Congratulations to the VBS Graduate Students
June 10, 2026
Supporting and mentoring graduate students is a key aspect of the VBS Department mission. We wanted to honor the graduate students for their noteworthy achievements and accomplishments.
Fernanda Fumuso, D.V.M., successfully defended her second Ph.D. thesis entitled, "Tartrolon E: A new drug candidate against Apicomplexan parasitic diseases." Fernanda is advised by VBS Associate Professor Roberta O'Connor. Congratulations Fernanda!
Michaela Cain, fourth-year CMB student, successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis entitled, "Development of Pichinde virus vector platform for T Cell-targeted vaccines and immunotherapy." Michaela is advised by VBS Professors Yuying Liang and Hinh Ly, and will continue working in the Liang/Ly lab as a Postdoctoral Associate. Michaela also received an invitation to receive an NIH T32 CTSI postdoctoral fellowship, if successful this funding support will assist her continued research in the Liang/Ly lab as a postdoc. She also was notified of an award for an NIH predoctoral F31 fellowship, which is a fellowship for predoctoral students that may apply three times a year. Congratulations Michaela!
Marissa Wood-Sternburgh, successfully defended her M.S. thesis entitled, "Epigenomics of traumatic brain injury in mice." Marissa is advised by VBS Associate Professor Peter Larsen and is pursuing a career in neurodegenerative research. Congratulations Marissa!
Brigitte Flannery, was selected out of 194 outstanding doctoral candidates across the UMN to receive the 2026-27 Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship from the Office of Graduate Fellowships and Awards with the UMN Graduate School. Congratulations Brigitte!
