The PSM programs obtained a $10,000 donation from Bob and Carlita Gasparini, allowing us to help students pay for winter and summer session PSM/PM modular classes. Two MCB PSM students were awarded scholarships for their successful completion of the winter session 2023 MCB PSM laboratory modules. Molly Schiffer (Microbial Systems Analysis) received a $ 500.00 award for her participation in the one-credit Advanced Liquid Handling module. Kota Tejaswinee (Applied Genomics) was awarded $ 1,000.00 for her participation in the two-credit Characterization of Microbial Communities by 16S rRNA gene sequencing module. In summer 2023, three MCB PSM students will be awarded scholarships for their successful completion of the summer session 2023 MCB PSM two-credit laboratory module Microbial Genome Sequencing, Assembly and Annotation. The three students are Emilie Karovic (Microbial Systems Analysis), Kota Tejaswinee (Applied Genomics), and Xinyao (Sarah) Qiu (Microbial Systems Analysis), Each student will receive an award of $1,000.00.
In summer 2022, three PSM/PM students were awarded UConn-Technology Incubator Program (TIP) Innovation Fellowships, with one student interning at DeBogy Molecular, Molly Schiffer (Microbial Systems Analysis) and two students at Encapsulate, Alicia Predom (Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology) and Duran Gonzalez (Applied Genomics). Other students interned at Bactana (Colleen Brown - Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology), Boehringer Ingelheim (Samantha Hess - Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology), Center for Human Genetics and Genomics, New York University Grossman School of Medicine (Mary Likhite - Applied Genomics), Encapsulate (Kristina Dibble - Microbial Systems Analysis), JAX-GM (Michael Piekarsky - Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology), and Shoreline Biome (now Intus Biosciences) (Michael Martinez - Microbial Systems Analysis).
Graduates from our program continue to be highly sought after by Connecticut biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and facilities. Recent graduates Kristina Dibble (Microbial Systems Analysis) at Verve Therapeutics, Duran Gonzalez (Applied Genomics) at Encapsulate, Samantha Hess (Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology) at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Mary Likhite (Applied Genomics) at Center for Human Genetics and Genomics, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, Michael Martinez (Microbial Systems Analysis) at Intus Biosciences, Alicia Predom (Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology) at Pfizer, and Molly Schiffer (Microbial Systems Analysis) at DeBogy Molecular.
Speakers at the 2022-2023 PSM Professional Development seminar series included PSM alumni who are now employed at Alexion Pharmaceuticals (Feissal Djoule - Microbial Systems Analysis), Beam Therapeutics (Angelica Messana, Applied Genomics), Connecticut Department of Public Health (Emily Gagnon - MIcrobial Systems Analysis), Detect (Dominique (Carrillo) Juan - Microbial Systems Analysis), Goldbelt C6 (Marsenia (Harrison) Mathis - Microbial Systems Analysis), Pfizer (Brendan Tierney - Applied Genomics), Quantum-Si (Dister Deoss - Microbial Systems Analysis), and Waterbury Hospital (Kiefer Rodriquez - Applied Genomics).
Eight students will walk in the 2023 Master’s Degree Commencement ceremony - Colleen Brown (Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology), Duran Gonzalez (Applied Genomics), Faith Jano (Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology), Mary Elizabeth (Maryel) Likhite (Applied Genomics), Michael Martinez (Microbial Systems Analysis), David Mathieu (Applied Biochemistry and Cell Biology), Molly Schiffer (Microbial Systems Analysis), and Akshada Shankar Ganesh (Applied Genomics).