2025 INTERACT Symposium Agenda
"Integrative Approaches to Zoonotic and Environmental Disease Control: Focus on Rural Communities."
Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025
| Time (CST) | General Track |
|---|---|
| 8:15 a.m. | Opening | Jared Taylor |
| 8:30 a.m. | Bioinformatics workshop organized by Dr. Agarwal |
| 11:30 a.m. | Lunch on your own |
| 1:00 p.m. | Introduction and Welcome Message from President Hess |
| Afternoon Session - Microbiome - Moderated by Dr. Joy Scaria | |
| 1:15 p.m. | Joseph Petrosino | Baylor College of Medicine | Metagenomics in the Age of Biosurveillance and Precision Medicine |
| 1:50 p.m. | Student Presentation | Tanim Islam | Oklahoma State University | An Antibiotic-Microbial Metabolite Strategy to Mitigate Resistance in Multidrug-Resistant Gram-Negative Pathogens |
| 2:05 p.m. | Vikram Gujar | Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences | Extracellular Vesicles as Mediators of Airway Inflammation: Molecular Insights from Human, Epithelial, and Bacterial Sources |
| 2:40 p.m. | Student Presentation | Nilandri Bhowmik | Oklahoma State University | Secondary Metabolite-Mediated Interactions Between Achromobacter dolens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Cystic Fibrosis Lung Environment |
| 2:55 p.m. | Aaron Wright | Baylor University | Activity-Based Profiling of Health and Disease in the Gut Microbiome |
| 3:30 p.m. | Coffee/Networking Break: 30 mins |
| 4:10 p.m. | Matlock Jeffries | Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation | Microbiome Contributions to Osteoarthritis: A Disease that Disproportionately Affects Rural Communities |
| 4:45 p.m. | Student Presentation | Amal Cheemadan | Oklahoma State University | Proof-of-Concept: Engineered E. coli Nissle 1917 to stably express CD27L endolysin enables targeted and sustained treatment of Clostridioides difficile infection. |
| 5:30 p.m. | Reception/Networking (Poster Session 1 – Students present during Reception displayed in Legacy Hall) |
Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025
| Time (CST) | General Track |
|---|---|
| 8:15 a.m. | Opening | Jared Taylor |
| Morning Session - Epidemiology/Computational - Moderated by Dr. Pratul Agarwal | |
| 8:30 a.m. | Dave Ussery | Oklahoma State University | A Genomic Epidemiology Approach to One Health in Oklahoma |
| 9:05 a.m. | Student Presentation | Paige Johnson | Oklahoma State University | TLR4 and Myd88/TRIF Signaling Serve as Novel Immune Sensor and Adapters of SARS-CoV-2-membrane (M) Protein Induced Immune Response |
| 9:20 a.m. | Patrick Stephens | Oklahoma State University | Using Machine Learning to Investigate Spillover of Ebolaviruses into Human Populations |
| 9:55 a.m. | Student Presentation | Anastasiia Oskolkova | Oklahoma State University | Resampling-Empowered Incremental Learning For Cost-Effective Data-Driven Diabetic Retinopathy Prediction |
| 10:10 a.m. | Coffee/Networking Break: 25 mins (Poster Session 2 – Students present during Coffee/Networking Break displayed in Legacy Hall) |
| 10:35 a.m. | Michael Wimberly | University of Oklahoma | A One Health Approach for Integrated Disease Surveillance and Forecasting |
| 11:10 a.m. | Jyoti Singh Saket | DUVASU | Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis of Goat mEVs (pre-recorded to be shown during break) |
| 11:25 a.m. | Student Presentation | Cody Whitley | Oklahoma State University | The anti-viral role of Blocking NOX Signaling During Coronavirus Infections |
| 11:45 a.m. | Lunch/Networking | Dave Ussery | Oklahoma State University | INTERACT: Past, Present, and Future Directions (Poster Session 2 – Students present during Lunch/Networking displayed in Legacy Hall) |
