With research projects ranging from cancer and cardiovascular diseases to inflammation and infectious diseases, students and postdoctoral fellows showcased their work in University of Houston College of Pharmacy laboratories at the annual PPS Research Symposium in the UH MD Anderson Library’s Rockwell Pavilion Aug. 9-10.
Hosted by the college's Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the two-day research symposium featured poster and podium presentations as well as abundant opportunities for networking and exchanging ideas for potential future experiments.
The 2023 Scholar-In-Residence, Patrick J. Sinko, Ph.D., R.Ph., FAAPS, FAAS, FCRS, Distinguished Professor in the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and Parke-Davis Endowed Chair in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, presented the keynote scientific talk as well as a session related to professional development.
Sinko's keynote, "Countermeasures Against Chemical Threats (CounterACT) – Development of Dermal, Ocular and Lung Countermeasures," detailed his 20-year National Institutes of Health project to foster and support research and development of new and improved therapeutics for chemical threats with toxic chemicals that could be used in a terrorist attack or accidentally released from industrial production, storage or shipping. He later presented his career seminar, "Lessons and Wisdom from a Convoluted Straight-line Academic Journey," with his personal notes on learned success during his academic pursuits.
At the closing of the symposium, awards were given by Tahir Hussain, Ph.D., associate dean for research and graduate programs, Joseph P. and Shirley Shipman Buckley Endowed Professor, and director of the college's Heart & Kidney Institute, to the highest scoring presenters as determined by a panel of external judges.
- Graduate Student Oral Presentation – First place, Zicong Zheng for "Intestine-Specific Induction of UDP-Glucuronosyltransferases as a Potential Treatment Approach in Mitigating Irinotecan-Induced Delayed-Onset Diarrhea," and second place, Kavya Mathukumalli for "TAK1 signaling in the regulation of Cancer Stem Cells and Rhabdomyosarcoma Growth"
- Graduate Student Poster Presentation – first place (tie), Aniket Joshi for "IRE1α/XBP1 axis promotes myoblast fusion during skeletal muscle repair" and Wangjia Cao for "Deciphering genetic basis of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome"
- Post-doctoral Fellow Oral Presentation – first place, Lianjie Miao, Ph.D., for "Distinct populations of vascular smooth muscle and sinoatrial Progenitors are localized adjacent to pro-epicardium," and second place – Meiricris Tomaz da Silva, Ph.D., for "Fn14 promotes regenerative myogenesis through augmenting myoblast fusion"
