Skip to main content

College of Pharmacy

News & Events

Research News

photo of 2016 pps symposium award winners
PPS Research Symposium awardees Santosh Suryavanshi, Aaron Raymond, Pooja Manchandani, Ankita Salvi and Chalada Suebsuwong are pictured with organizing committee chair Tahir Hussain, PPS Department Chair Doug Eikenburg, Vice Provost and UH Graduate School Dean Dimitri Litvinov, and committee members Romi Ghose and Jason Eriksen. View more event photos in the Flickr album.

4th PPS Research Symposium 

Pharmacology, Pharmaceutics and Medicinal Chemistry Projects Showcased at 4th Annual Event Aug. 11-12

Presentations on the discovery of novel therapeutics and drug targets for some of today's most deadly and debilitating diseases — from heart failure and cancer to infections and inflammation — ongoing within UH College of Pharmacy laboratories were showcased at the 4th Annual PPS Research Symposium Aug. 11-12.

Themed "Bringing Creativity, Knowledge and Innovation to Research," the annual symposium is an opportunity for Pharmacology, Pharmaceutics and Pharmacology/Medicinal Chemistry Ph.D. program students and postdoctoral fellows to not only share their latest findings with fellow student, staff and faculty researchers but also refine their poster and oral presentation skills. 

A total of 43 poster presentations as well as 25 podium presentations were made by student and postdoctoral researchers at this year's event.

photo of agu
Above, Pharmaceutics student Lorita Agu presents her research on the pharmacokinetics of a drug used in the treatment of childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus. Below, UH faculty member and UHCOP alumna Tasmeen Bawa-Khalfe, Ph.D., who served as a competition judge, listens to a poster presentation. View more event photos in the Flickr album
photo of bawa-khalfe

Awards were bestowed for the top presentations in the following categories: 

  • Graduate Student Oral Presentation — Ankita Salvi with advisor Samina Salim, Ph.D., for “Effect of Simulated Vehicle Exhaust Exposure (SVEE) On Behavioral And Cognitive Parameters In Rats” (first place), and Chalada Suebsuwong with advisor Gregory D. Cuny, Ph.D., for “An Approach to Potent and Selective DFG-Out RIPK2 Inhibitors” (second place);
  • Graduate Student Poster Presentation — Santosh Suryavanshi with advisor Bradley K. McConnell, Ph.D., FAPS, FAHA, for “Key Insights into Cardiac Calcium Handling and Contractility in the Absence of Gravin’s Scaffolding in Mice” (first place), and Pooja Manchandani with co-advisor Vincent H. Tam, Pharm.D., BCPS (AQ-ID), for “Comparative Pharmacokinetic Profiling of Various Polymyxin B Components” (second place); and
  • Postdoctoral Oral Presentation — Aaron Raymond, Ph.D., with sponsor Gomika Udugamasooriya, Ph.D., for “Activity validation of cancer stem cell-specific peptidomimetic antagonists.”

The awards were presented by Dimitri Litvinov, Ph.D., vice provost and dean of the UH Graduate School, who also delivered the keynote address on "Career Paths after Ph.D."

Organizers of the 2016 symposium were UHCOP faculty members Jason Eriksen, Ph.D., Gregory Cuny, Ph.D., Romi Ghose, Ph.D., and Tahir Hussain, Ph.D., who served as chair; students Mohammad Salim, Manas Gupte and Emma Murdoch; and postdoctoral fellows Sanket Patel, Ph.D., and Anamitra Ghosh, Ph.D.

Presentation judges were Abhishekh Mukherjee, Ph.D., University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston; Rajasekaran Mahalingam, Ph.D., University of Houston; Anish R. Thachangattuthodi, Ph.D., Baylor College of Medicine; Tasneem Bawa-Khalfe, Ph.D., University of Houston; Mehmet Sen, Ph.D., University of Houston; Alan Myers, Pharm.D., Ph.D., The University of Texas-MD Anderson Cancer Center; and Hunain Alam, Ph.D., The University of Texas-MD Anderson Cancer Center.