Current Graduate Students

Our 150 graduate students and postdoctoral trainees are not just busy preparing to be leaders and do important work, they’re already making a difference. From involvement in student organizations to hands-on research, industry internships, and community outreach, College of Pharmacy graduate students are actively learning, collaborating, and doing important work in the world.

Five Pharmaceutical Sciences students & one postdoc won MIKIW 2021 Medicinal Chemistry Meeting-in-Miniature oral & poster presentation awards.

Medicinal Chemistry PhD student Kornelia Skowron (top left, Moore lab) won 1^st Place, Oral Presentation.

Medicinal Chemistry PhD student Amanda Maldonado (top middle, Burdette lab) won 2^nd Place, Poster Session A.

MSTP student Tova Bergsten (top right, Burdette lab) won 3^rd Place, Poster Session A.

Medicinal Chemistry PhD student Carolyn Straub (bottom left, Riley lab) won 2^nd Place, Poster Session B.

PharmD/PhD student Marianne Palczewski (bottom middle, Thomas lab) won 2^nd Place, Poster Session B.

Bridge to the Faculty Postdoctoral Scholar José Villegas (bottom right, Moore lab) won 3^rd Place, Poster Session B.

Two graduate students in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Department won Graduate College Awards!

Medicinal Chemistry PhD student Kornelia Skowron (left, Moore lab) won the Dean’s Scholar Fellowship.
The Dean’s Scholar Fellowship is intended to provide the most distinguished, advanced-level graduate students with a period of time dedicated solely to the completion of their programs.

Pharmacognosy PhD student Mirielle Nauman (right, Johnson lab) won the Award for Graduate Research (specifically the W.C. and May Preble Deiss Fund for Biomedical Research Award). The Award for Graduate Research is the Graduate College’s longest-running research support mechanism. Students apply on a competitive basis for awards to support their research.

Biopharmaceutical Sciences PhD student Xiao Guo (Wang lab) won two poster awards this Spring!

His poster, “Astrocyte Activation in the Lateral Habenula Contributes Differently to Spontaneous and Evoked Pain in Paclitaxel-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy” won 3^rd place at the 2021 Society for Neuroscience (SFN) Annual Meeting (Chicago Chapter), April 19-20 and 2^nd place at the 9^th Annual UIC Graduate Program in Neuroscience (GPN) Neuroscience Day, April 22.

Congratulations Xiao on this accomplishment!

Two students mentored by Pharmaceutical Sciences faculty won poster awards at the UI Cancer Center Gary Kruh Virtual Poster Competition.

MSTP student Tova Bergsten (left, Burdette lab) won in the Cancer Prevention and Control category for her poster “Survivors Advising Scientists Educational Program: Collaborating to Create Educational Tools”.

PhD student Mirielle Nauman (right, Johnson lab) won in the Translational Oncology category for her poster “Garcinia mangostana xanthones degrade the androgen receptor in castration resistant prostate cancer cells”.

Four students mentored by Pharmaceutical Sciences faculty won Graduate College Awards!

Hannah Petraitis (top left, Thomas lab) won the Award for Graduate Research (specifically the W.C. and May Preble Deiss Fund for Biomedical Research Award). The Award for Graduate Research is the Graduate College’s longest-running research support mechanism. Students apply on a competitive basis for awards to support their research.

Marianne Palczewski (top left, Thomas lab), Changfeng Cheng (bottom left, Moore lab), and Kaitlyn Tylor (bottom right, Federle lab) all won the Provost’s Graduate Research Award. Marianne’s award is supported by the Dorothea Fleming Student Research Fund and Changfeng’s by the LJ and M Allen Cancer Research Fund. This award has supported multidisciplinary scholarship to expose students to varied research and creative fields. The award mechanism has naturally evolved into a way for students early in their studies to develop new research directions for their PhD dissertations or terminal degree thesis/capstone project and has been used by graduate programs as a way for students to practice writing research proposals.

