Neha Mohanty
Institution: Vanderbilt University School of Medicine 
 Title:  Graduate Student
Affiliation: CBDS (Coate Lab)

Oral Presentation Award

Neha Mohanty is a 3^rd year PhD student in the laboratory of Dr. Katie Coate. Her research focuses on defining the mechanisms through which the α-cell-enriched transcription factor MAFB regulates adult human α-cell identity and function in health and disease. Because MAFB dysregulation has been suggested to be an early indicator of human α-cell dysfunction in diabetes pathogenesis, this work highlights MAFB and its downstream pathways as candidate therapeutic targets for restoring α-cell identity and glucagon secretion in Type 1 diabetes.

Paula Grace Nickles
Institution: Vanderbilt University School of Medicine 
 Title:  Graduate Student
Affiliation: CBDS (Coate Lab)

Poster Award

Paula Grace Nickles is a 3^rd year PhD student in the laboratory of Dr. Katie Coate. Her research examines how ceramide synthase 2 (CERS2) and its very-long-chain sphingolipid products regulate adult human β-cell function. She has found that loss of CERS2 depletes these lipids and impairs glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, with disrupted exocytosis and reduced mitochondrial respiration. Because sphingolipid dysregulation has been implicated in β-cell stress and failure during diabetes pathogenesis, these findings point to CERS2-derived sphingolipids as candidate targets for preserving β-cell function in Type 1 diabetes.

Ed (Enrique Eduardo) Sanchez-Castro
Institution: Washington University in St. Louis
Title:  Graduate Student
Affiliation: CMAD, PanKbase (Millman Lab)

Poster Award

Ed Sanchez-Castro is a 5^th year PhD student in the laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey R. Millman at Washington University in St. Louis. His research focuses on understanding and controlling cell-fate decisions during human stem cell differentiation into pancreatic islets. He integrates large-scale single-cell and multiomic datasets to build predictive models of in vitro pancreatic development and identify transcriptional and epigenetic regulators that can be experimentally targeted to improve β-cell formation and reduce off-target cell populations. Ultimately, his work aims to improve the consistency, identity, and function of stem cell-derived islets for diabetes research and cell replacement therapies.

Yiqun Wang
Institution: University of Michigan
Title:  Graduate Student
Affiliation: PanKbase (Liu Lab)

Poster Award

Yiqun Wang is a 4^th year PhD student in the Jie Liu Lab at the University of Michigan, pursuing dual training in Bioinformatics and Scientific Computing. His research focuses on AI, agentic AI, and multimodal AI for biomedical research. He has played a leading role in the PanKbase platform team, advancing AI-powered biomedical data infrastructure that integrates knowledge graphs, scientific literature, multimodal data, and intelligent agents. His work aims to make complex biomedical knowledge more accessible and actionable and to accelerate scientific discovery through next-generation AI.