Research Activities and Awards 2009

Dalanda Jalloh, Salk Award
The Salk scholarships are given to outstanding CUNY students planning careers in medicine and the biological sciences. Students receive a stipend of $8,000 to defray the cost of medical school.

Claude Celestine, 2010 NYS Assembly Scholar
David Aglialoro, 2010 NYS Assembly Scholar
The New York State Assembly Intern Committee , graduate internship provides full-time research or policy analysis positions with Assembly leaders, committees and research staffs, a unique professional learning experience. Students receive a stipend of $11,500 for their six month internship. 

Amy Iturres-Alomia, Gilman Study Abroad Scholarship
Melissa Aristide, Gilman Study Abroad Scholarship
Winners are awarded up to $5,000 to fund a semester long study abroad program.

Ryan Merola, George J. Mitchell Scholarship
Twelve Mitchell Scholars between the ages of 18 and 30 are chosen annually for one year of postgraduate study in any discipline offered by institutions of higher learning in Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Mitchell Scholars Program provides tuition, housing, a living expenses stipend, and an international travel stipend.

MARC U-STAR awards provide support for underrepresented students in the biomedical and behavioral sciences to improve their preparation for graduate training at the Ph.D. level. Trainees must be honors students majoring in the biomedical or behavioral sciences who have expressed interest in pursuing postgraduate education leading to the Ph.D., M.D.-Ph.D., or other combined professional degree-Ph.D. MARC trainees receive a stipend of $11,064 per year, They also have the opportunity to travel to National conferences to present their research, meet other students, and talk to representatives from graduate schools from across the country.

Lyl Tomlinson is a senior in the MARC program. He spent this summer at the University of Pennsylvania in the Biology Department working with Dr Ted Abel whose research focus is neurobiology. Lyl’s research was investigating the role of the transcription factor CREB, in the sleep/wake cycle of mice. He expects that his summer experience, in addition to the associative learning laboratory he works at in Brooklyn College, has prepared him for his future PhD. in psychobiology.

Maria Mercedes, a MARC student who is applying to graduate school, was accepted to the Opportunities in Genomics Research Program at the Genome Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO. this past summer. Maria’s mentor was Dr Tim Schedl, a researcher in genetics who studies C. elegans. Maria studied the proliferation of germ cells in C. elegans to determine if a cell cycle factor is necessary during the cell cycle progression for cell differentiation. Maria will working towards a PhD in developmental biology.

Tiffany Shand is a Chemistry major in the MARC program and is currently working with Prof Roberto Sanchez-Delgado. Tiffany spent the summer at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, working with Dr. James Fishbein in an organic chemistry lab. Her project focused on synthesizing the standard cytosine nucleobase adduct of the diazonium ion from the carcinogen N-nitrosopiperidine (NPIP). Her goal is to obtain a PhD in a field related to cancer therapeutics. The summer before last, she worked at Cornell University doing cancer-related research with Prof Robert Weiss.

Karla Dixon is a junior in the MARC program and she did a summer research program at Columbia University Medical Center. Her mentor was Jeanine D’Armiento MD/PhD Dr D’Arminto studies COPD and its relation to cigarette smoking. Karla was investigating emphysema and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Karla works in the laboratory of Prof Theodore Muth of the Biology Department at Brooklyn College studying host pathogen interactions.

Laura Senatus, a senior in the MARC program interned at Stony Brook University this summer. Laura was a AGEP Fellow and her faculty advisor was Dr. Orlando Schärer in the Departments of Pharmacological Sciences and Chemistry at Stony Brook University. Her project was entitled Generation of Mutations in the N-terminus of XPF to Study the Role of ERCC1-XPF in DNA Interstrand Crosslink Repair. In this project a key factor is ERCC1-XPF, a structure-specific endonuclease that makes the incision 5' to a lesion in Nucleotide Excision Repair. ERCC1 has additional roles in the repair of interstrand crosslinks (ICLs) that are less well understood. The goal of her project was to generate mutants in XPF that render cells specifically sensitive to ICL-forming agents. Laura is mentored by Prof Theodore Muth with whon she is studying Agrobacterium tumefaciens and she is now applying to graduate programs in cancer research. Laura did a summer externship at Columbia in the summer of 2008, her mentor was Dr, Virginia Papaioannou.

Claribel Nunez is a senior in the MARC program studying with Professor Maria Contel who is a synthetic inorganic/organometallic chemist. This summer Claribel had an internship at Columbia University under the Leadership Alliance and REU program. At Columbia University she conducted research with Dr. Nina Berova and Post-Doc Ana Petrovic on three tweezers to determine their usefulness for finding the absolute configuration of chiral molecules. By determining the  absolute configuration of compounds we can help reduce the side effects of pharmaceuticals. Claribel is in the process of applying to graduate programs in Chemistry. In the summer of 2008, Claribel did research at the Brookhaven National Laboratory.

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