2025 Red Squirrel Travel Award recipient —Tiffany Feng

Tiffany Feng is a fourth-year Biochemistry Specialist and Chemistry major and the 2025 Red Squirrel Travel Award recipient. Tiffany has had the opportunity to work under Professor Walid Houry in the Departments of Biochemistry and Chemistry and presented her research through an oral presentation at the Southern Ontario Undergraduate Student Chemistry Conference (SOUSCC) in March 2025, hosted by the University of Guelph.

Through this experience, Tiffany presented her x-ray crystallography research to a broader academic audience, while connecting many inspiring students and faculty members from across Ontario. She also had the opportunity to learn about topics ranging from theoretical quantum mechanics to organic synthesis, discovering a strong interest in structural biology. She is now pursuing additional projects using cryo-EM and is currently applying to biochemistry and structural biology PhD programs, where she hopes to continue advancing knowledge in the field.

As the inaugural recipient of the Red Squirrel Travel Award, she is deeply grateful to Professor Reinhart Reithmeier and the Department of Biochemistry for their generous support, which made her conference experience possible and will help create similar opportunities for future students.