{"id":38874,"date":"2025-08-04T14:04:44","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T18:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=38874"},"modified":"2025-08-04T14:05:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T18:05:57","slug":"furman-student-researchers-win-big-at-national-protein-science-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/furman-student-researchers-win-big-at-national-protein-science-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Furman student researchers win big at national protein science meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Furman University master\u2019s student Ryan Galloway M \u201925 and undergraduate Lana Geiger \u201926 won awards for outstanding poster presentations at The Protein Society<\/a> 39th Annual Symposium in San Francisco recently. They presented their research on Candida glabrata, a type of yeast resistant to antifungal treatment. Known for its shape-shifting virulence, the pathogen can be deadly in elderly patients and people with autoimmune conditions.<\/p>\n

Galloway, of Mesa, Arizona, was one of 25 winners of the graduate poster awards amid competition from doctoral and master\u2019s candidates in the United States and abroad. Geiger was one of only five students to receive a poster award in the undergraduate division. Both conduct research in the lab of Meghan Breen<\/a>, assistant professor of chemistry.<\/p>\n

\"Three

From left: Meghan Breen, Lana Geiger and Ryan Galloway stand at a poster at The Protein Society Symposium. Some text is intentionally blurred.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cDr. Breen has created an environment that empowers me to grow as a scientist,\u201d said Galloway, who came to Furman with a bachelor\u2019s degree in biochemistry. \u201cI have the freedom to think independently in the lab. I\u2019ve developed skills like experimental design and the ability to analyze and communicate results.\u201d He also extended shoutouts to undergraduates Alexandria Walgren \u201928 and Yusra Naeem \u201927 for their roles in the project.<\/p>\n

Galloway investigates how specific molecular triggers regulate alternative carbon metabolism, or the plan B food supply for C. glabrata under stress. It\u2019s a process important for understanding the harmful yeast\u2019s ninja-like ability to dodge immune response.<\/p>\n

Geiger works with Breen, Galloway and other researchers to develop a genetic code expansion system to study how the proteins work in C. glabrata and how it\u2019s able to shield itself against antifungal drugs.<\/p>\n

Galloway\u2019s and Geiger\u2019s projects were supported by SC INBRE<\/a>, an initiative funded by the National Institutes of Health to boost biomedical research capacity in South Carolina. Both researchers intend to pursue doctorates and count Breen\u2019s mentorship as integral to their plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Breen is a great mentor,\u201d Geiger said. \u201cShe\u2019s approachable, supportive and cares about all of us. She prioritizes learning through our lab work \u2013 it\u2019s so much more than just cranking out data.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahead of the awards ceremony, Geiger, who\u2019s from Lancaster, South Carolina, joked with Galloway about making it to the session so they could collect their awards. \u201cBut then we actually got awards,\u201d she said. \u201cThat was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A graduate student, Ryan Galloway M ’25, and undergraduate, Lana Geiger ’26, tackle harmful yeast Candida glabrata with guidance from Assistant Professor of Chemistry Meghan Breen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":257,"featured_media":38877,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,92,43,35,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chemistry","category-chemistry-graduate-studies","category-graduate-studies","category-parent-news","category-undergraduate-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38874"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38884,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38874\/revisions\/38884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}