Speakers & Guests

Ilhem Messaoudi

Keynote speaker

Acting Vice President for Research, University of Kentucky

Dr. Ilhem Messaoudi was appointed Acting Vice President for Research at the University of Kentucky in September 2024.

As Acting Vice President for Research, she leads the university’s research enterprise, overseeing the development of research proposals, administration of grants and contracts, human subjects protection, 14 multidisciplinary research centers and institutes, and eight service core facilities. She provides leadership for university’s eight Research Priority Areas focused on addressing Kentucky’s most pressing challenges.

Dr. Messaoudi serves as principal investigator on several, multi-million-dollar federal grants, with research focusing on the dysregulation of immunity by substance use disorder, age and obesity. Her research has expanded to maternal health, fetal development and the role of the immune system in childhood development. She has published more than 150 scholarly articles and is the recipient of several national research awards.

Joining the faculty at the University of Kentucky in 2021, Dr. Messaoudi is currently a professor and chair in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics in the College of Medicine. She is leading the renovation of the university’s BSL-3 facility, that allows UK researchers to safely study airborne infectious agents. She leads the Consortium for Understanding and Reducing Infectious Diseases in Kentucky (CURE-KY) to combat the threat of infectious diseases through transdisciplinary research. She has a leadership role on the Kentucky Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Task Force, a group collecting data, expanding telehealth, training providers on intimate partner violence, and focusing other statewide collaborations to target obstetrical causes and social determinants associated with maternal death.

Dr. Messaoudi earned a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and Ph.D. in immunology from Cornell University and Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s joint Immunology Program. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute at Oregon Health & Science University. She currently serves on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and is a Fellow at the American Academy of Microbiology.

Postdoc Talk Competition

The Postdoc Talk Competition is an opportunity for postdocs to showcase and present their research or scholarly work to a scientifically diverse and educated audience in 10 minutes.

Winners will be selected by a panel of faculty judges based on speaker's proficiency in communication, enthusiasm, language, visuals, and articulation of research. For more details see the scoring rubric here: Postdoc Talk Competition Scoring Rubric

Prizes: $300 for 1st place, $200 for 2nd place

Jess Bills | Arts and Sciences | Biology

All eyes on the spiny mouse: an emerging model for retinal regeneration

Rachel Washburn | Arts and Sciences | Kentucky Geological Survey

Into the Void We Go: Kentucky Caves and the Search for New Drugs

Jennifer Xu | Health Sciences | Athletic Training and Clinical Nutrition

Performing Home Rehabilitation Exercises and Wearing Minimalist Shoes During Daily Activities Improves Pain and Function in Adults with Plantar Fasciopathy

Juan Feng | Agriculture, Food and Environment | Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Fungi-mediated bioleaching

Bhamiti Sharma | Engineering | Center for Applied Energy Research

Synthetic Graphites from Coal Extracts for Li-Ion Batteries

Postdoc Slam Competition

The Postdoc Slam Competition is an opportunity for postdocs to tell an appealing story about their research or scholarly work to a general audience (i.e. non-specialist audience) in 3 minutes or less with a single static slide. It is an exercise in research distillation and is intended to help researchers communicate effectively with a non-specialist audience.

Winners will be selected by a panel of science communicators based on speaker's proficiency in communicating and engaging with a non-specialist audience. For more details see the scoring rubric here: Postdoc Slam Competition Scoring Rubric

Prizes: $200 for 1st place, $150 for 2nd place, $100 for 3rd place, $50 for 4th place

Mohammad Dehghan Banadaki | Engineering | Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

A Pocket-Sized Lab for Big Public Health Problems

Daniëlle Coenen | Medicine | Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry

Small cells go big: from a simple cut to a complicated skin wound

Deepak Kumar | Engineering | Electrical & Computer Engineering

Tunable Fluorescent Patterns in Polystyrene via Electron Beam Irradiation for Imaging Applications

Fernando Mosquera Jaramillo | Agriculture, Food and Environment | Veterinary Science

Can high performance lead to injury?

Mubashir Hussain | Engineering | Biomedical Engineering

Dye-Free Time-Resolved Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging for Blood Flow Assessment in Rat Skin Flaps

Felicity Hills | Arts and Sciences | Physics & Astronomy

Precision Magnetometry: (Nearly) Everything is Magnetic, So What Do We Do About It?

