Of Note

FL Research Fest 2014 Spotlights Scientific Achievements

Research Fest 2014, the Scripps Florida Society of Research Fellows’ (SF-SRF) fifth Scientific Symposium and Vendor Show, which drew 250 participants, spotlighted the scientific accomplishments of postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, presented a vendor showcase and provided a networking forum for the early-career researchers.

Prizes were awarded to oral presenters, who had been chosen from among 40 people submitting abstracts:

First Place: Matthew Gardner, postdoctoral fellow in the Farzan lab, for “A CCR5-mimetic sulfopeptide converts CD4-Ig to an exceptionally broad and potent inhibitor of HIV-1 entry.”
Second Place: Jun Yung Choi, postdoctoral fellow in the Roush lab, for “The Discovery of Novel anti-Chagas Agents Targeting T. cruzi CYP51.”
Homa Ghalei, postdoctoral fellow in the Karbstein lab, for “Release of Ltv1 by the yeast casein kinase 1 δ and ε homolog Hrr25 is necessary for ribosome assembly and cellular growth and impacts the assembly of the mRNA binding channel.”
Prosenjit Mondal, postdoctoral fellow in the Gill lab, for “The role of insulin decoy receptors in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance.”
Xin-an Liu, postdoctoral fellow in the Puthanveettil lab, for “A molecular motor, Kif5C, controls synaptogenesis by transporting RNA cargos for local translation.”
Cullen Schmid, postdoctoral fellow in the Bohn lab, for “Novel ligands at the mu opioid receptor that display bias toward G protein coupling over βarrestin2 recruitment.”
Graduate Student Award: Scott Baker, from the Grill lab, for “Identification of a peptide inhibitor of the RPM-1/FSN-1 ubiquitin ligase complex.”

Selected from among 34 poster presentations, award winners were:

First Place: Sohail Khoshnevis, postdoctoral fellow in the Karbstein lab, for “ATP Hydrolysis by the DEAD-box protein Rok1 Releases the Assembly Factor Rrp5 from pre-40S Ribosomes.”
Second Place: Sonali Deshpande, postdoctoral fellow in the Ja lab, for “Deciding between food and sex.”
Third Place: Sherie Wright, postdoctoral fellow in the Wee lab, for “A 5-HT1A receptor-mediated mechanism in the BNST is associated with cocaine-seeking behavior.”
Graduate Student Award: Francisco Garcia, Carroll lab, for “Design of Nucleophile-based Therapeutics for Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 1B.”

“The symposium was greatly supported by the department chairs from Scripps Florida, Deborah and Louis Scampavia and the LaBovick Law Group, with a total of $1,750 given in the form of awards to the oral presenters and best three poster presenters,” said Reji Nair, SF-SRF president.

Research Fest 2014 organizers included Audrey Richard (scientific chair), Amy Clipperton-Allen and Youjun Chen (vendor show co-chairs), Ignacio Sarria and Cesare Orlandi (raffle prize co-chairs) and staff members Michael Matrone, Career and Postdoctoral Services program coordinator, and Chery Marra, graduate program coordinator.

Send comments to: mikaono[at]scripps.edu

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Of Note

FL Research Fest 2014 Spotlights Scientific Achievements