IDP Research Competition 2004

Part of the College of Medicine Research Day events of April 27 was the graduate student research competition sponsored by the UF Medical Guild. Six doctoral students in the Interdisciplinary Program in Biomedical Sciences participated in the event, each having won a previous competition to represent one of the six IDP advanced concentrations. Each student gave a 15-minute oral research presentation followed by a five-minute question-and-answer session. A panel of faculty judges evaluated each student’s presentation and awards were presented at the Research Day luncheon.

First place — Karen Vieira, entered IDP August 2000, pursuing advanced concentration in biochemistry and molecular biology. Title: Recruitment of Transcription Factors and RNA Polymerase II to the Beta-Globin Locus.

Second place — Rahul Kanadia, participated in IDP August 1999 to May 2004, pursued advanced concentration in genetics. Title: Mouse Model for Myotonic Dystrophy.

Third place — Eric Sandberg, entered IDP August 2000, pursuing advanced concentration in physiology and pharmacology. Title: Jak2 Tyrosine Kinase Mediates Oxidative Stress-Induced Apoptosis in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells.

Fourth place — Edgardo Rodriguez, entered IDP August 1999, pursuing advanced concentration in neuroscience. Title: Post-transcriptional Repression of Striatal Mutant Huntingtin in a Model of Huntingdon’s Disease.

Fifth place (tie) — Mary Ann Checkly, entered IDP in August 1998, pursuing advanced concentration in immunology and microbiology. Title: A Candida albicans Gene Expressed During Oropharyngeal Candidiasis Is Important for Pathogenesis.

Fifth place (tie) — Alaric Falcon, participated in IDP August 1999 to May 2004, pursued advanced concentration in molecular cell biology. Title: Building an Episomal Model of Aging in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.