| 1:15 p.m. | Opening |
| Afternoon Session - Cancer - Moderated by Dr. Rudra Channappanavar | |
| 1:15 p.m. | James DeCaprio | Harvard, Dana Farber Cancer Institute | Contribution of Merkel Polyomavirus to Merkel Cell Carcinoma |
| 1:50 p.m. | Student Presentation | Kainat Ahmed | Oklahoma State University | Decoding the circRNA-miRNA-mRNA Regulatory Network in Hepatitis B Virus-driven Hepatocellular Carcinoma |
| 2:05 p.m. | Madhavi Kadakia | Wright State University | TIP60 and DNp63a: A therapeutic axis in targeting cisplatin resistance in Squamous cell carcinoma |
| 2:40 p.m. | Pankaj Kumar | Virginia Tech University | Extrachromosomal Circular DNA as a Driver of Oncogenic Amplification |
| 3:15 p.m. | Coffee/Networking Break: 30 mins (Poster Session 2 – Students present during Coffee/Networking Break displayed in Legacy Hall) |
| 3:45 p.m. | Ashish Ranjan | UT Southwestern Medical Center | Bridging Nanomedicine and Focused Ultrasound to Advance One-Medicine Cancer Care |
| 4:20 p.m. | Student Presentation | Bashar Albik | Oklahoma State University | Targeting the Unfolded Protein Response: A Novel Therapeutic Strategy for Ulcerative Colitis in Preclinical Rat Models |
| 4:35 p.m. | Sudhakar Jha | Oklahoma State University | PONDRing: To Be or Not to Be in Biomolecular Condensates |
| 5:10 p.m. | Student Presentation | Rakshaya Shrestha | Oklahoma State University | Differential TLR-ERK1/2 activity promotes viral ssRNA and dsRNA mimic-induced dysregulated immunity in macrophages. |
| 5:25 p.m. | Reception/Networking (Poster Session 3 – Students present during Reception displayed in Legacy Hall) |
| 6:00 p.m. | Dinner (Poster Session 3 – Students present after dinner displayed in Legacy Hall) |
| Evening Session - Karl Rich - Oklahoma State University - An Economist’s Journey Through the World of One Health - Moderated by Dr. Jerry Malayer | |
| Recognition of Sponsors and Award Presentation |
Friday, Oct. 24, 2025
| Time (CST) | General Track |
|---|---|
| 8:15 a.m. | Opening | Jared Taylor |
| Morning Session - Zoonotic Disease - Moderated by Dr. Xufang Deng | |
| 8:30 a.m. | Bassirou Bonfoh | Director of Afrique One | Remote/Zoom | Enhancing One Health Research Capacities to address endemic and emerging health threats |
| 9:05 a.m. | Student Presentation | Amandeep Singh | GADVASU | Modelling the Impact of Lumpy Skin Disease in India: Sociobehavioural Analysis, Epidemiology and Economics |
| 9:20 a.m. | Kelli Almes | US Department of Agriculture-APHIS | National Animal Health Laboratory Network H5N1 Outbreak Response |
| 9:55 a.m. | Karl Rich/Magda Rich | Oklahoma State University | Use of specialized participatory tools to develop systems models and impact assessments with stakeholders to help them co-conceptualize problems and co-create solutions |
| 10:30 a.m. | Saidu Oseni | OAU Nigeria | Multivariate Analysis of Health and Welfare Indicators of Broiler Chickens in Southwest Nigeria (pre-recorded to be shown during break) |
| 10:45 a.m. | Student Presentation | Lydia Martins | Oklahoma State University | Entrepreneurship And Innovation In Veterinary Telemedicine: Tackling Industry Challenges And Enhancing Producer-Veterinarian Connectivity |
| 11:15 a.m. | Renukaradhya Gourapura | The Ohio State University | Nanovaccines for Food Animals to Augment Mucosal Immunity |
| 11:50 a.m. | Chison Mumba | University of Zambia | A One Health Perspective on the Control of Anthrax in Game Management Areas of Zambia |
| 12:25 p.m. | Awards presentation |