Four current and four incoming graduate students at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have won National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships, supporting outstanding students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The fellowship recipients are:
This year, the NSF awarded fellowships to just 12 percent of the 16,000 applicants from accredited U.S. institutions.
Joanne Doherty, senior staff scientist in the Guo lab, has received a grant from the Florida Center for Brain Tumor Research, in partnership with Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure, supporting work on the cutting edge of scientific inquiry, including development of innovative gene, virus, nanoparticle and immunity-based therapies, according to the award announcement.
Grant recipients also include three scientists from the University of Florida and the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute.
Doherty’s research focuses on interfering with protein synthesis machinery to specifically kill glioblastoma tumor cells. High levels of malformed proteins are lethal to cells, and this research proposes using unique characteristics of tumor metabolism to induce this scenario in glioblastoma cells.
Tevin Ali, a 23-year-old intern in the laboratory of Professor Matthew Disney on the Scripps Florida campus, won first place in the oral presentation competition at the 2015 Life Sciences South Florida STEM Undergraduate Research Conference—and walked away with an iPad Air for his efforts. The conference was hosted by Indian River State College.
His presentation focused on his current work in the Disney lab—figuring out ways to inhibit microRNA function in various disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease.
Ali’s internship, which is in its fourth month, finishes up on May 1. He is in a two-year biotech program at Palm Beach State College and is considering another local school, Florida Atlantic University, to complete his undergraduate degree—perhaps focusing on the business side of biotechnology.
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