UF College of Medicine students wins first place for oral presentation

A University of Florida College of Medicine graduate student has been honored for his research on the rhythmic expression of a gene that encodes iodopsin, a protein present in the light-receiving cells of the chicken retina (a tissue lining the inside of the back of the eye).

Yan Zhang, a third-year doctoral student in the college’s interdisciplinary program in biomedical sciences, won first place for his oral presentation in the medical profession section of UF’s 2002 Graduate Student Forum. Graduate students presented their research projects and creative works at the multidisciplinary symposium April 4.

Zhang studies the rhythms of iodopsin expression in developing chicken retina using a culture method. Zhang’s faculty adviser is Susan Semple-Rowland, Ph.D., an associate professor of neuroscience at the Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute of UF.