Mahdi Eskandarian Boroujeni | Medicine | Microbiology, Immunology, & Molecular Genetics

From Viruses to Obesity: How Pregnancy Stressors Rewire the Placenta’s Immune System

Vivek Pandey | Medicine | Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation

Neural Jumpstart: Restoring Autonomic Function After SCI

Dohyo Jeong | Medicine| Internal Medicine

When Overdoses Happen but Help Is Far Away

Abhilash Prabhat | Medicine | Physiology

Heartfelt Timing: Eat Right on Time

Postdoc Poster Session

From Textbook to Lab: Postdocs Present to UK Undergraduate Aspiring Scientists

The Postdoc Poster Session is an opportunity for postdocs to share their research in a relaxed atmosphere with fellow researchers on campus. Posters are encouraged to be accessible to a broad academic audience including graduate students, postdocs, and faculty from a wide spectrum of disciplines.

The theme this year is From Textbook to Lab: Postdocs Present to UK Undergraduate Aspiring Scientists which is why winners will be selected by a panel of undergraduate research ambassadors based on quality of content, display, and oral presentation. For more details see the scoring rubric here: Postdoc Poster Competition Scoring Rubric

Prizes: $200 for 1st place, $150 for 2nd place, $100 for 3rd place, $50 for 4th place

For more details, please visit the Posters page

Career panel

The career panel is intended to showcase the breadth of careers that PhDs and postdocs choose to pursue and give graduate students and postdocs an opportunity to learn from the career paths of established professionals.

Jarrad Gollihue

Researcher and Development Master Distiller | RD1 Spirits

Jarrad Gollihue is Researcher and Development Master Distiller for RD1 Spirits. In this science-heavy position, he oversees RD1’s wood-finishing operations and experiments with novel woods to create distinct, whiskey-tasting experiences. At the RD1 Distillery in Lexington, Gollihue educates consumers on bourbon distillation, agriculture and flavor chemistry. A Kentucky native, Gollihue earned his bachelor’s degree in Horticulture Sciences and doctoral degree in integrated plant and soil sciences, both from the University of Kentucky’s Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.

Jasmine Woods

Scientist | Procter & Gamble

Dr. Jasmine Woods is a scientist at Procter & Gamble, where she works on the Personal Health Care Analytical team, supporting digestive wellness innovation. She earned her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences under the mentorship of Dr. Steven Van Lanen and completed her postdoctoral training in Dr. Stefka Spassieva’s lab. Her technical expertise includes chromatography, bacterial expression, natural products, protein engineering, and neurobiological techniques. Dr. Woods is excited to share insights on navigating the transition from academia to industry and how she has leveraged her scientific training to create real-world impact in consumer health.

Mary Wallace

Research Scientist | Lepidext

Mary Wallace is a Research Scientist at Lepidext Inc., an early-stage biotechnology company based in Lexington, KY, developing virus-based biopesticides for sustainable pest control. A Kentucky native, Mary completed her PhD and postdoctoral training in Entomology at the University of Kentucky, where her research focused on applying molecular tools to manage forest insect pests.

She joined Lepidext in 2024 and now leads R&D efforts spanning molecular biology, field trials, and product development, while also contributing to grant writing, commercialization strategy, and stakeholder engagement. Mary remains actively engaged in Kentucky’s growing startup ecosystem and is passionate about translating academic research into real-world solutions. Having recently transitioned from academia to industry, she enjoys sharing her experience and supporting other scientists exploring diverse career paths.

Shravani Prakhya

Senior Technical Account Manager | GenScript

Shravani Prakhya is a Senior Technical Account Manager at GenScript, where she provides strategic account management and high-level technical support across molecular biology, peptides, mRNA, and CRISPR services. Before joining GenScript, she was a graduate student and postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry at the University of Kentucky, in the Whiteheart Lab. Her research explored the role of platelet mitochondrial metabolism in hemostasis and thrombosis. Originally from India, she holds an Integrated Master of Science in Systems Biology from the University of Hyderabad.

Soroosh Torabi

Research Associate | NSF ESCAPE

Soroosh Torabi, Ph.D., is a research associate at the NSF Pandemic Environmental Surveillance Center for Assessing Pathogen Emergence (NSF ESCAPE) in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Kentucky. His work focuses on developing molecular and cellular diagnostics for global health. He also mentors early-stage startups through the Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship.

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