Best in Show
5th Annual PPS Research Symposium Shines Spotlight on Students, Postdocs in Department of Pharmacological & Pharmaceutical Sciences
With a record number of projects accepted for presentation, the Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences held its 5th Annual PPS Research Symposium Aug. 10-11 at the Elizabeth Rockwell Pavilion in UH's MD Anderson Library.
In addition to poster and oral presentations by students and postdoctoral reseachers, the symposium welcomed its 2017 Scholar-in-Residence Jeff Aubé, Ph.D., Eschelman Distinguished Lecturer at the University of North Carolina, for scientific and career-development talks.
Following the sessions, first- and second-place awards were bestowed to the top graduate student and postdoctoral researchers.
The two graduate students were recognized with poster presentation awards were:
First Place —
Sameer Nikhar for his project, "Optimization of pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidinones as dual ALK2/RIPK2 or preferential RIPK2 inhibitors," with coauthors
Alexei Degterev, Ph.D., of Tufts University and
Gregory D. Cuny, Ph.D., UHCOP assistant professor.
Second Place —
Santosh Suryavanshi for his project, "Mechanistic role of human mAKAP polymorphisms in cardiovascular disorders," coauthored by UH student
Kody Anderson,
Shweta Jadhav, M.S., and
Bradley McConnell, Ph.D., FAHA, FAPS, UHCOP associate professor.
Graduate students receiving awards for their oral presentations were:
First Place
— Hesong Liu for her project, "Animal model of early life stress: understanding stress resilience and susceptibility," coauthored by fellow UHCOP Ph.D. students
Fatin Atrooz and
Ankita Salvi and
Samina Salim, Ph.D., UHCOP assistant professor.
Second Place
— Henrietta Abodakpi, Pharm.D. ('16), for her project, "Prevalence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase and carbapenemase-producing bloodstream isolates of klebsiella pneumoniae in a tertiary care hospital," with coauthors
Kai-Tai Chang, Ph.D., UHCOP research associate;
Ana María Sánchez-Díaz, Ph.D., and
Rafael Cantón, Ph.D., of
Servicio de Microbiología, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal and Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Sanitaria (IRYCIS), Madrid, Spain; Todd M. Lasco, Ph.D., formerly of CHI St. Luke's Health-Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center; and Vincent H. Tam, Pharm.D., BCPS (AQ-ID), UHCOP professor.
The top two postdoctoral oral presentations were delivered by:
First Place — Anamitra Ghosh, Ph.D., for his presentation, "Ethanol upregulates Munc13-1: A possible implication in presynaptic physiology and alcoholism," with coauthors Jessica Wooden, Sean Badal, Pharm.D. student; J. Leigh Leasure, Ph.D., UH associate professor; and Joydip Das, Ph.D., UHCOP associate professor.
Second Place — Indira Pokkunuri, Ph.D., for her project, "Simulated vehicle exhaust exposure causes age-related impairments in the kidneys of adult rats," with coauthors Ankita Salvi, PPS Ph.D. student; and Samina Salim, Ph.D., and Mohammad Asghar, Ph.D., UHCOP assistant professors.
To view more photos from the symposium, please visit our Flickr album.
