Current
First year
Saamera Awali
PhD Program: Pharmacology & Toxicology
Lab: Rockwell
Research: The effect of tBHQ and Nrf2 on dendritic cell maturation and function.
Maja Blake
PhD Program: DO/Pharmacology & Toxicology
Lab: Amalfitano
Research: The role of genetics and immunology in autoimmune disease and cancer.
Rajab Curtis
PhD Program: Comparative Medicine and Integrative Biology
Lab: Hammer
Research: The manipulation of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus metabolism with small molecules.
Ifeanyichukwu Eke
PhD Program: Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Lab: Abramovitch
Research: The development of new drugs against tuberculosis.
Dare George
PhD Program: Chemistry
Lab: Tepe
Research: The total synthesis of nagelamide W and its synthetic derivatives and exploring their potential biological activities as proteasome enhancers. He is also working on the development of a new class of novel small molecule activators of human 20S proteasome for proteolytic degradation of intrinsically disordered proteins.
Rabail Khan
PhD Program: Neuroscience
Lab: Leinninger
Research: The role of Neurotensin-Leptin receptor expressing neurons on energy balance.
Jess Moerland
PhD Program: Pharmacology and Toxicology
Lab: Abramovitch
Research: Nrf2 activation in the lung tumor immune microenvironment.
Tommy Reason
PhD Program: Chemistry
Lab: Babak Borhan and Sing Lee
Research: The biological activity of fatty acid metabolites.
Chiho Sugimoto
PhD Program: Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology
Lab: Robison
Research: The role of androgen receptors regulating brain circuits important for sexually dimorphic responses to stress.
Nat Yawson
PhD Program: Pharmacology and Toxicology
Lab: Bernard
Research: Nat is using an HTS model developed in the Bernard Lab to identify novel terpenoids that can block transformation induced by factors released from visceral adipose tissue.
Second Year
Haleigh Gilliland
PhD Program: Microbiology & Molecular Biology
Lab: Olive
Research: Dissecting host mechanisms that alter virulence activation and drug pathways in Mycobacterial species.
Jacob Howe
PhD Program: Neuroscience
Lab: Sortwell
Research: Inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome activation as a neuroprotective strategy against synucleinopathy in Parkinson's Disease.
Jariel Ramirez-Virella
PhD Program: Neuroscience
Lab: Leinninger
Research: Endogenous and pharmacological activation of Neurotensin Receptor-1 to modulate body weight.
Skye Henderson
PhD Program: Chemistry
Lab: Swain
Research: Development and application of electrochemical biosensors and chemical sensors for studying inhibitory neuromuscular signaling in the gastrointestinal tract.
Previously supported
Laura Chambers - Pharmacology and Toxicology
Kevin Chen – Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Shelby DeChow – Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Lucas Demey - Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Olivia Favor - Pharmacology and Toxicology
Bronson Gregory - Physiology
Taylor Fiolek - Chemistry
Rebecca Mueller - Neuroscience
Sophia Staerz - Chemistry
Chauncey Splichal - Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Anna Stoll – Pharmacology and Toxicology