CMGM-Mentored Undergrad Student Wins Poster Award at Walter Lawrence Research Conference 2025
Anusri Arun Prasath (middle) with her PI, Dr. Qinglian Liu, standing on the right. On the left is Justin Kidd, CMGM graduate student and Ansuri’s lab mentor.
By Natalie Luffman
Department of CMGM
VCU School of Medicine
Email: luffmanng@vcu.edu
Date: October 14, 2025
The VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center hosted its annual Walter Lawrence Research Conference in September, which included a variety of speaker presentations, poster sessions, and workshops for both faculty and students. Attendees were allowed to hear about research from Massey’s three research categories: Cancer Biology, Cancer Prevention & Control, and Developmental Therapeutics. Posters were presented by students from a variety of research labs and degree programs, and were critiqued by a selection of judges who awarded the top three best poster presenters in each category based on “scientific merit, cancer impact, clarity, and presentation”. Anusri Arun Prasath, an undergraduate who is mentored by Dr. Qinglian Liu, was selected as one of three 2025 Walter Lawrence Research Conference Poster Award winners in the Developmental Therapeutics category for her poster titled “Investigating the Unique Interactions of Yeast and Human Hsp70–Hsp110 Machineries to Treat Cancer and Fungal Infections.”
Anusri is currently a sophomore undergraduate, majoring in biology with minors in chemistry and pre-med. She is investigating the interaction of yeast and human Hsp70-Hsp110 machineries to treat fungal infections as part of her tenure in the Liu lab in the CMGM Biophysics & Physiology Department. Anusri began her work in the Liu lab as a freshman and continued during the summer through the 8-week-long VCU Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program. Today, she continues to work in the lab with the mentorship of CMGM graduate student Justin Kidd. She emphasizes the significance of her research project in providing “a foundation for understanding how cellular quality control systems evolved and how they can be selectively targeted, which allows for the creation of a new class of antifungals” and how it may ultimately “improve outcomes for immunocompromised patients, who are especially vulnerable to opportunistic fungal infections such as those caused by Candida albicans”.
Anusri plans to attend VCU’s School of Medicine or potentially pursue a PhD/MD degree. By integrating her love for molecular mechanistic analysis with her passion for clinical medicine, Anusri plans to stay in the Richmond area to continue to “grow both as a physician and as someone committed to advancing patient-centered care in the community [she] already serves.”
With a successful lab experience under her belt, Anusri recommends that other undergrads looking to get into research be proactive. Whether it is looking for a lab to join, trying to learn a new lab technique, or overall engaging with your project, Anusri emphasizes that proactivity is at the center of becoming a successful scientist who isn’t afraid to fill in the gaps.
CMGM congratulates Anusri on her poster award and wishes her all the best in her future research career!