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Pharmacology & Physiology (PHPH) Student Achievements

Discovery Day 2024 Winners

Congratulations to the following Pharmacology & Physiology program students for their awards at Discovery Day: Katelyn Reeb (Bondi Fellowship); Oluwatofunmi Oteju (Outstanding Senior Graduate Student Poster Honorable Mention); and Jason Wickman (Outstanding Postdoctoral Fellows Poster 2nd Place).


2024 AY Dean’s Fellowship for Excellence in Collaborative or Themed Research

The Graduate School is excited to announce this year’s recipients of the Dean’s Fellowship for Excellence in Collaborative or Themed Research. This fellowship is designed to support PhD-Track students with innovative research projects to further develop their research experience. These students will receive financial support for twelve months in the form of a scholarship in addition to funds for supplies or conference attendance. Please join us in congratulating the following student on this achievement: Deepa Reddy, PhD candidate, Pharmacology and Physiology program, mentored by Dr. Ajit.


Congratulations Sim, Tofunmi and Geena

Simran Gill (A. Mortensen lab) and Tofunmi Oteju (Gaskill lab) were chosen to give oral presentations and Geena John (Jackson lab) won best graduate student poster award at the PCSFN (pcsfn.org) meeting.

2024 PCSFN Meeting
2024 PCSFN Meeting
2024 PCSFN Meeting
2024 PCSFN Meeting
2024 PCSFN Meeting
 

Dean’s Travel Award

Congratulations to Deepa Reddy, recipient of the Dean’s Travel Award for the spring 2024 award cycle. Reddy is a PhD candidate in the Pharmacology & Physiology program. The Dean’s Travel Award is meant to partially defray the cost of attending a scientific meeting at which a graduate student is making a presentation, that is related to the student’s graduate study. In this cycle, each award was offered at the maximum of $750.00 per awardee.


2024 Winter Conference on Brain Research (Winter Brain) Photo Gallery

Drexel Pharmacology and Physiology students at the 2024 Winter Conference on Brain Research.
Drexel Pharmacology and Physiology students at the 2024 Winter Conference on Brain Research.
Drexel Pharmacology and Physiology students at the 2024 Winter Conference on Brain Research.

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Recent Student Awards

Congratulations to the following awardees at the annual Department of Pharmacology and Physiology retreat:

  • Ben Weiss Scholar Award: Xuan Luo (Ajit lab)
  • Chair’s Awards: *For unique achievements in research and service* Katelyn Reeb (A. Mortensen lab) and Jason Wickman (Ajit lab)
  • Mary Hoffman Shaw Travel Awards: Qiaowei Xie (Barker lab) and Ruxu Zhai (Fatatis lab)

Dean’s Travel Awards

Congratulations to Breana Channer (Gaskill lab) and Qiaowei Xie (Barker lab) for earning Dean’s Graduate Student Travel Awards! These awards are provided by Drexel’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies to support trainees attending a scientific meeting.


Discovery Day 2023

Discovery Day 2023

Congratulations to Bondi Fellowship recipient Xuan Luo and Outstanding Senior Graduate Student Poster 1st Place winner Katelyn Reeb for her project "EAATs for stroke: to modulate or not to modulate." View Discovery Day 2023 photo gallery.


Rhea (mentored by Andreia Mortensen) won the Best Poster Award at the International Congress on Neuropathic Pain (NeuPSIG2023) in Lisbon, Portugal on September 5-9, 2023.

Congratulations to Rhea Temmermand

Rhea (mentored by Andreia Mortensen) won the Best Poster Award at the International Congress on Neuropathic Pain (NeuPSIG2023) in Lisbon, Portugal on September 5-9, 2023.


Dean’s Fellowship for Excellence in Collaborative or Themed Research

Congratulations to Xuan Luo, who is mentored by Seena Ajit, PhD, for winning the Dean’s Fellowship for Excellence in Collaborative or Themed Research. This fellowship is designed to support PhD-track students with innovative research projects to further develop their research experience.


