scavenging and bioenergetic consequences of catecholamine metabolites in the heart

 

9:20 – 9:40 am

Speaker 2: Josephine Anderson

The University of Wisconsin-Madison

Maternally administered LSD rapidly reaches embryonic CSF and is associated with altered cortical development and adult behavior in mice

 

9:40 – 10:00 am

Speaker 3: Kelsey Holdaway

The University of Minnesota

Development of Covalent-Allosteric Inhibitors of Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 2

 

10:00 – 11:00 am

Poster Session 1

 

11:00 – 12:00 pm

Dr. Joseph G. Cannon Keynote Lecture

Keynote Speaker – Dr. Christopher McCurdy

 

CPB 210, 110 Overflow

12:00 – 1:30

pm

Lunch

CPB

12:45 – 1:15 pm

Promega Product Presentation (Optional)

CPB 210, 110 Overflow

 

Student Presentations – Session 2

CPB 210, 110 Overflow

1:30 – 2:30 pm

Speakers 4-6

 

1:30 – 1:50 pm

Speaker 4: Mario Alvarez

The University of Illinois – Chicago

Hybridization of Type II Proline-Rich Antimicrobial Peptides as a Strategy for the Evaluation of Translation Termination Inhibitors

 

1:50 – 2:10 pm

Speaker 5: Tristan Sprague

The University of Kansas

Cholesterol regulates γ-secretase catalysis by alleviating stalled enzyme-substrate complexes: Implications for Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis

 

2:10 – 2:30 pm

Speaker 6: Michael Garcia-Mares

The University of Iowa

Human-relevant PCB52 metabolites trigger mitochondria-dependent bioenergetic collapse in glia

 

2:30 – 2:45

pm

Break

 

2:45 – 3:45 pm

Poster Session 2

 

3:45 – 4:25 pm

Speakers 7-8

 

3:45 – 4:05 pm

Speaker 7: Julia Lee

The University of Minnesota

Design, Synthesis, And Evaluation of Small Molecule Leads for Diabetic Retinopathy

 

4:05 – 4:25 pm

Speaker 8: Ana Lopez-Hernandez

The University of Illinois – Chicago

Development of a Direct-to-Biology Pipeline for Aristoquinoline Analogues

 

6:00 – 6:45 pm

Faculty Mixer

Bread Garden Market 

225 S Linn St, Iowa City IA, 52240

6:30 – 10:00 pm

Formal Dinner

Bread Garden Market 

225 S Linn St, Iowa City IA, 52240

Sunday

8:00 – 8:50 am

Breakfast; Take down any remaining posters

CPB

 

Student Presentations – Session 3

CPB 210, 110 Overflow

9:00 – 10:00 am

Speakers 9-11

 

9:00 – 9:20 am

Speaker 9: Farjana Afroj

The University of Kansas

PeptiDEL Technology: Synthesis of Peptide-Based DNA Encoded Library

 

9:20 – 9:40 am

Speaker 10: Kailey Said-Lathrum

The University of Iowa

Sorbs2 regulates vascular smooth muscle cell phenotype plasticity and vascular tone

 

9:40 – 10:00 am

Speaker 11: Yuan Zhao

The University of Wisconsin-Madison

LRP1-Targeting Chimeras for Degradation of Extracellular Secreted and Membrane Proteins

 

10:00 – 10:20 am

Break

 

10:20 – 11:20 am

Speakers 12-14

 

10:20 – 10:40 am

Speaker 12: Laura Hirsch

The University of Minnesota

Development of Highly Potent and Selective Dual Degraders of Aurora Kinase A and N-Myc for Neuroblastoma Therapy

 

10:40 – 11:00 am

Speaker 13: Luke Harding

The University of Illinois – Chicago

Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of novel benzodiazepines as thioredoxin glutathione reductase inhibitors for the eradication of schistosomiasis

 

11:00 – 11:20 am

Speaker 14: Krishna Chaitanya Gurajala

The University of Kansas

Investigation of Glyoxal Induced DNA-Protein Crosslinking

 

11:20 – 12:00 pm

Award Ceremony, Announcements

 

12:00 – 1:00 pm

Lunch (Panera Boxed Lunches); Planning Session for MIKIW 2027

CPB

 

Poster Session Assignment:

Session 1Session 2
  1. Bryan A Magana
  1. Angela Nguyen
2. Jake Schmitt2. Anna Nguyen
3. Jacob Cowley3. Grant Berkbigler
4. Kelsey Holdaway4. Maria I. Quiros
5. Jerrett Holdawway5. Natalia Makaro
6. Bo Zhou6. Alexis M. Stoorza
7. Margaret Hill7. Mya Fegaras
8. Soumajit Gayen8. Cole Friederichs
9. Richard Foster 9. Thomas Pavey
10. Leonardo Lugo10. Abigail C. Blatz
11. Xuankun Chen11. Brandon B. Schuldt
12. Raven Coil-Otto12. Emily L. Wells 
13. Ehfazul Haque13. Kate J. Dallmier
14. Maryam Nazari14. Joseph Noel-Torres
15. Noha Taher15. Ngoc Pham
16. Tsering Tashi16. Yiming Nie
17. Mackenzie R. Ringer17. Ameena Salim
18. Isabella Jacobsen18. Sindhuja Rangisetty
19. Juliet Jelu reyes19. Nina J. Hawkins
20. Jacob Lee20. Jackson W. Berryman
21. Trevor Dean21. Tanushree R. Pal
22. Michael Garcia-Mares22. Ryan Friess
23. Kostana Ligori23. Alexis Mann
24. Shenell F. Brown24. Moyosore O. Orimoloye
25. Kusha Sameeha Malpath25. Joshua A. Legaspi
26. An T. Trinh26. Ju Hong
27. Emmanuel Bonsu27. Alondra López Colón
28. Kevin A. Kunz28. Sang Vo
29. Mark C. Kelley29. Pranjali Pawar
30. Zhe Wang30. Caroline M. Roach
31. Srujana Mohanty31. Clarence Peiris
32. Danielle Quindel 32. Dana Sorensen
33. Mandisa Timba33. Atonu Chakrabortty 
34. Megan J. Jurek34. Nusha Mikolchak
35. Ebuka Onyeyilim35. Milo J. Garceau
36. Tsung-Yu Yeh36. Joe McPherson 
37. Thao-Vy T. Nguyen37. Elliott Peterson
38. Regina Stasser de Gonzalez38. Nathan Gentilman
39. Sarah Torrence39. Farzana Kabir
40. Sarah Preston40. 

