Published December 5, 2013
Graduate students within the University of Louisiana at Monroe’s College of Pharmacy,
recently won several awards for their research and presentations.
The students hail from the Department of Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences pursuing advanced
degrees in pharmacy.
Hisham Qosa with his poster presentation award.
Hisham Qosa, who is seeking a Ph.D. in Pharmacy, was awarded the 2013 Alzheimer’s
Drug Discovery Foundation Young Investigator Scholarship for his presentation titled
“Enhanced brain amyloid-β clearance by oleocanthal, rifampicin and caffeine as a possible
protective mechanism against Alzheimer’s disease,” at the 14th International Conference
on Alzheimer's Drug Discovery meeting held in Jersey City, NJ.
Qosa also received the first place award for his graduate student poster presentation
within the neuroscience section for his presentation titled “Characterization of amyloid-β
cerebral clearance across mouse and human blood-brain barrier models.”
The poster was presented at the Southeastern Regional IDeA meeting held in Little
Rock, Ark.
The region includes Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, West Virginia,
Kentucky and Puerto Rico. Qosa is advised by Dr. Amal Kaddoumi, associate professor
of pharmaceutics.
Advised by Dr. Seetharama Jois, Ameya Gokhale and Shanthi Kanthala, also won first
place awards at Southeastern Regional IDeA meeting.
ULM pharmacy students Ameya Gokahle (left) and
Shanthi Kanthala show off their first place awards.
Ameya Gokhale, who will obtain his Ph.D. degree this semester from the college of
pharmacy, won first place for his graduate student oral presentation within the General
Biomedical Sciences Section.
His presentation was titled “Surface epitopes of CD2 protein to inhibit CD2-CD58 protein-protein
interaction as therapeutic agent for arthritis.”
Shanthi Kanthala, who is seeking a Ph.D. in pharmacy, won first place for her graduate
student poster presentation within the Cancer research Section for her presentation
titled “Structure-activity relation of D-amino acid containing peptidomimetics for
inhibition of protein-protein interactions of EGFR2.”
Students within the Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences program engage in research which
crosses disciplinary boundaries, linking bio- and analytical chemistry, medicinal
chemistry, cell biology, and anatomy and physiology, in established programs focused
on multiple therapeutic areas including neuroscience and cancer research.
