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New Issue of Opportunities to Explore, Oct 26- Oct 30, 2020
Friday, October 23, 2020
The new issue of opportunities to explore is out now!
Read the Oct 23-Oct 30, 2020 Issue
Nazish Jeffery, Biochemistry Ph.D. Candidate Pens Guest Column in the Democrat & Chronicle on Scientists’ Need to Communicate Clearly to the Public
Monday, October 19, 2020
Nazish Jeffery
Graduate student Nazish Jeffery published an editorial-style column entitled "Scientists Must Communicate More Clearly” which appeared on the Opinion page of the Sunday, October 4th edition of the Democrat and Chronicle. Ms. Jeffery argues that scientist have a civic duty to clearly inform and educate the public and public officials with regard to the results of biomedical research. She states "As scientists, our civic duty becomes twofold. Not only must we better our understanding of the world through research, we also need to use our training and expertise to help inform who govern so they can craft policies that are scientifically sound.” Ms. Jeffery will be taking a brief hiatus from her laboratory research in Michael Bulger’s lab to remotely participate in an internship with the American Institute of Biological Sciences in Washington DC, where she will focus on science and public policy.
Read More: Nazish Jeffery, Biochemistry Ph.D. Candidate Pens Guest Column in the Democrat & Chronicle on Scientists’ Need to Communicate Clearly to the PublicDr. Robert Freeman Selected As 2020 Outstanding Graduate Course Director
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Dr. Robert Freeman has been selected as this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Course Director Award. Established in 2013, this award is based on the course’s record of excellence based on course-instructor survey evaluations and letters of recommendation from students enrolled in the course.
This award comes with $1,000, to be paid as unrestricted education support monies (for education-related expenses such as travel to professional meetings, work-related computers, textbooks, courses, etc.) and is available immediately.
The award will be presented at the School of Medicine and Dentistry Convocation Ceremony. The Virtual Convocation Celebration will be posted to the following websites at 5pm on Monday, September 14th:
The department would like to congratulate Bob on this recognition, as it is a well-deserved honor.
Halima Aweis Wins Graduate Alumni Fellowship Award
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Halima Aweis has been selected by our faculty to be one of this year’s recipients of the Graduate Alumni Fellowship Award. Graduate alumni in the School of Medicine and Dentistry established this fellowship award to recognize an incoming graduate student’s promise for exceptional accomplishment in graduate study.
The award, which includes a monetary prize of $500, will be presented at the School of Medicine and Dentistry Convocation Ceremony. The Virtual Convocation Celebration will be posted to the following websites at 5pm on Monday, September 14th:
Congratulations Halima!
Romeo Blanc Selected to be this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Postdoctoral Researcher Award
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Post-doctoral associate, Romeo Blanc, in the lab of Dr. Joe v. Chakkalakal has been selected to be this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Postdoctoral Researcher Award. This award was established in 2015 to recognize a School of Medicine and Dentistry postdoc for outstanding research contributions. The selection was based on the originality, creativity, and significance of your research accomplishment.
The award will be presented at the School of Medicine and Dentistry Convocation Ceremony. The Virtual Convocation Celebration will be posted to the following websites at 5pm on Monday, September 14th:
Congratulations on being chosen for this award, Romeo!
IMV Grad Student Megan Ulbrich Wins the Melville A. Hare Award for Excellence in Teaching
Friday, June 5, 2020
Please join the department in congratulating Megan Ulbrich, this year’s winner of the Melville A. Hare Award for Excellence in Teaching. This award is given annually by the Department of Microbiology and Immunology to a graduate student who has displayed outstanding qualities of mentoring and teaching in one or more MBI courses. The award will be officially conferred at URMC Convocation in the late summer.
Megan is currently an IMV graduate student in Michelle Dziejman's lab working on multidisciplinary approaches to uncover novel effector protein functions. Megan grew up in Buffalo, NY and received her B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Pittsburgh.
This week’s URMC Research Heroes featured the Maquat lab’s Tatsuaki Kurosaki, PhD, and Shuhei Mitsutomi, MS
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
This week’s URMC Research Heroes featured the Maquat lab’s Tatsuaki Kurosaki, PhD, and Shuhei Mitsutomi, MS, who were recognized today for their work on SARS-CoV-2.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA-QN7oAl07/
Both Tatsuaki and Shuhei have worked as members of the Maquat Lab (Center for RNA Biology and the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics) during the sequestration on SARS-CoV-2, collaborating with a lab at Harvard to determine the mechanism by which the virus inhibits human-cell nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) so as to express and replicate its RNA efficiency.
From Tatsuaki: “Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic, is a novel enveloped RNA virus carrying a large (~30 kb) positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome. Although human cells innately have an RNA surveillance pathway called nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) that generally protects cells from infection by many different types of viruses, little is known about how SARS-CoV-2 inhibits NMD to proliferate in human cells. We hope that our research helps to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 proliferation in human cells, eventually contributing toward the development of therapeutic strategies to combat COVID-19.”
Matthew Rook awarded a Joan Wright Goodman Dissertation Fellowship
Monday, June 1, 2020
Matthew L. Rook, M.S. (MacLean Lab) has been awarded a Joan Wright Goodman Dissertation Fellowship for 2020-2021! This fellowship was endowed by Joan Wright Goodman, PhD class of 1952, to support doctoral students across disciplines in the sciences. It is one of the University’s most competitive dissertation fellowships and is given to students who display exceptional ability and promise. It is a testimony to the University’s commitment to supporting your scholarship.
The award is $20,000, and must be used over at least 9 months between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021. Congrats Matthew!
Graduate Student Appreciation Week 2020
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Celebrating the more than 600 graduate students and postdoctoral appointees at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry. Meet some of our grad and post doc researchers.
Read More: Graduate Student Appreciation Week 2020Timmy Li, URMC Epidemiology PhD Graduate in NY Post as "Hero of the Day"
Monday, April 13, 2020
Volunteer EMT Timmy Li normally spends his free time treating injured runners and cyclists in Central Park.
But as the Big Apple gets crushed with 911 calls due to the coronavirus pandemic, he’s now devoting his nights and weekends to far more serious emergencies, far outside the park’s borders.
“When it was declared a pandemic, I told myself, ‘as long I am not sick myself and as long as I’m available, I will continue to take shifts and calls,’” Li, 30, told The Post.
“Pretty much every 911 call right now is COVID related. Almost everything. We still have the injuries, the car crashes, but almost everything is a potential COVID call.”
The Queens resident, who also works full-time as a clinical researcher at Northwell Health, is part of the Central Park Medical Unit, a team of 150 volunteer EMTs who typically patrol the park’s 843 acres.
But as emergency calls skyrocket past previous records and hordes of EMTs call out sick, the team has now stepped up to handle emergency calls across Manhattan under the FDNY’s Mutual Aid system.
“We’re working almost 24/7,” Li said. “It’s definitely challenging, physically exhausting, and mentally exhausting knowing that a lot of people are dying.”
The medic, who holds a doctorate in epidemiology, said his unit is used to disaster response, but the coronavirus is a whole different monster.
“We have responded to things like 9/11, Hurricane Sandy, the blackout and the heat wave last summer. And those feel a little different in that those, the risk of me getting infected or injured was low. But this is very real,” Li said.
Read More: Timmy Li, URMC Epidemiology PhD Graduate in NY Post as "Hero of the Day"