On March 28, 2025, students and faculty mentors were highlighted at Penn Vet’s 2025 Student Research Day, an annual symposium at Penn Vet that has been held for nearly 20 years. Veterinary students John Bullock, Jasmine He, Elizabeth Taylor, Abigail Hamilton, and Elissa Williams and VMD-PhD student Tiffany Wu gave oral presentations on their research. In addition to the oral presentations, over 30 VMD and VMD-PhD students, who have performed research in Penn Vet’s academic departments and research centers and throughout the University, including the Perelman School of Medicine, and at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, shared their findings during the poster session.

Chosen by a faculty panel through a competitive judging process, the Richard O. Davies Awards for Oral Presenters were:

• John Bullock, Identifying Regulators of Ribosomal RNA levels in Hematopoiesis
• Jasmine He, Evaluation of a CD19-Targeted Monoclonal Antibody to Deplete Canine B Cells Via Immunological Mechanisms
• Elizabeth Taylor, Lameness in Conventional Compared to Organic Swine Finishing Facilities
• Abigail Hamilton, Lamellar Epithelial Cell Death and Proliferation in Naturally Occurring Supporting Limb Laminitis
• Elissa Williams, FOG2S657G Increases ADRB1 Expression, Promoting Increased Contractility and Leading to Coronary Microvascular Disease (CMVD), and
• Tiffany Wu, Type III Collagen Alters Anabolic and Catabolic Responses in Murine Cartilage.

Poster awardees were:

• Raegan Petch, Mutations That Positively Affect Bandavirus Glycoprotein Function on VSV
• Audrey Griffith, Determining the Role of Type 2 Diabetes-Associated Genes in Adipocyte Differentiation and Function
• Emmalyn Tavani, Comparative Genome Synteny as a Tool to Identify Important Copy-Number Alterations in Canine Mammary Cancer
• Yasmeen Samar, Poster Slam Category, Most Creative, Factors Influencing Flank, Tail, and Ear Lesions in Conventionally Housed Finishing Pigs
• Avery Munster, Poster Slam Category, Most Concise, Optimization, Comparison, and Validation of Real-Time Quaking-Induced Conversation of PRPCWD to Detect Chronic Wasting Disease in Wild White-Tailed Deet from Frozen, Formamlin Fixed, and Formalin Fixed Paraffin-Embedded Retropharyngeal Lymph Nodes, and
• Lola Uliano, Poster Slam Category, Crowd Favorite, Studying the Effects of Collagen Coatings on Implantable Biomaterials and Synthetic Implants.