The 11^th Annual College of Pharmacy Research Day was a great success, with 21 Poster Awards presented ($6100 total). Check out the winning posters!

Category	Place	Authors	Title	Winner
Biology: Molecular & Cell Biology; Mechanism of Action	AbbVie/Horizon Award for Excellence in Research 1st Place	Amrita Salvi, Laura R. Hardy, Kimberly N. Heath, Melissa R. Pergande, Stephanie M. Cologna, Joanna E. Burdette	Investigating the Role of PAX8 in Modulating the Tumor Microenvironment of High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer
Biology: Molecular & Cell Biology; Mechanism of Action	Lundbeck Award for Excellence in Research 2nd Place	Restituto Tocmo, Jeremy J. Johnson	Prenylated Xanthones from Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana) Activate the AhR and Nrf2 Pathways and Protect Epithelial Barrier Integrity in HT-29 Cells
Biology: Molecular & Cell Biology; Mechanism of Action	Genentech Award for Excellence in Research 3rd Place	Raghd Nowar, Adam Schafer, Rui Xiong, Laura Cooper, Han Cheng, Hyun Lee, Yangfeng Li, Lijun Rong	Distinct Mechanisms of Small Molecule Inhibitors of Filoviral Entry
Chemistry: Discovery, Modeling, Design & Evaluation of Novel Drugs; Detection & Delivery Systems	AbbVie/Horizon Award for Excellence in Research 1st Place	Changfeng Cheng, Dai Horiuchi, Ishwar Rahakrishnan, Terry W. Moore	Targeting the PAH2 Domain of Transcriptional Corepressors SIN3A/B for Inhibition of Proliferation in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Chemistry: Discovery, Modeling, Design & Evaluation of Novel Drugs; Detection & Delivery Systems	Lundbeck Award for Excellence in Research 2nd Place	Jesse Gordon-Blake, Kiira Ratia, Manel Ben Aissa, Rachel C. Knopp, Rui Xiong, Zhengnan Shen, Deyu Kong, Gregory R.J. Thatcher	The Potential of NAMPT Activators in NAD Enhancement, Neuroprotection, and Mitochondrial Improvement in Alzheimer’s Disease
Chemistry: Discovery, Modeling, Design & Evaluation of Novel Drugs; Detection & Delivery Systems	Genentech Award for Excellence in Research 3rd Place	Cutler Lewandowski, Md. Wasim Khan, Oleksii Dubrovskyi, Manel Ben Aissa, Brian Layden, Gregoary R.J. Thatcher	Optimization and Characterization of Selective ABCA1 Inducers as Therapeutic Candidates for Type 2 Diabetes
Clinical, Social, and Applied Sciences	AbbVie/Horizon Award for Excellence in Research 1st Place	Michelle Lee, Eric Wenzler	Activity of Aztreonam in Combination with Ceftazidime-Avibactam Against Serine- and Metallo-β-Lactamase-Producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Clinical, Social, and Applied Sciences	Lundbeck Award for Excellence in Research 2nd Place	Hsiao-Ching (Claire) Huang, Carrie Huisingh, Stephanie Chiuve	Identifying Early Mentions of Depression among Women with Endometriosis in an Electronic Heath Record (EHR)
Clinical, Social, and Applied Sciences	Genentech Award for Excellence in Research 3rd Place	Mary H. Smart, Nadia A. Nabulsi, Ben S. Gerber, Lisa K. Sharp	A Qualitative Evaluation of a Pilot Behavioral Intervention Technology Program to Promote Walking among Underserved Patients
Innovate@UIC Innovation Award	1st Place (tie)	Amrita Salvi, Alexandria N. Young, Andrew C. Huntsman, Rathnayake A. Rathnayake, Melissa A. Korkmaz, Nicholas T. Cockroft, Denisse Herrera, Steven J. Kurina, A. Douglas Kinghorn, Xiaolin Cheng, Mitch A. Phelps, Leslie N. Aldrich, Stephanie M. Cologna, James R. Fuchs, Joanna E. Burdette	Natural Product-Inspired Small Molecule PHY34 Targets Nucleocytoplasmic Transport in High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer
