Eight recognized in 2022 Medical Guild graduate student research competition
Adithya Gopinath selected as winner, gold award recipient for Parkinson’s disease work
April 28, 2022 — In front of dozens of peers, mentors and a panel of faculty judges, eight College of Medicine graduate students competed April 14 at the 47th annual Medical Guild Research Symposium as the academic milestone returned in person for the first time since 2019 with much excitement.
The students, who were each nominated to represent their specific biomedical sciences concentration, were met with rousing applause after presenting and answering questions on years of original, passionate research ranging in topic from brain tumors to sarcomere structure to olfactory sensory neurons.
In a reception after the presentations, all eight finalists were recognized with cash awards endowed by the UF Medical Guild Inc. Adithya Gopinath, a fifth-year graduate student in the neuroscience concentration who works in the labs of Habibeh Khoshbouei, Pharm.D., Ph.D., and Wolfgang J. Streit, Ph.D., was selected as this year’s winner and gold award recipient for his Parkinson’s disease work.
“I am honestly relieved and also very excited; the presentation quality in there was mind-boggling, so I really had no idea what to expect,” Gopinath said after accepting the first-place award. “Hopefully one day, I’ll be able to buy a house, so this goes in my ‘Adithya might one day buy a house’ fund.”
Lynne Capece, chair of special projects and philanthropy with the UF Medical Guild, said she was happy to celebrate in person again. She and three other guild members watched the competition held in the Harrell Medical Education Building.
“It’s exciting to hear about projects that are in their infancy that one day could make a huge difference in the health care of this entire nation,” she said.
Aside from recognizing graduate students nearing the completion of their doctoral degrees, the reception also honored two faculty mentors, three graduate students advancing to candidacy, the Council of Academic Chairs Scholarship recipient and the Education Initiative Award recipient.
“This is our keystone event for the biomedical sciences program,” said Thomas Rowe, Ph.D., associate dean for graduate education at the College of Medicine. “It shows what our students do and how they excel. Everybody steps it up every year. It was terrific.”
List of winners
Gold
Adithya Gopinath, neuroscience
“DAT and TH expression marks human Parkinson’s disease in peripheral immune cells” Mentored by Habibeh Khoshbouei, Pharm.D., Ph.D., and Wolfgang J. Streit, Ph.D.
UF College of Medicine graduate students compete in the Medical Guild Graduate Research Symposium April 14.
Silver
Tiffany Frey, immunology and microbiology
“Syncytin-1 promotes lytic activation of Epstein-Barr virus through activation of the PI3K/Akt pathway”
Mentored by Michael McIntosh, Ph.D.
Julien Habif, pharmacology and therapeutics
“A novel role for a ciliary GTPase in the regulation of neuronal maturation of olfactory sensory neurons”
Mentored by Jeffrey Martens, Ph.D.
Vrunda Trivedi, cancer biology
“Personalized immunotherapy vaccines for malignant brain tumors using cancer immunogenomics and selective gene enrichment strategy”
Mentored by Duane Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D.
Bronze
Marc Mcleod, biochemistry and molecular biology
“Real-time direct assessment of hepatic β-oxidation with deuterium magnetic resonance in NAFLD”
Mentored by Matthew Merritt, Ph.D.
Ryan Hildebrandt, genetics
“Active mRNA transport mechanisms are controlled by modular domains of muscleblind-like proteins and dysregulated in myotonic dystrophy Type 1”
Mentored by Eric Wang, Ph.D.
Collin Douglas, physiology and functional genomics
“A novel approach to investigate sarcomere structure, and its regulation by the skeletal muscle circadian clock”
Mentored by Karyn Esser, Ph.D.
Bin Li, molecular cell biology
“Binding of DNAPK and FAP in lipid raft facilities ovary tumorigenesis through the NF-κB/surviving functional axis”
Mentored by Shuang Huang, Ph.D.
2020-21 Doctoral Mentoring Awards
Habibeh Khoshbouei, Pharm.D., Ph.D., neuroscience
Robert McKenna, Ph.D., biochemistry and molecular biology
Council of Academic Chairs Scholarship
Phillip Mackie, neuroscience, mentored by Habibeh Khoshbouei, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
UF College of Medicine graduate students compete in the Medical Guild Graduate Research Symposium April 14.
Advancement to Candidacy Award
Alejandro Albizu, neuroscience, mentored by Adam Woods, Ph.D.
Michael Dougherty, cancer biology, mentored by Christian Jobin, Ph.D.
Phillip Mackie, neuroscience, mentored by Habibeh Khoshbouei, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
Education Initiative Award
Vrunda Trivedi, cancer biology, mentored by Duane Mitchell, Ph.D.
