Noelia Lander

ovprweb on April 3, 2020

Postdoctoral Research Award 2020

Noelia Lander, a cellular biologist and postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Tropical & Emerging Global Diseases, has used her research to advance understanding of a dangerous parasite affecting millions of people worldwide. She adapted the CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing system for the study of Trypanosoma cruzi, a human parasite that causes Chagas disease. In widely cited research, she proved the usefulness of this new gene-editing system and its range of applications in T. cruzi, which historically had been difficult to manipulate. Dozens of Chagas molecular biology labs worldwide use her CRISPR/Cas9 strategy to study the parasite’s proteins, characterize its metabolic pathways, understand its biology and search for new chemotherapeutic targets. More recently, she has used her system to study protein function and calcium signaling in T. cruzi. She has trained laboratory personnel and students in scientific research and is currently conducting the mentored phase of an NIH Pathway to Independence Award.

Jeffrey Meier

ovprweb on March 21, 2019

Postdoctoral Research Award 2019

Jeffrey Meier, a postdoctoral research and teaching associate in the Department of Mathematics, addresses the field of low-dimensional topology. “Low-dimensional” generally refers to dimensions less than five, and topology research often probes the structures of spaces by looking at embedded objects in those spaces. A major low-dimensional topology problem is to understand three-dimensional spaces, four-dimensional spaces and the interactions between them. Meier’s research has focused on the interplay between three- and four-dimensional topology with a special attention to knot theory in those dimensions. Knotting phenomena occur when looking at embedded surfaces in four-dimensional space. Such surfaces may be thought of as surfaces swept out in space-time by a knot that is moving around in space over a period of time. Very little is known about four-dimensional knot theory, but he has made several significant contributions to the subject since beginning his postdoctoral position.

Monica Cartelle Gestal

ovprweb on March 21, 2019

Postdoctoral Research Award 2019

Monica Cartelle Gestal, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Infectious Diseases, has developed critical expertise in host-pathogen interactions of Bordetella spp., the bacteria that produce pertussis. Whooping cough, as it’s more commonly known, was designated a priority emergence infectious disease by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease in 2015. Among the reasons for its rise is that the current vaccine efficiently protects against disease but not colonization or transmission. Cartelle Gestal has proposed a novel approach for vaccine and therapeutic development, focusing on the bacteria’s ability to manipulate the host response. Her work, recently submitted to Science, demonstrates that Bordetella spp. have the ability to sense the host’s response and manipulate immune signals in order to dampen adaptive immunity and increase persistence. Her research has produced a novel Bordetella spp. vaccine that has been submitted for patent and currently is being tested for dogs and cats.

Sungjin Kim

ovprweb on April 2, 2018

Postdoctoral Research Award 2018

Sungjin Kim, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, has reached two important conclusions about biochemical processes in cancer cells. First, he clearly demonstrated that a high-fat diet plays a critical role in the progression of prostate tumors, supporting the epidemiological evidence. Clinicians could apply this knowledge to dictate the daily consumption of fats in patients’ diet with no added risk while attenuating tumor progression. Second, he and his collaborators have identified an important chemical inhibitor that could be a potential treatment option for advanced stages of prostate cancer. His research has resulted in two publications, one in Cancer Research and the other in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, top journals in his field. He serves as first author on both papers and as co-author on two additional research papers under review or preparation. He already has a total of 18 publications in his career.

Anat Florentin

ovprweb on April 2, 2018

Postdoctoral Research Award 2018

Anat Florentin, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, studies molecular mechanisms that drive life stages of Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest of parasite species that infect humans with malaria. During her exceptionally productive years at UGA, she has advanced two related areas of research to learn more about the functions of P. falciparum genes and metabolic pathways. First, she established a highly efficient, markerless system to create mutants more rapidly using the powerful CRISPR-Cas9-based genetic editing tool. Her data from this project was published in the high-impact journal mSphere. Second, she used the CRISPR-Cas9 tool to understand P. falciparum’s unique plastid known as the apicoplast, which harbors essential metabolic pathways for the parasite’s growth and whose biological processes could be ideal parasite-specific drug targets. This work has been recognized by multiple invitations to present her work and a first author publication in Cell Reports.