 

Saturday Dinner Seating Assignments:

Table 1

Shenell Felicia Brown

Ameena Salim

Nicholas Kalogriopoulos

Nina Hawkins

Kusha Sameeha Malpath

Aneek Banerjee

Ngoc Pham

Dave Roman

Margaret Hill

Emily Wells

Table 2

Jacob Lee

Megan Jurek

Pavel Petukhov

Benjamin Quell

Jackson Berryman

Abigail Blatz

Tanushree Pal

Joanna Burdette

Carston R. Wagner

Yuan Zhao

Table 3

Andrew James Cipriano

Zebulon Gnida

Gunda I. Georg

William Pomerantz

Caroline Roach

Anjali Kaushal

Wayne Thomas Shier

Atonu Chakrabortty

Steven Bloom

Mauricio Bahena Garcia

Table 4

Juliet Jelu

Cody Wenthur

Bryan Magana

Jon Doorn

Leonardo Lugo

Farjana Afroj

Grant Berkbigler

Matthew Russolillo

Irina Zhilinskaya

Bryan Lampkin

Table 5

Farzana Kabir

Syrah Starnes

Luke Harding

Manan Kothari

Lauren Hanna

Srujana Mohanty

Christopher R. McCurdy

Soumajit Gayen

Weiping Tang

Nusha Mikolchak

Table 6

Kailey Said-Lathrum

Claire Dickson

Dave Martin

Isabella Jacobsen

Angela Nguyen

Moyosore Orimoloye

Sindhuja Rangisetty

Shifali Choudhary

Kelsey Holdaway

Bo Zhou

Table 7

Natalia Makaro

Kyle Hooper

Victor Fadare

Daniil Ahiadorme

Megan Dillman

Mackenzie Wyllie

Reinner Ochola Omondi

James Franke

Rachel Crawford

Jennifer E. Golden

Table 8

Cecilia Ezeanya

Laura Hirsch

Vishuka Pathirana

Kevin Lucio-Acero

Mya Fegaras

Elliott Peterson

Ethan Miranda

Shyam Sathyamoorthi

Nathan Gentilman

An Trinh

Table 9

Angelica Ramos

Debasmita Paul

Luke Erber

Zhe Wang

Thomas Pavey

Mackenzie Ringer

Ryan Richard Friess

Arthur Acuna

Jerrett Holdaway

Mandisa Timba

Table 10

Noha Taher

Kostana Ligori

Adam Duerfeldt

Van Vu

Danielle Quindel

Nathan Charles Dillman

Jared McLendon

Yelisbeth Santa Villafañe

Sarah Preston

Andrew Riley

Table 11

Daniel Harki

Thao-Vy Nguyen

Tristan Sprague

Maria Isabel Quiros

Maryam Nazari

Chloe Cox

Joe McPherson

Jake Schmitt

David Tampa

Hannah Zuschlag

Table 12

Paul Carlier

Pranjali Dinesh Pawar

Clarence Diluxan Peiris

Ana Lopez-Hernandez

Josephine Anderson

Sarah Torrence

Raven Coil-Otto

Regina Stasser de Gonzalez

Kiersten Buck

Alondra López Colón

Table 13

Cole Friederichs

Dana Sorensen

Olivia Hjelm

Ju Hong

Emmanuel Bonsu

Terry Moore

Yiming Nie

Cynthia Okafor

Muhammed Jamshad Kongath

Kevin Rice

Table 14

Lilly Duff

Guangyu Zhang

Trevor Dean

Theresa Rudick

Michael Wolfe

Mark Kelley

Milo Garceau

Francis Awa

Joshua Legaspi

Jacob Cowley

Table 15

Alexis Mann

Julia Lee

Joanna Burdette

Zhendong Jin

Krishna C Gurajala

Kate Dallmier

Michael Garcia-Mares

Tsung-Yu (Lucas) Yeh

Ehfazul Haque

Table 16

Alexis Stoorza

Mark P. Farrell

Tsering Tashi

Ramesh Mudududdla

Xuankun Chen

Sang Vo

Joseph G. Noel Torres

Dale Eric Wurster

Table 17

Anna Nguyen

Ethan J Anderson

Iredia David Iyamu

Richard Foster

Brandon Schuldt

Kevin A Kunz

Nate Petrikas

Mario Alvarez

Ebuka Leonard Onyeyilim