Innovate@UIC Innovation Award	1st Place (tie)	Changfeng Cheng, Dai Horiuchi, Ishwar Rahakrishnan, Terry W. Moore	Targeting the PAH2 Domain of Transcriptional Corepressors SIN3A/B for Inhibition of Proliferation in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Innovate@UIC Innovation Award	2nd Place (tie)	Jesse Gordon-Blake, Kiira Ratia, Manel Ben Aissa, Rachel C. Knopp, Rui Xiong, Zhengnan Shen, Deyu Kong, Gregory R.J. Thatcher	The Potential of NAMPT Activators in NAD Enhancement, Neuroprotection, and Mitochondrial Improvement in Alzheimer’s Disease
Innovate@UIC Innovation Award	2nd Place (tie)	Madeline R. Hennessy, Anna M. Gutridge, Simone M. Creed, Malaika D. Argade, Richard M. van Rijn, Andrew P. Riley	Investigating the Opioid Activity of Alkaloids Isolated from the Traditional Medicinal Plant Akuamma
UI Cancer Center Cancer Science Prize	1st Place	Laura Cooper, Adam Schafer, Yangfeng Li, Han Cheng, Bani Medegan Fagla, Zhengnan Shen, Raghd Nowar, Katherine Dye, Manu Anantpadma, Robert Davey, Gregory R. J. Thatcher, Lijun Rong, Rui Xiong	Screening and Reverse-Engineering of Estrogen Receptor Ligands as Potent Pan-Filovirus Inhibitors
UI Cancer Center Cancer Science Prize	2nd Place (2 awards)	Amanda C. Maldonado, Zeinab Y. Al Subeh, Cedric J. Pearce, Nicholas H. Oberlies, Joanna E. Burdette	Eupenifeldin Induces Cell Death through Apoptosis in High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer
UI Cancer Center Cancer Science Prize	2nd Place (2 awards)	Gordon T. Luu, Melissa M. Galey, Laura M. Sanchez	Optimization of Protein Extraction from Tampons for Mass Spectrometry-Based Ovarian Cancer Biomarker Discovery
CCTS Multidisciplinary Team Science Award	1st Place	Xiaotong Yang, Sungjoon Cho, Hyunwoo Lee, Hyun-Young Jeong	Gut Bacterial Phenylalanine Reductive Pathway (Fld) Could be a Potential Contributor to the Host Susceptibility to Acetaminophen-Induced Liver Injury
AAPS Student Chapter Choice Award	1st Place	Marianne Palczewski, Hannah Petraitis, David Wilson, Eric Kool, Scott Gladstein, Vadim Backman, Jenna Fernandez, Natalia Tretyakova, Douglas D. Thomas	Nitric Oxide Inhibits DNA Demethylation Enzymes and Alters the Chromatin Landscape in Neuroblastoma
AAPS Student Chapter Choice Award	2nd Place	Jacob Veenstra, Bhaskar Vemu, Restituto Tocmo, Mirielle Nauman, Jeremy J. Johnson	Oil-Soluble Rosemary Extract Prevents DSS-induced Colitis and Improves Intestinal Barrier Integrity
ISPOR Student Chapter Choice Award	1st Place	Ashwini Zolekar, Nadia A. Nabulsi, Alemseged A. Asfaw, Jifang Zhou, Karen Sweiss, Pritesh R. Patel, Brian C.-H. Chiu, Edith A. Nutescu, Gregory S. Calip	Declines in Health-Related Quality of Life among Older Patients Diagnosed with Hematologic Malignancies
ISPE Student Chapter Choice Award	1st Place	Mrinmayee Joshi, Richard H. Chapman, Steven J. Atlas, David M. Rind, Molly Beinfeld, Avery McKenna, Shani Patel, Steven D. Pearson, Daniel R. Touchette	Long-term Cost-effectiveness of Nadofaragene firadenovec and Oportuzumab monatox for Treatment of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG)-Unresponsive, Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (NMIBC)

