GEMS provides an opportunity for students and young scientists to become engaged in current scientific topics. Our meetings give young investigators a forum to network with other scientists and to showcase new research. Award winners typically use their grants for attending professional meetings that otherwise they may have been unable to afford. The GEMS competition gives students and trainees from government, colleges and businesses in North Carolina an opportunity to hone their presentation skills, meet with senior investigators and peers, and learn more about new trends in biomedical research.

2010 GEMS Spring Meeting

Lifetime Achievement Award
GEMS recognized its founding president, Dr. Larry Claxton, with its third Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Claxton recently retired from the EPA where he was a former division director, contributed to hundreds of scientific publications, and participated in many collaborative reports for the EPA and the Gene-Tox Program. He was known as an expert on the toxic response of diesel exhaust emissions and of other complex mixtures. He led an EPA sponsored bioremediation effort twenty years ago to help clean up the beaches at Prince William Sound, Alaska following the oil spill from the Exxon tanker, Valdez.

In his acceptance speech, Dr. Claxton offered some words of wisdom for the younger scientists in the audience. He indicated that he was pleased to see that the speakers were aware of many of the same issues that had been brought up in the early days of the Gene-Tox program, based on their responses to questions about the inherent problems associated with in vitro tests. Dr. Claxton acknowledged that a team effort is required to have a successful career in science, and he tipped his hat to the previous speakers for evidently working cooperatively and sharing there work, based on the familiarity and knowledge that they had expressed about each other's contributions to the Tox21 project. 

To GEMS members,

Thank you very much for the wonderful honor -- Lifetime Achievement Award. It was a great surprise when I first heard of it because GEMS has so many deserving members. It was wonderful to be with you at the Spring Meeting, and to get to talk to many of you there.

Thanks especially for many years of wonderful memories and opportunities. As I noted in my acceptance speech, GEMS has provided me (especially in my early years in science) with many opportunities to enlarge my experiences in society work, presentation skills, and personal communication with other scientists. I urge all students, postdocs, and junior scientist to take advantage of all the opportunities that GEMS offers.

Sincerely yours,
Larry D. Claxton

2009 GEMS Fall Meeting

Award winners at the 2009 GEMS Fall Meeting reported on their research at North Carolina State University, Integrated Laboratory Systems, the Environmental Protection Agency, Duke University, and the University of North Carolina.

Best Poster Presentation Awards ($250 each)

  • Amanda Smith, (Ph.D. student with Dr. Joel Meyer) Division of Environmental Sciences and Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC: “Mitochondrial fusion and autophagy aid in removal of persistent mitochondrial DNA damage”
  • Raju Prasad (Ph.D student with David DeMarini), Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the EPA: “The Genotoxicity of Titanium Dioxide and Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles”


Best Platform Presentation Awards ($1500 each)

  • Stephanie L. Smith-Roe, Ph.D. (Post-Doctoral with Dr. Bill Kauffman), Dept. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: “Replication Fork Protection Proteins Timeless and Timeless-Interacting Protein (Tipin) Maintain Genomic Stability”
  • Stacy Winham, (Ph.D. student with Dr. Alison Motsinger-Reif), Department of Statistics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC: “The effect of retrospective sampling on estimates of prediction of eror for data mining methods to detect epistasis”

2008 GEMS Fall Meeting

Winners at the 2008 GEMS Fall Meeting reported on their ongoing research at Wake Forest University (WFU), North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T), and the University of North Carolina (UNC):

Best Poster Presentation Awards ($250 each)

  • Yu Cheng, lead author of “Genetic and epigenetic inactivation of TNFRSF10C gene in human prostate cancer.” Cheng is a doctoral student in the WFU Molecular Genetics and Genomics program.
  • Christopher Walkes, lead author of “Role of p38 in diepoxybutane-induced apoptosis in human lymphoblasts.” Walkes is a master's student in the Department of Biology at NC A&T.

Best Platform Presentation Award ($1,500)

  • Jacquelyn Bower, lead author of “ATM and topoisomerase IIα are required for the maintenance of chromosomal integrity through G2/M decatenation checkpoint signaling.” Bower is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center working with NIEHS grantee William Kaufmann, Ph.D.

2007 GEMS Fall Meeting

Best Poster Presentation Awards ($250 each category):

  • Amy McCalla-Martin, doctoral candidate in the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University, for “p19Arf Expression in Transient Vasculature Systems of the Developing Mouse,” with co-authors Thornton DJ, Mary MN, Skapek SX.
  • Albert R. Wieglus, Ph.D., post-doctoral fellow in the NIEHS Laboratory of Pharmacology and Chemistry Photobiology Workgroup, for “UVA and Visible Light-Induced Cytotoxicity of Fullerol in Human Lens Epithelial Cells,” with co-authors Roberts JE, Boyes WK, Andley U, Chignell CF.

Best Platform Presentation Award ($1,500 stipend for professional development):
  • Carleitta Paige, doctoral candidate in the Department of Biochemistry at Wake Forest University, for “The Type III Pantothenate Kinase in Bacillus anthracis Is a Likely Candidate for Therapeutic Intervention against Anthrax Infection,” with co-authors Reid SD, Hanna P, Claiborne A.
25th Anniversary Presidents Travel Award ($1,800 contribution by presidents of GEMS to support travel to the Environmental Mutagen Society 2008 Meeting in Puerto Rico):
  • Dana Dolinoy, Ph.D., post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Duke University.
  • Michele LaMerrill, curriculum in Toxicology in the Department of Genetics, Center for Environmental and Health Susceptibility at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.