Hongmin Chen

ovprweb on April 14, 2017

Postdoctoral Research Award 2017

Hongmin Chen, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Chemistry, is recognized for his contributions to the engineering of nanoparticles for imaging and therapy. Two projects are related to the synthesis and use of nanoparticles for imaging and cancer treatment. In one project, he succeeded in developing a novel in vivo cancer treatment, called X-ray induced photodynamic therapy, which enables nanoparticles to be guided directly to tumors and activated to kill cancer cells. In another, he developed a contrast agent that removes the toxic effects of gadolinium-based contrast probes widely used in clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Chen developed a novel and straightforward methodology that encapsulates the Gd nanoparticles with carbon, rendering them biologically inert. Chen has published 14 peer-reviewed papers, almost all published in top-tier journals, and his work has attracted nationwide attention.

Kevin Vogel

ovprweb on March 24, 2016

Postdoctoral Research Award 2016

Kevin Vogel, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of entomology, uses comparative genomics and molecular biology to study reproduction and development processes in mosquitoes. Over the last three years, he worked to identify and characterize a hormone receptor that, when silenced, blocked the maturation of mosquito eggs. Vogel hopes that more complete understanding of this important receptor may lead to new ways of controlling mosquito populations. He is also involved in another project, which focuses on characterizing the bacteria that colonize the digestive tract of mosquitoes—the mosquito gut microbiome. Recent studies have demonstrated that mosquitoes are incapable of growing and developing into adults without their gut microbiota, and the microbiome also plays an important role in the survival of the pathogens that mosquitoes transmit.

Alexander Tokarev

ovprweb on March 24, 2016

Postdoctoral Research Award 2016

Alexander Tokarev, a former postdoctoral research associate in the department of textiles merchandising and interiors, is recognized for his role in creating a new, inexpensive way to manufacture extraordinarily thin polymer strings commonly known as nanofibers. The new method, dubbed “magnetospinning,” provides a very simple, scalable and safe means for producing large quantities of nanofibers that can be embedded in a multitude of materials, including live cells and drugs. Many thousands of times thinner than the average human hair, nanofibers are used by medical researchers to create advanced wound dressings, and for tissue regeneration, drug testing, stem cell therapies and the delivery of drugs directly to the site of infection. Nanofibers are also used in other industries to manufacture fuel cells, batteries, filters and light-emitting screens. Tokarev now works for Sawgrass Technologies, Inc. in Charleston, S.C.

Olivia Perwitasari

on February 18, 2016

Postdoctoral Research Award 2015

Olivia Perwitasari, a postdoctoral researcher in the department of infectious diseases, has made remarkable contributions to the field of antiviral therapeutics and the host-virus interactions to govern infection outcome. Her work at UGA has focused on the repurposing of available drugs as new influenza treatments. Because many of these existing drugs have already passed safety studies, they can enter later stages of clinical trials without the same time and financial commitments required to develop new drugs. Perwitasari uses RNA interference screens to discover targets on a variety of viruses that may affect their ability to replicate. In her studies, she has identified verdinexor, which is currently undergoing final stages of clinical evaluation in dogs suffering from lymphoma, as a potential antiviral therapeutic. The drug is effective against multiple influenza strains, including influenza A and B, the pandemic 2009 H1N1, a highly pathogenic avian H5N1 and recently emerging H7N9 influenza virus strains.

Clayton Shonkwiler

on February 18, 2016

Postdoctoral Research Award 2014

Clayton Shonkwiler, a postdoctoral associate in the department of mathematics, has been at the center of a very exciting set of breakthroughs in the understanding and simulation of polymers, which are long flexible molecules composed of chains of smaller units. These molecules can take many shapes and their chemical and biological properties are strongly influenced by the probability theory of the distribution of shapes. In the case of polymers with free ends, this distribution has been understood since the early twentieth century, but polymers whose ends are joined to form loops have resisted similar analysis until now. Shonkwiler used an unexpected connection to symplectic geometry, a branch of mathematics originally invented to study orbital mechanics, to solve this problem. His work will play a fundamental role in understanding DNA minicircles, which are a key technology in gene therapy. Next fall, Shonkwiler will join the faculty of Colorado State University as an assistant professor of mathematics.