Undergraduate wins GENOPITCH funds

Blake Fauskee (UMN Duluth Biology ‘19)

Undergraduate student Blake Fauskee and Dr. Grusz were recently awarded $2,500 in sequencing-related costs from the University of Minnesota Genomics Center as part of the Genopitch North competition. As one of four invited pitches, Fauskee competed with faculty from the Medical School and the Department of Biology at UMN Duluth—ultimately being chosen by the audience and a UMGC representative to win the $2,500 prize. The award will defray costs of DNA/RNA sequencing for the project, “Does Specialized RNA Editing Shape Evolutionary Rates in Land Plants?”