Chandan Maurya, a postdoctoral fellow from the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at the U of A, won first place in the postdoctoral poster competition at the Arkansas Bioinformatics Consortium (AR-BIC) 2024 conference.

The AR-BIC event, known for spotlighting the academic contributions of early career scientists & students dedicated to the fields of innovation and scientific discovery, took place at the 10th annual meeting. This gathering occurred at the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel in North Little Rock on Feb. 26-27, drawing an assembly of over 200 professionals from the state.

Maurya's winning presentation was titled "Globodera Pallida RHA1B Protein Functions as a Meta-Effector: Manipulating the Stability of Other Pathogenic Nematode Effectors." Maurya is under the guidance of Joanna Kud from the Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology. The conference was inaugurated with a welcoming video message from Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, setting a tone of high esteem and anticipation for the event.

The competition's judging panel comprised representatives from several prominent research institutions across the state, including the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), Arkansas State University (A-State), the FDA's National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR), the U of A, the Arkansas Research Alliance (ARA) and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB).

Bryan Barnhouse, president and CEO of the Arkansas Research Alliance, commended the contributions of the state's young scientists to the future of innovation and discovery, stating that recognizing their achievements is both a privilege and an honor.

About AR-BIC: The AR-BIC conference, with its focus on the Real-World Impact of AI, attracted experts and enthusiasts from various domains of biology, bioinformatics and data science. The event is renowned for its commitment to fostering a collaborative environment that encourages communication and leverages expertise and resources in the rapidly evolving fields of data science and bioinformatics. Highlights of the two-day conference included presentations by notable guest speakers such as Dr. Namandjé Bumpus, the Federal Drug Administration's chief scientist and principal deputy commissioner, and Dr. Rich Woychick, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).