{"id":235847,"date":"2025-09-25T12:31:46","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T16:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=235847"},"modified":"2025-09-25T12:34:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T16:34:36","slug":"9th-annual-postdoc-research-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/09\/9th-annual-postdoc-research-day\/","title":{"rendered":"9th Annual Postdoc Research Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 9th Annual Postdoc Research Day (PDRD) on September 18 brought together postdocs from UConn Health and The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine for a day of scientific exchange, recognition, and community building.<\/p>\n

\"Postdoc
Postdoc Research Day 2025’s poster session.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Open to all, the half-day event featured dynamic oral and poster presentations from postdocs and a keynote address by Dr. Nenad Sestan. Nearly 70 attendees, including faculty, staff, graduate students, and postdocs, gathered in the Academic Rotunda to celebrate the wide-ranging contributions of UConn Health\u2019s postdocs community, hear about each other\u2019s research, and engage in professional development opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cPostdoc Research Day is one of the highlights of our academic year,\u201d said Dr. Chris Heinen, director of Postdoctoral Affairs at UConn Health. \u201cIt gives our postdocs a platform not only to present their cutting-edge research but also to connect with peers, mentors, and collaborators across disciplines.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, 21 postdocs participated in Speak4Science<\/em>, each presenting their research in four minutes to describe their research methods, findings, and potential impact to a general audience. The judges recognized Drs. Corie Owen, Caroline Haney, and Tasnif Rahman for delivering the top three presentations.<\/p>\n

\"Keynote
Event’s Keynote Speaker Dr. Nenad Sestan.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The keynote lecture was delivered by Sestan, a nationally recognized leader in neuroscience, whose talk highlighted his work spanning neurodevelopment and genomics, and underscored the importance of mentorship and collaboration in research careers. He was introduced by UConn Health and Jackson Laboratory Postdoc Association (UJPDA) member Katarina Milicevic.<\/p>\n

Following the keynote, the afternoon poster session fostered lively conversations as postdocs shared their findings with colleagues and faculty. The event concluded with a reception, where attendees networked and celebrated the day\u2019s achievements.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvents like PDRD showcase not only the depth of postdoctoral research but also the enthusiasm of our scientific community,\u201d said Milicevic. \u201cIt\u2019s inspiring to see so much talent and potential in one room.\u201d<\/p>\n

As UConn Health looks ahead, PDRD remains a vital tradition \u2014 one that honors dedication, showcases innovation, and reaffirms the institution\u2019s commitment to training future leaders in biomedical research.<\/p>\n

A special thanks to PDRD\u2019s organizing committee, Director of Postdoctoral Affairs, Chris Heinen<\/strong>, Tomi Faniyan<\/strong> (UConn Health), Katarina Milicevic<\/strong> (UConn Health), Luke Trinity<\/strong> (JAX), John Stout <\/strong>(UConn Health), Patience Shumba<\/strong> (UConn Health), as well as Jane Tran Sills<\/strong> (UConn Health) and Sarah Wojiski <\/strong>and Rowena Grainger<\/strong> (JAX), who all worked hard to develop a wonderfully successful event.<\/p>\n

Thank you to all attendees for making PDRD a great success and we look forward to seeing you next year for our tenth anniversary of this special event.<\/p>\n

\"Postdoc
Postdoc Research Day Organizing Committee with Dr. Nenad Sestan. From the left: Drs. John Stout, Patience Shumba, Chris Heinen, Nenad Sesta, Katarina Milicevic, and Luke Trinity (not shown: Tomi Faniyan).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Speak4Science Short Talk Awards:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1st<\/sup> Place:<\/strong> Corie Owen, Jaffee Lab, UConn Health
\n\u201cLuteinizing hormone-induced interfollicular communication in the mouse ovary.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

2nd<\/sup> Place:<\/strong> Caroline Haney, Courtois Lab, The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine
\n\u201cSpatial insights into endometriosis: mapping fibroblast and neuroimmune niches involved in pain.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

3rd<\/sup> Place:<\/strong> Tasnif Rahman, Agmon Lab, UConn Health
\n\u201cTowards Multi-Scale Models of Gut Microbiome-Host Interactions using the Vivarium<\/em> Interface.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Postdocs from UConn Health and The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine gathered for an exciting day of scientific exchange. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":235854,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388,2076,1868,1875,179,2233],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1873],"class_list":["post-235847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthcare-workforce","category-research","category-meds","category-grad-school","category-uconn-health","category-university-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-24 11:00:59","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235847"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":235855,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235847\/revisions\/235855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/235854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235847"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=235847"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=235847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}