Publications

KEY: Bold text- GVSU professor *GVSU undergraduate(s) **Graduate student 

Laudicina, N. M., *Piasecki, E., Stoller, M., & Cartmill, M. (2025). Obstetric Constraints in Six Monkey Genera. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 187(3), e70092.

*Long, E., *Piasecki, E., Uy, J., Laudicina, N. (2025). The Effects of Gut Volume and Parity on the Pubis. Humans, 5(2), 13.

Norconk, M.A., Thompson, C.L., Vreedzam, A., Atsalis, S., Ledogar, J.A., Landburg, C. & Wright, B.W. 2025. Ecological resilience in a primate community in Suriname affected by gold mining. Biotropica. 57(2): e70007.

*Schena, N. C., *Baker, *K. M., Stark, *A. A., Thomas, D.P., Cleary, I.A. 2025. Constitutive ALS3 expression in Candida albicans has differential effects on yeast-locked tet-NRG1 and brg1D strains.  Folia Microbiologica. 2025 Jul 1. doi: 10.1007/s12223-025-01288-y. Online ahead of print.

Professor Grants/Funding

CSCE Dissemination grant (Professor Natalie Laudicina)

Dissemination Travel Grant.  2025.  GVSU Center for Scholarly and Creative Excellence. (Professor Ian Cleary)

Extramural funding from Skytron, LLC ($5,896.78). Project title: Visium UV-C Fixtures: A Test of Germicidal Effectiveness on Surfaces in a Simulated Operating Room (Professor Doug Graham)

GVSU Career Center Internship Mini-grant. ($2,000). Development of the Biomedical Sciences Internship Program: Funds from the grant will be used to develop a user-friendly, informational webpage for the Biomedical Sciences internship program. A strong web presence will serve as a base for promoting our internship program to students and employers. (Professor Cynthia Thompson)

GVSU Open Access Publishing Support Fund-funded Humans manuscript with undergraduates. (Professor Natalie Laudicina)

Society Event Grant – Candida and Candidiasis 2025, Germany.  Microbiology Society. (Professor Ian Cleary)

Conferences, Presentations, and Posters 

KEY: Bold text- GVSU professor *GVSU undergraduate(s)  ** Co-first authors   ***Graduate student 

Brandt, E.E., “Sex and survival in conflict: singing, dancing, and jumping arthropods”. GVSU, Department of Biology, Allendale MI, October 2025

Brandt, E.E., “Sex and survival in conflict: singing, dancing, and jumping arthropods”. Loyola University ofChicago, Department of Environmental Sustainability, Chicago IL, April 2025.

Brandt, E.E., “Sex and survival in conflict: singing, dancing, and jumping arthropods”. Grand Valley StateUniversity Department of Biomedical Sciences, Allendale MI, February 2025. 

Brandt, E.E., “Under (hydraulic) pressure: an integrative approach to spider jumping. Society forIntegrative and Comparative Biology, Atlanta, GA, January 2025.

*Britton, C., *Garcia, M.A., *Thomas, D.P. Cleary, I.A. 2025.  Rescuing Candida albicans adhesion and stress resistance defects in yeast-locked strains. Candida and Candidiasis 2025. Berlin, Germany.

***Kelley, Jaylyn, Sylvester Frank, The role of temperature and oxygenation in kidney transplant storage optimization. Michigan Physiological Society Conference 2025, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, June 2025

Laudicina, N.M. and *Long, E. Pelvic dimension comparisons between precocial and altricial species and the idea of human "secondary altriciality". Podium presentation for invited symposium at the American Association of Biological Anthropologists meeting. Baltimore, MD. March 2025.

*May, M.D., *Noyes, C.P., Cleary, I.A., Thomas, D.P.  2025. Conservation of function between Candida albicans filamentation regulators and Candida auris genes. Candida and Candidiasis 2025. Berlin, Germany.

***Relan, A., ***DeRemer-Young, P., Laudicina, N., VanSickle, C. Advanced Maternal Age Pregnancies and the Birth Canal: Investigating the Role of Skeletal Remodeling. The 2025 Osteopathic Medical Conference and Exposition (OMED25), Nashville, Tennessee, September 2025.

