Meet the Researcher: Valeria Sarmiento ’20, Molecular & Cell Biology

Congratulations to the following MCB graduate students! Kristen Dostie, Rishabh Kejriwal, Virginia King, Amy Thees, Corey Theodore, and Jennifer Podgorski have been awarded a Spring 2020 Doctoral Student Travel Fellowship from the UConn Graduate School.

Biohaven Pharmaceuticals is a clinical/commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company located in New Haven, CT that is engaged in developing a portfolio of innovative, late-stage therapeutic candidate molecules that target, neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases, including rare disorders. They have new programs that reach into areas including migraine headache, inflammation and neurodegeneration.

Biohaven runs a novel summer internship program for undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in the evaluation of new therapeutics and the process of identifying new intellectual property that may have marketplace value. Biohaven will work with the intern to identify an aspect of the drug development process where the student can participate in Biohaven’s work. Applicants should submit a letter of interest, their transcripts, and a resume or C.V. to the department of Molecular and Cell Biology (mcboffice@uconn.edu) for evaluation. Applications are due April 1, 2020.

Five students participating in the Undergraduate Research Assistant Program (URAP) submitted abstracts as first authors and one as second author to the Eastern Society for Pediatric Research. This is the largest regional pediatric research meeting in the country.  In addition, three of our students submitted abstracts, two were first authors and one second author, to the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting which is the largest international pediatric research meeting in the world.  These students, who are taking 3100H and 3189H courses, are Monitha Patel, Samantha Seibel, Seda Sahin, Jimmy Terray, Saba Ali, and Leelakrishna Channa.  We look forward to learning about acceptances in the near future.

After starting an NSF-funded collaboration with Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Marcy Balunas, Spencer Nyholm, associate professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology,  began studying the squid’s specialized reproductive gland, called the accessory nidamental gland, whose function was until then the subject of speculation.