Drexel Emerging Graduate Scholars Conference Award

Katelyn Reeb won the Dean’s Award for Best Research Poster Presentation at the 2023 Drexel Emerging Graduate Scholars Conference. Katelyn’s award-winning poster was titled “Positive allosteric modulation of glutamate transporter EAAT2 as a novel therapeutic approach for neurological disorders.”


Dean’s Travel Award

Congratulations to Jason Wickman (mentored by Seena Ajit), winner of the Dean’s Travel Award. The Dean’s Travel Award is meant to partially defray the cost of attending a scientific meeting at which a graduate student is making a presentation, or is related to the student’s graduate study.


Congratulations Katelyn Reeb

Katelyn Reeb won second prize for her poster presentation at the annual meeting of the Philadelphia chapter of the Society for Neuroscience (PCSFN).


Congratulations Deepa Reddy

Deepa Reddy won honorable mention in the category of Brain and Behavior for her poster presentation at the AAAS 2023 Student E-poster Competition.


PhRMA Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship in Drug Discovery

Congratulations to Katelyn Reeb (mentored by Andreia Mortensen) for being awarded the PhRMA Foundation pre-doctoral fellowship (phrmafoundation.org/awards/past-award-recipients/2023-award-recipients) on her project entitled "Positive Allosteric Modulation of EAAT2 for the Treatment of Neurological Disorders."


Dean’s Travel Award

Congratulations to Katelyn Reeb (mentored by Andreia Mortensen) and Neha Mohan (mentored by Liang Oscar Qiang), winners of the Dean’s Travel Award. The Dean’s Travel Award is meant to partially defray the cost of attending a scientific meeting at which a graduate student is making a presentation, or is related to the student’s graduate study.


Discovery Day Awards

Congratulations to the program's Discovery Day 2022 winners:

  • Jonathan Snyder (Sato lab), First Place, Barry Waterhouse Outstanding Platform Presentation
  • Jason Wickman (Ajit Lab), Third Place, Outstanding Senior Graduate Student Poster
  • Breana Channer (Gaskill Lab), Third Place, Outstanding Junior Graduate Student Poster

2022 Mid-Atlantic Pharmacology Society Meeting Awards

The 2022 MAPS Annual Meeting was held on November 4 and included a poster competition. In the graduate student poster category, Julia Farnan won first prize and Deepa Reddy won second prize. View photos from the event.


Dean’s Fellowship for Excellence in Collaborative or Themed Research

Congratulations to Xiaonan Liu, mentored by Dr. Kazuhito Toyooka, and Jason Wickman, mentored by Dr. Seena Ajit, winners of the Dean’s Fellowship for Excellence in Collaborative or Themed Research. This fellowship is designed to support PhD-track students with innovative research projects to further develop their research experience.


Dean’s Travel Award

Congratulations to Julia Farnan, winner of the Dean’s Travel Award. The Dean’s Travel Award is meant to partially defray the cost of attending a scientific meeting at which a graduate student is making a presentation, or is related to the student’s graduate study.


Student Travel Award

Congratulations to Simran Gill, who received the Chapter Recognition Student Travel Award from Association for Women in Science (AWIS) to attend the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego, Calif., in November 2022.


Drexel Emerging Graduate Scholars Conference Award

Rhea Temmermand won 3rd place in the in-person research poster competition of the Drexel Emerging Graduate Scholars Conference. Rhea’s award-winning poster was titled “Development of Glutamate Transporter Modulators as a Novel, Non-Opioid Treatment for Neuropathic Pain.”


Experimental Biology Conference 2022 Photo Gallery

Mortensen Lab members at the Experimental Biology conference.
Mortensen Lab members at the 2022 Experimental Biology Conference in Philadelphia.
Mortensen Lab members at the 2022 Experimental Biology Conference in Philadelphia.

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Experimental Biology 2022 Award

Jason Wickman won 1st place in the graduate students and post baccalaureate students’ group in the neuropharmacology division at the Experimental Biology 2022 meeting in Philadelphia. Jason’s award-winning poster was titled “miR-106b-25 Dysregulation in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Contributes to T Cell Dysfunction.”