Pharmaceutical Sciences PhD candidate Jose Colina (Burdette lab) won an award for Best Poster in the Gary Kruh Virtual Poster Competition  His winning poster, “Role of Hyperandrogenism in the Development of Fallopian Tube Derived High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer” was one of two awardees in the Cancer Biology Category. Congratulations Jose on this accomplishment!

Three COP students won the OTM Award for Research Production & Excellence during the COVID Pandemic.  The UIC Office of Technology Management (OTM) sponsored an award for College of Pharmacy students who have made significant progress in research during the COVID pandemic time. One student from each department was nominated by their advisor to receive this prize.

From left to right, the recipients are:

Kyle Mangano (Mankin/Vazquez-Laslop lab), Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences:

Genome-wide effects of the antimicrobial peptide apidaecin on translation termination; Mechanism of translation inhibition by type II GNAT toxin AtaT2; and Identification of small open reading frames using Ribo-Seq datasets

Alesia Vialichka (Wenzler lab), Department of Pharmacy Practice:

Activity of omadacycline against minocycline-susceptible and -resistant Acinetobacter baumannii; and Exploring the potential activity of novel antibiotic treatment regimens, including aztreonam plus ceftazidime-avibactam, against multidrug-resistant S. maltophilia for Cystic Fibrosis patients

Connie Yan, PharmD (Sharp lab), Department of Pharmacy Systems, Outcomes, & Policy:

Evaluating opioid prescribing by dentists in the United States: A mixed methods approach

Three incoming PSCI graduate students have won Graduate College recruitment Fellowships, which carry a stipend as well as a tuition and partial fee waiver. The University Fellowship seeks to recruit outstanding students newly admitted to terminal master’s and PhD programs. the Access to Excellence Fellowship aims to increase the number of students from historically underrepresented groups in graduate education who enter careers as researchers and college faculty.

From left to right, the incoming 2020 class fellows are:

Destiny Durante (Penn State University): Access to Excellence Fellowship

Manead Khin (UNC Greensboro): University Fellowship

Rocío Rivera Rodríguez (University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus): Access to Excellence Fellowship

PharmD/PhD student Karol Sokolowski (Gemeinhart lab) has won the Dean’s Scholar Fellowship from the UIC Graduate College. The award is intended to provide the most distinguished advanced-level graduate students with a period of time dedicated solely to the completion of their program.

Recipients of the Dean’s Scholar Fellowship receive a fellowship stipend for the full twelve-month academic year and a tuition and partial fee waiver from the Graduate College. Congratulations Karol for this honor!

Seven COP graduate students have won Chancellor’s Student Service and Leadership Awards (CSSLA). Since 1973, the CSSLA ceremony has recognized outstanding student leaders and student volunteers who, while maintaining high academic achievement, demonstrate a commitment to the UIC community through participation in student organizations and campus activities and throughout the greater Chicagoland area through active service and community engagement.

The College winners are (clockwise from top left):

Tova Bergsten (Burdette lab); Carter McCormick (Qato lab); Nadia Nabulsi (Sharp lab); Mirielle Nauman (Johnson lab); Bob Schultz (Touchette lab); Connie Yan (Sharp lab); Ashwini Zolekar (Nutescu lab)

Pharmaceutical Sciences PhD candidate Caleb Anderson (Federle lab) has received the Department of Defense Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) scholarship, as well as sponsorship by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

The scholarship pays full tuition and education-related expenses, a stipend, summer research internships at the sponsoring facility, and employment upon degree completion at the Department of Defense sponsoring facility.

Congratulations Caleb on this prestigious scholarship and opportunity!