Biological and Life Sciences
Sunanda Rajput
University of Nebraska at Kearney
“Sex Differences in Innate Immune Response Following Peanut Exposure”
Sunanda Rajput is an international student from India who received her bachelor’s degree in biology in 2020 from the University of Minnesota-Morris. Thereafter she worked as a medical scribe at a pain clinic and then worked as a research technician under Drs. Joseph Dolence, Kimberly Carlson, and Nicholas Hobbs at the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK). She got her M.S. at UNK in 2024, during which she investigated sex differences in immune responses following peanut exposure in mice under the supervision of Dr. Dolence. The study indicated a crucial role that mast cells may be playing to further activate ILC2 through TNF-alpha, a connection that is unknown in peanut-specific immune responses. The finding of the research creates a foundation that will better allow us to understand how sex hormones modulate the immune responses to peanuts. Her thesis work was selected for UNK’s Best Thesis Award in Natural Sciences. Currently, Sunanda is pursuing her medical degree at William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine. She intends to keep scientific research at the core of her medical practice while pursuing her passion in teaching and helping people.
Biological and Life Sciences Honorable Mention: Nicole Dziedzic (University of Illinois Chicago), “Can Plant Functional Traits Be Used as Integrators of Environmental Stressors in Urban Areas?”