The Precision Genomics Collaboratory (PGC) is committed to supporting graduate students in scientific and educational efforts that bolster their graduate training experiences.
Since 2021, PGC has awarded nearly 100 student pilot grants, each worth $2,000. Students have used their awards for sequencing and library preparation at Duke Core Facilities, and purchasing antibodies, enzymes, reagents and other lab equipment for research projects. Some have used their funds to attend conferences, trainings, and other professional development opportunities.
Vianna Martinez used her funds to conduct RNA sequencing of adult and juvenile cartilage tissue with and without the growth factor BMP13. “This provided information on BMP13-dependent as well as age-depending signally pathways for first-time transcriptomic insight on how BMP13 affects articular cartilage extracellular matrix homeostasis,” Martinez said.
Jackie Liao used his funds for library prep at the 10X Genomics Core Facility to help in pilot research focused on immune cells isolated from the colon. “Our goal was to elucidate the epigenetic regulation during the developmental pathways of the immune cells in the colon,” Liao said.
CJ Arnold’s grant helped get support from both the Substrate Services Core Facility and the Microbiome Core Facility. He was also able to process and analyze 12 lung samples from six distinct lungs. “The pilot grant played a crucial role in initiating this therapeutic research direction, providing essential financial support for these key analytical steps,” Arnold said.
Aside from research, several of our awardees have used their awards to pay for various professional development opportunities.
Phoebe Lee attended the 2024 Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques Course at Max Planck Florida Institute, a two-week intensive imaging course. “I was able to experience different imaging techniques through lab rotations and attend seminars with imaging experts from different fields,” Lee said.
Duc Huynh attended a six-week advanced neurobiology course at the Marine Biological Institute. He was able to get hands-on experience in cellular and molecular approaches in neurobiology and gain exposure to diverse learning opportunities. Huynh collaborated with 24 faculty members and 18 teaching assistants and delve into the theory and applications of genetic, imaging and electrophysiological tools. “The program afforded me a chance to leverage my career trajectory,” Huynh said. “After working closely with two faculty members on two separate projects, they invited me to visit their lab in-person for a postdoc interview.”
Enya Dewars used some of her funds to attend that American Heart Association Conference. Rachel Meade attended the Disease Models & Mechanism Conference in London where she presented a poster. Following the conference, she was invited to speak at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics Institute in Hinxton, England.
Our students are forming the next generation of scientists, researchers, and clinicians. The support we are able to provide them with today is bringing them more opportunities for the future.
Our next deadline for submissions is June 15, 2025.