News - Dr. Allie M. Graham

Spring 2026

Bailey (UNL undergrad) presents her UCARE summer research on ptarmigans at their annual undergrad symposium. Dr. Graham helped her analyze lots of tissue specific transcriptome data.
💰Congrats to Zach for receiving travel funding from the University to help pay for his trip to Copenhagen for SMBE
👋 Lane decided to join the Graham Lab after their rotation. Excited to have them start working with the Drosophila projects!
🏛️ Dr. Graham is now affiliated with the KU Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Institute!
🎉 Big Congrats to Marion for her admittance into a PhD program for Biomedical Sciences. We are excited about her future!
📰 Dr. Graham's work in Current Biology was highlighted as a "Fun Fact" in the French Popular Science magazine Epsiloon
🍾 January 2026: Congrats to Dr. Graham for the renewal of her NIH NIGMS R00 for a second year - the lab is privileged to have the continued support of the NIH!
Larissa presented preliminary results from her genomic analysis of Peromyscus at the 24th Annual K-INBRE Symposium in Overland Park, KS
🎉 Congrats to Owen who has been awarded the Undergraduate Research Award (UGRA) for studying endocranial casts of mammal skulls to ascertain evidence of sensory tradeoff!
👍 Welcome to Lane! They will be in the lab for a few months during their 3rd rotation - working with the Drosophila populations from Peru and Ethiopia.

✈️ Dr. Graham and collaborator Dr. Meyer (Lehigh) are co-organizing a symposia at the 2026 Annual SMBE meeting in Copenhagen
Dr. Graham is now officially affiliated with the KU EEB Department, and also the KU NIH Chemical Biology Program!
🎉 Zach successfully submits a SICB Grant-In-Aid proposal. Syeda successfully submitted to the American Heart Association Predoctoral fellowship. Crossing fingers for everyone!
👋 The Graham Lab continues to grow - Ana M (sophomore CS major) and Maya W (c/o Cartwright lab while she is on Sabbatical)

Dr. Graham begins teaching "BIO 595: Human Genetics" - a course she has redone from scratch. Wish her luck!
👍 August 2025: Syeda, Zach and Nicasio presented their work at the Annual KU MB Departmental Symposium - it was everyone's first poster they've ever presented. Zach won a prize for his poster too. It was a wonderful experience for everyone!

🔬The Current Biology paper is gaining popularity! : Interview with Science News, Interview with NPR Short Wave which resulted in a highlight on NPR All Things Considered (Jul 10th)
🎉 Larissa has been awarded the Undergraduate Research Award (UGRA) working on finding genes under selection in highland versus lowland Peromyscus populations!
😎 Graham Lab undergrad activities - Marion is doing an NSF REU at Cal State San Marcos (link to her experience); Larissa is working with collaborators at University of Nebraska-Lincoln on Ptarmigan transcriptomics/methylomics. Jackson will be continuing to work on their projects throughout the summer.

🎉 Congrats to Saborni for being awarded funding from the KU MB Howieson Opportunity Fund
Graham Lab undergrads present their preliminary work at the 28th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium - congrats to Cara for being awarded an "Outstanding Poster Presentation"!
🔬 Dr. Graham publishes in Current Biology based on work from her K99 at the University of Utah! Exciting results that will open up new research avenues.
🎉 Congrats to Cara on getting into graduate school! She was accepted into Georgetown for their Biomedical Masters program, but will defer until she finishes a postbac in Kansas City. So proud!

👍 The Graham Lab has its first PhD students! Syeda Begum will work on the NIH funded hypoxia-zebrafish projects, and Zach Opoka will work with our ctenophores to understand the evolution of oxygen homeostasis
More KU Undergraduates join the lab - including Owen Dalton, Jackson Wunderlich, and Nicasio Jurani.
🍾 January 2025 : The Graham Lab is awarded a grant from the National Institute of Health (NIGMS R00) to work on the molecular basis of response to hypoxia using Zebrafish (Danio rerio).

🍾 Dr. Jason Presnell has been awarded a New Faculty Research Development Award (NFRD) going towards work on gut development in ctenophores; Saborni has been awarded the Undergraduate Research Award (UGRA) working on odorant receptors and hypoxia in Drosophila. We're off to a great start!
KU Undergraduates join the lab as the inaugural members of the Graham Lab - including Walter Waxman, Marion Berzansky, Saborni Chakraborty, Cara Goodnight, Larissa Rockenbach (KU MARC).
August 2024 : The Graham Lab officially opens at the University of Kansas!