**Yokley, T.R., **Laudicina, N.M., Kufeldt, C., ***Furtner, M., ***Rhinehart, P., Anemone, R.L. (2025). Primates from Smiley Draw: Geologic, Geospatial, and Biostratigraphic Investigations of an Extraordinarily Rich Fossil Assemblage in the Great Divide Basin of Southwestern Wyoming. American Association of Biological Anthropologists Conference. March 2025.

Student Scholars Day, Summer Showcase & Undergraduate Research Conference

KEY: Bold text- GVSU professor *GVSU undergraduate(s)

*Aiken, C., and Baxter, M.A. (2025) Effect of Polar Mutation in SPI-6 of Salmonellaenterica serovar Typhimurium on Biofilm Formation and Fitness. Student ScholarshipDay 2025, Allendale, Michigan. April 2025

*Britton, C., *Garcia, M.A., Thomas, D.P. Cleary, I.A. 2025.  Rescuing Candida albicans adhesion and stress resistance defects in yeast-locked strains. Student Scholars Day. Grand Rapids, MI, USA

*Curtin, B.M., Cleary, I.A., Thomas, D.P. 2025. Do Two Similar Phosphatases Act on the same Substrates? Summer Scholars Showcase. Grand Rapids, MI, USA.  This poster was also presented at the 2025 West Michigan Regional Undergraduate Science Research Conference. Grand Rapids MI, USA

*Eshelman, M., *Valkenburg, J., *Rizzo, E., *McDowell, A., *Gallagos-Sanchez, L., *Memelli, G., *Morgan, G., *Phillips, T., Shabani, S. (2025) Methamphetamine and morphine use has profound effects on body temperature. West Michigan Regional Undergraduate Science Research Conference, Allendale, MI. Poster

*May, M.D., Cleary, I.A., Thomas, D.P. 2025. The role of two Candida albicans genes in the multidrug-resistant Candida auris. Summer Scholars Showcase. Grand Rapids, MI, USA.

*May, M.D., Cleary, I.A., Thomas, D.P. 2025 The Role of Several Candida albicans Genes in Multidrug-Resistant Candida auris.  West Michigan Regional Undergraduate Science Research Conference. Grand Rapids MI, USA.

*Rizzo, E., *Eshelman, M.,*Valkenburg, J., *McDowell, A., *Gallagos-Sanchez, L., *Memelli, G., *Morgan, G., *Phillips, T., Shabani, S. (2025) Interaction of trace amine-associated receptor 1 and mu-opioid receptor influence on motivational behaviors. West Michigan Regional Undergraduate Science Research Conference, Allendale, MI. Poster.

Student Grants

OURS awarded a $500 grant to Cayden Steinebach for his project titled: Introducing Cellulolytic Gene Cel7a into E. coli.  (Professor Doug Graham)

P. Douglas Kindschi Undergraduate Research Fellowship in the Sciences. Fall 2025.  GVSU Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship.  Examining the function and interactions of C. auris phosphatases in C. albicans. With Brady Curtin and Derek Thomas.  Status: Funded.  Role Co-PI.

Student Summer Scholar (S3) 2025.  GVSU Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship.  Do two genes from Candida albicans have the same function in the emerging and drug resistant human pathogen Candida auris? With Makenna May and Derek Thomas.  Status: Funded.  Role Co-PI.

Student Awards

Cayden Steinebach was selected as a Kindschi fellow for 2025. (Professor Doug Graham)

Sawyer Barton was awarded the Frederik Meijer Honors College's Excellence in Collaborative Research Award for her Honor's Thesis: "Developing a noninvasive technique for heat shock protein quantification in mammalian feces." Sawyer, a biology major, did her research fully in the Biomedical Sciences Department. (Professor Cynthia Thompson)

Emma Long received the 2025 BMS Undergraduate Excellence in a Discipline Awardee (Professor Natalie Laudicina’s research student)