Research News
PPS Professor and Interim Department Chair Tahir Hussain, far left, and Professor and Executive Vice Dean for Research Mustafa Lokhandwala congratulate the PPS Research Symposium awardees Youngki You, Patrick Chuong, Satya Prakash Shukla,
Kathleen Giacomini, Ph.D., an award-winning expert in the field of pharmacogenomics who earned an pharmacy undergraduate degree at UH, served as the symposium's 2019 Scholar-in-Residence.
PPS graduate student Razia Sultana Mohammad discusses her project with a symposium attendee.
PPS graduate student Emilio Yaroslav Lucero Garcia Rojas discusses his project with a symposium attendee.
PPS graduate student Gabriel Tao discusses with project with a symposium attendee.
PPS Ph.D. student Katherine Shatzer her project with a symposium attendee.
2019 PPS Research Symposium Organizing Committee members and Scholar-in-Residence Kathleen Giacomini.
"Bringing creativity, knowledge and innovation to research"
PPS Research Symposium's 7th Year Marked by Celebrated Researcher Giacomini's Return to Roots, Expansion of Presentation Awards to 6 Recipients
August 9 — UH College of Pharmacy graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, as well as a few Pharm.D. students, presented their latest projects in the discovery and development of novel therapeutics and targets — from alcoholism and cardiovascular and infectious diseases to cancer and neurological disorders — at the 7th Annual PPS Research Symposium Aug. 8-9 at the Rockwell Pavilion at UH's MD Anderson Library.
Highlights of the symposium included interaction with and presentations by award-winning UHCOP B.S. Pharmacy alumna and pharmacogenomics expert Kathleen M. Giacomini, Ph.D., who served as this year's symposium Scholar-in-Residence. Giacomini discussed the ground-breaking work of her lab and fellow researchers around the globe in her scientific talk, "Pharmacogenomic Studies in Ethnically-Diverse Populations," and offered advice on establishing work-life balance to current and future researchers in her talk, "Finding Balance on a Roller Coaster."
More than 50 oral and poster presentations were delivered by the students and postdoctoral fellows, with an expanded number of first- and second-place awards bestowed for research and presentation excellence.
Postdoctoral Oral Presentation — First Place, Satya Prakash Shukla, Ph.D., "Structural diversification of lipid-phosphatidylserine (PS) targeting peptide-peptoid hybrid compound PPS1" and Second Place, Fatin Atrooz, Ph.D. ('18), "Early life sleep deprivation induces differential behavioral profile across development in rats";
Graduate Student Oral Presentation — First Place, Youngki You, "Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study of Alcohol Binding to the C1 domain of Presynaptic Munc13-1," and Second Place, Camila Kochi, "Simulated Vehicle Exhaust Exposure Induces Sex-dependent Cognitive Deficits in Rodents"; and
Graduate Student Poster Presentation — First Place, Patrick Chuong, "Design and Discovery of Smurf1 Inhibitors via UbFluor Assay," and Second Place, Katrina Chan, "Amikacin Dose-Dependent Onset of Nephrotoxicity in Rats."