Department of Ob-Gyn mentees share research at 2026 UW–Madison Undergraduate Symposium

Undergraduate student researchers mentored by faculty in the UW Department of Ob-Gyn brought nine posters and three oral presentations to the 2026 UW–Madison Undergraduate Symposium on April 17, 2026.

The annual Undergraduate Symposium showcases undergraduate creativity, achievement, research, service-learning and community-based research from all areas of study at UW–Madison including the humanities, arts, biological sciences, physical sciences, social sciences, and computer data and information sciences.

10-Minute Presentations:

• Do Ovaries of Naturally-Occurring High Testosterone Female Monkeys Grow Too Many Egg-Containing Follicles? - Grace Kim, Ella Weber, Lucia Castro, Meadow Leisen, Mohima Aich (mentored by David Abbott, PhD)
  
• Do Female Monkeys With High Testosterone Levels Exhibit Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)? - Lucie Hickey, Max Alper, Lamees Elhassan, Emily Huang (mentored by David Abbott, PhD)
  
• Do Polycystic Ovaries Accompany High Levels of Pituitary Luteinizing Hormone and Ovarian Testosterone Following Silenced Hypothalamic Estrogen Receptor Alpha Expression? - Phoebe Hayes (mentored by David Abbott, PhD)
  

Posters: 

• The Expression of Chromosome 19 microRNA Cluster (C19MC) microRNAs Following the Knockout of the Proposed Regulatory Region - Katherine Mahieu (mentored by Jenna Schmidt, PhD, and Michelle Koenig)
  
• Atovaquone-Induced Oxidative Stress Inhibits Proliferation of Endometriosis Cells - Navya Francis (mentored by Manish Patankar, PhD)
  
• The Regulation of Natural Killer Cell Trafficking and Adaptation During Pregnancy - Xiang Yi Chen, Roghyah Hasan (mentored by Mona Mohamed)
  
• Transient Ischemic Injury’s Effects on Pathological Agglutination in Rhesus Macaque Pregnancies - Arya Choudhury (mentored by Logan Keding, PhD)
  
• Modeling Lymphatic Dysfunction in Ovarian Cancer and Ascites Development – Aurora Swissdorf (mentored by María Virumbrales-Muñoz, PhD, and Ana Sofia Peraza Muñuzuri)
  
• Leveraging Fundation Models for Ovarian Lesion Segmentation in Ultrasound Images - Iris Xu (mentored by Irene Ong, PhD)
  
• Sex Differences in Rough-and-Tumble Play in Adolescent Common Marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) Treated With Leuprolide Acetate - Marcella Wait, Ellie Huebner (mentored by Gabriela De Faria Oliveira, Anthony Auger)
  
• Optimization of Western Blot for Detection of ATM/ATR, High-Molecular Weight Proteins, in Atovaquone-Treated Ovarian Cancer Cells - Meghana Roy Peddoddi (mentored by Sejal Sharma and Manish Patankar, PhD)
  
• Quantifying Placental Fibrin Deposition Following Transient Ischemia in the Rhesus Macaque Pregnancy - Eiman Ali Mir (mentored by Logan Keding, PhD)
  

Congratulations, all!