Ashley Brate has received the Graduate College Post-Comprehensive Research Award. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune demyelinating disease of the central nervous system characterized by the infiltration of immune cells across the blood-brain barrier. Alexander W. Boyden has been awarded a Postdoc Travel Award for Fall 2016 by the University of Iowa Postdoctoral Association for his research in Nitin J. Karandikar’s laboratory. Farah Itani received the Ada Louisa Ballard and Seashore Dissertation Fellowship for the spring 2017 semester. This award is offered by the graduate college and provides an opportunity for doctoral students to benefit from a final semester of protected and supported time to focus on the writing of their dissertations. Ms. Itani is a PhD student in the Immunology program, doing her doctoral thesis work in Dr. Nitin Karandikar's laboratory.