Kansas students and investigators earn awards at national symposium

The National IDeA Symposium of Biomedical Research Excellence attracted more than 500 bioscience investigators from the 23 states and Puerto Rico to Washington, D.C. in early August.  At the symposium, Kansas students and new investigators picked up travel awards of $1,000 based on a competitive, peer review of submitted abstracts. Student honorees were Shylaja Apala from Wichita State University and Susan Suozzo of Kansas State University. New investigators who were travel award winners were Dr. Jianming Qiu of the University of Kansas and Dr. Sherry Fleming of Kansas State University.

“We’re delighted the meritorious abstracts of our Kansas students and new investigators were recognized at this national forum,” says Dr. Joan S. Hunt, principal investigator of the Kansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (K-INBRE) and University Distinguished Professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Sponsored by the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health, the National IDeA Symposium is held every two years to showcase the scientific and training accomplishments of the Institutional Development Awards (IDeA) initiative. The Kansas IDeA program is designed to foster multidisciplinary research centers with a thematic science focus so as to establish strong biomedical research infrastructures in IDeA states. In Kansas, the INBRE connects 10 academic campuses, encourages careers in biomedical research and promotes discoveries that lead to improvements in human health.