Rhea Temmermand Awarded American Association of Nurse Anesthetists Foundation Grant

Congratulations to Rhea Temmermand (A. Mortensen lab) for being awarded the Art Zwerling grant for her project entitled “Development of glutamate transporter modulators as a novel, non-opioid treatment for chronic pain,” funded by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists Foundation.


1st Year Student Rotation Talks

Mohammed Sani Alhassan

Mohammed Sani Alhassan
Janssen
"The role of CD137 co-stimulation in Multiple Myeloma immune therapeutic approaches"

Simran Gill

Simran Gill
Barker Lab
"Studying the Role of Astrocytic Gq Signaling in Stress-Induced Reinstatement"

Celina Guzman

Celina Guzman
Janssen
"Evaluating CAR-driven signaling profiles of KLK2 construct variants using Jurkat reporter cell lines"

Tofunmi Oteju

Tofunmi Oteju
Gaskill Lab
"High Content Analysis of Dopamine Mediated Changes in HIV Infection of Macrophages"

Deepa Reddy

Deepa Reddy
Ajit Lab
"Small Extracellular Vesicles From Macrophages As A Therapeutic For Post-Surgical Pain"

Dayna Robinson

Dayna Robinson
Gaskill Lab
"Optimizing Culture Conditions To Investigate Dopamine’s Effect On AKT Signaling In Human Monocyte Derived Macrophages"

Sanjita Subramanian

Sanjita Subramanian
Jackson Lab
"Exploring mitochondrial network dynamics in maturing astrocytes"

Oyende Yetunde

Oyende Yetunde
Fatatis Lab
"CX3CR1 re-expression and phenotypic plasticity of tumor cells"

 

Dean’s Travel Award

Congratulations to Xuan Luo, winner of the Dean’s Travel Award. The Dean’s Travel Award is meant to partially defray the cost of attending a scientific meeting at which a graduate student is making a presentation, or is related to the student’s graduate study.


Honors from the Mid-Atlantic Pharmacology Society

Congratulations to Christina Besada who won the second-place prize for her poster and Jason Wickman for being selected for an oral presentation at the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Pharmacology Society (MAPS) meeting held on October 29, 2021.


Congratulations Discovery Day 2021 Winners

  • Julia Farnan (Jackson Lab), Second Place, Barry Waterhouse Outstanding Platform Presentation
  • Breana Channer (Gaskill Lab), Third Place, Outstanding Junior Graduate Student Poster

Congratulations 4D Fellowship Awardees

Pharmacology & Physiology graduate program students Mohammed Sani Alhassan and Celina Guzman received Janssen-Drexel 4D fellowships for diversity in drug discovery and development.


Congratulations Katelyn Reeb

Student Katelyn Reeb was a runner-up in the Science Sketch Competition of the Philadelphia chapter of the Society for Neuroscience (PCSFN) for her submission titled, “The mechanism of allosteric modulation of glutamate transporters.” To view her entry please visit pcsfn.org.


Congratulations Discovery Day 2020 Winners

  • Anthony DiNatale (Fatatis lab), Second Place, Barry Waterhouse Outstanding Platform Presentation
  • Julia Farnan (Jackson Lab), Honorable Mention, Outstanding Senior Graduate Student Poster

Jared Luchetta Awarded National Research Service Award

Congratulations to Jared Luchetta (Meucci lab) for being awarded a National Research Service Award (NRSA) pre-doctoral fellow on Drexel University’s Interdisciplinary and Translational Research Training Grant in NeuroAIDS, funded by the National Institutes of Health.


Stacia Lewandowski Serves as Guest Editor

Stacia Lewandowski served as guest editor of the June 2020 newsletter of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society in the section on diverse voices – LGBTQIA+.


Stacia Lewandowski Awarded International Behavioral Neuroscience (IBNS) Travel Award

Congratulations to Stacia Lewandowski for being awarded an IBNS Travel Award for the 2020 meeting in Glasgow, Scotland.

Students with Ole V. Mortensen, PhD, Program Director of the Pharmacology and Physiology Program at Drexel University College of Medicine.