We are pleased to announce the GSA Poster Award winners from the 63rd Annual Drosophila Research Conference! Undergraduate and graduate student members of the GSA were eligible for the awards, and a hard-working team of postdocs volunteered their time as judges. Congratulations to all!


Undergraduate Students

1st Place: Abby Matt, Washington University in St. Louis

“Graphene Enabled Optical Control of Drosophila.”


2nd Place: Grace Woods, Lewis and Clark College

“The role of Thrombospondin in development and function of the Drosophila melanogaster neuromuscular junction.”


3rd Place: Jennifer McIntyre, University of California, Irvine

“Environmental Effects on the Epigenetic Silencing of Transposable Elements.”

Graduate Students

1st Place: Aarya Vaikakkara Chithram, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

“Developmental axon guidance cues are critical for adult neuronal survival.”


2nd Place: Maren Janz, University of Osnabrück  

“Endosomal maturation in Drosophila nephrocytes depends on a trimeric Rab7 GEF complex.”


3rd Place: Menglin Li, University of California, Santa Barbara

“Rhodopsin 3 regulates circadian periodicity.”