Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases Graduate Program Track : June 27, 2008: Thirty-fifth Annual Pharmacology Research Colloquium

Thirty-five students and 6 faculty members of the Physiology and Pharmacology Department and CVMD graduate track attended the 35th Annual Pharmacology Research Colloquium held this year in the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  This colloquium brings together graduate students and faculty from the “pharmacology” departments of the Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, and the University of Toledo, College of Medicine for a day long scientific program.  Each of the schools takes turns in hosting this annual event. The colloquium primarily provides a forum for doctoral students to present their research in both oral and poster presentations and an opportunity for all participants to exchange ideas.

These colloquia were initiated 35 years ago by Dr. Theodore M. Brody of Michigan State University and Dr. Benedict Lucchesi of the University of Michigan.  As is evident from the pictures below, Dr. Lucchesi is still an enthusiastic and active participant.  The welcome address was delivered by Dr. Paul Hollenberg, Maurice Seevers Collegiate Professor and Chair of Pharmacology at the U. of Michigan in the beautiful auditorium of the Rackham Graduate School.

 The program included 13 oral presentations, including those by CVMD track students Rudel Saunders, Yiliang Chen and Sadeesh Ramakrishnan, and 57 poster presentations.  

The keynote speaker was D. Martin Watterson, PhD, John G. Searle Professor of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, Co-Director, University Center for Drug Discovery and Chemical Biology, Northwestern University and Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Biological Chemistry at the Feinberg School of Medicine.  His presentation was entitled Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery: Development of Small Molecules for in Vivo Modulation of Pathophysiology. 

Fifty seven posters were on display in addition to those pertaining to the oral slide presentations.  Judging was re-introduced this year and 5 of the 6 finalists were students from the University of Toledo.  These were Zhichuan Li, Sima Rahman, Gargi Roy, Katye Smedland, and Cory Stebal.  The other finalist was Matthew Sikora of the University of Michigan.

Social Activities

Lunch and dinner were both served in the wood-paneled Michigan League.

During dinner winners of the oral and poster presentations were announced.  The prize for best poster went to Gargi Roy (UT), from Dr. Robert Wang’s laboratory.  Her poster was entitled The Mechanism of Defective ER-to-Golgi Trafficking of ΔF508 CFTR.  She will receive a check and a plaque.  The prize for best oral presentation went to Priyadarshini Raman (MSU) from Norbert Kaminiski’s laboratory.  Her talk was entitled A Cyclooxygenase Metabolite of 2-Arachidonyl Glycerol is Responsible for the Suppression of Interleukin-2.