Three Penn graduate students have been selected as Medical Research Fellows by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Ryan Kiefer and Richard Maduka from the Perelman School of Medicine and Megan Clark from the School of Veterinary Medicine will each spend a year in a laboratory working with a mentor on a biomedical research project. Each Fellow will receive $41,000 in grant support.

Mr. Kiefer, a third-year medical student at the Perelman School of Medicine, will perform basic and translational science research under the mentorship of Terence Gade, an assistant professor of radiology who is part of the Penn Image-Guided Intervention Laboratory. They will study the metabolic stress response of live cancer in an effort to develop a novel imaging paradigm for dormant cancer states that may lead to improved detection and treatment.

Mr. Maduka, also in his third year at the Perelman School of Medicine, will perform basic science research under the mentorship of Celeste Simon, a professor of cell & developmental biology who runs her laboratory within Penn’s Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute. They will work to characterize the role of the HIF1-alpha gene and B lymphocytes in pancreatic cancer, and the mechanism by which these factors promote accelerated oncogenesis.

Ms. Clark, a second-year student at Penn Vet, has pursued immunology research in the lab of Phillip Scott, professor of microbiology & immunology in Penn Vet’s department of pathobiology. Ms. Clark will use a murine model to examine how tissue-resident memory T cells migrate into non-inflamed skin sites and how they are retained in the skin to provide protection against leishmaniasis.