At the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students that UVI students just returned from we had 2 winners.

Chinaemere Igwebuike won for outstanding oral presentation in development biology and genetics.

Stephan Bitterwolf won for outstanding poster in computational biology.

They each won $250.

Chinaemere is a junior biology major in the MBRS-RISE Program. He reported on research that he did this summer at Boston University Medical School studying a protein involved in kidney disease. He is also conducting research during the academic year with Dr. LaVerne Brown. He grew up on St. Croix and transferred to the St. Thomas campus after his freshman year.

Stephan is in the MARC Program. He reported on research initiated this summer at the University of Hawaii mathematically analyzing coral disease patterns. He is currently conducting research at UVI comparing Hawaiian corals with VI corals. His mentor at UVI is Dr. Marilyn Brandt. He grew up on St. Thomas.

UVI can be very proud of these students and the 18 other very professional students who participated in the conference in St. Louis that ended Saturday Nov 12. Approximately 1,500 students from over seven hundred (700+ universities) submitted abstracts for presentation at this conference.