TTUHSC Students Awarded National American Heart Association Grants

Two Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) graduate students have received predoctoral fellowships from the American Heart Association for the amount of $25,000 each.

The program is designed to help students initiate careers in cardiovascular and stroke research by providing research assistance and training. It supports research broadly related to cardiovascular function and disease and stroke or to related clinical, basic science, bioengineering or biotechnology and public health problems, including multidisciplinary efforts.

Brandt Schneider, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, said only 13 percent of submitted applications were funded this year.

“These awards from the American Heart Association demonstrate how our TTUHSC graduate students are highly competitive at a national level,” Schneider said.

Lea Ann Thompson was awarded for her project, “Sertoli cells secreting processed proinsulin: A unique therapy for reducing cardiovascular risks in diabetes.” She works in the Dufour Lab run by Jannette Dufour, Ph.D.

Pooja Naik was awarded for her project, “Role of Nrf2 in Pathophysiology of Cerebral Stroke Following Tobacco Smoke Exposure.” She is working in the lab of Luca Cucullo, Ph.D., with the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Proposals are encouraged from all basic, behavioral, epidemiological, community and clinical investigations that focus on cardiovascular and stroke problems. At the time of activation, the applicant must have completed initial coursework and be at the stage of his or her doctoral program when it is possible to devote full-time effort to research or activities related to their developing as independent researchers.

Additionally, a third student was selected to receive the 2015 Syngenta Fellowship Award in Human Health Applications of New Technologies from the Society of Toxicology (SOT). Alok Ranjan, a research assistant in the lab of Sanjay Srivastava, Ph.D., and a Ph.D. Candidate in the Graduate Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences, TTUHSC-SOP, Amarillo, was awarded $15,000 in fellowship funds. According to the SOT, the purpose of this award is “to support mode-of-action research aimed at characterizing dose-dependent effects of xenobiotics on mammalian systems in such a way that the causal sequence of key events underlying toxicity is elucidated."

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