Francoise Freyre, assistant dean of the Graduate School (left) and Dr. David Hajjar, dean of the Graduate School (right), congratulate John Biggins, a recipient of the 2004 Julian R. Rachele Prize.
At convocation ceremonies for Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences, also held on June 1 in Weill Auditorium, preceding Commencement, Dean David Hajjar presented the following awards for special achievement.
Distinguished Student Commencement Speaker Award
Virginia Cox
2003 Alumni Award of Distinction
Dr. Herbert Rosenkranz, '59, chairman, Alumni Committee of Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences.
2004 Julian R. Rachele Prize
Named for a former dean of the Graduate School, the Rachele Prize is the highest student award presented by the school. Awarded to students who have published significant research in a scientific journal.
John Biggins, "Resistance to Enediyne Antitumor Antibiotics by CalC Self-Sacrifice." Science, 301: 1537-1541 (2003) (Professor Jon Thorson)
Danwei Huangfu, "Hedgehog Signalling in the Mouse Requires Intraflagellar Transport Proteins." Nature , 426: 83-87 (2003) (Professor Kathryn Anderson)
Jonathan Zippin, "Bicarbonate-Responsive ‘Soluble' Adenylyl Cyclase Defines a Nuclear cAMP Microdomain." Journal of Cell Biology, 164: 527-534 (2004) (Professor Lonny Levin)
2004 VINCENT du VIGNEAUD PRIZES
Peter Jordan, "Adaptive Diastolic Interval Control of Cardiac Action Potential Duration Alternans." (Professor David Christini)
Barry Kappel, "Deletion of Specific Immunity: Abrogating Graft-Versus-Host Disease While Retaining Graft-Versus-Tumor Activity." (Professor David Scheinberg)
Mona Lee, "Human Mitochondrial Peptide Deformylase: A New Anti-Cancer Target of Actinonin-Based Antibiotics." (Professor David Scheinberg)
Stephen Pitt, "Probing RNA-Ligand Recognition by NMR Spectroscopy: Residual Dipolar Couplings in the Determination of HIV-1 TAR Structural Dynamics." (Professor Dinshaw J. Patel)
Risa Shapiro, "Roles for Ik2, a Drosophila Ikb Kinase, in Anterior-Posterior and Dorsal-Ventral Embryonic Patterning." (Dr. Kathryn Anderson)
2004 VINCENT du VIGNEAUD AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE
Victor Chu, "Receptor Utilization by Influenza Viruses." (Professor Gary Whittaker, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY)
Jennifer Giordano-Coltart, "Characterization of the Human Origin Recognition Complex." (Professor Jerard Hurwitz)
Katie Gonzalez, "Bhringi: A Novel Twist Co-Regulator." (Professor Mary Baylies)
Xiaoyi Hu, "mTOR Promotes Survival and Astrocytic Characteristics Induced by PTEN Loss/Akt Signaling in Glioblastoma." (Professor Eric Holland)
Gianina Panaghie, "Functional Characterization of a Mutation in the KCNQ1 Potassium Channel Gene Associated with Long QT Syndrome." (Professor Geoffrey Abbott)
Andrew Rakeman, "Khlo Is Required for Morphogenesis and Cell Migration in the Mouse Embryo." (Professor Kathryn Anderson)
Ming-Ching Wong, "Dimerization Partners and Tissue Context Regulate Twist Activity During Myogenesis." (Professor Mary Baylies)
Richard Yamada, "A Formal Model for RNA Polymerase Translocation During Transcriptional Elongation of the Nascent RNA Chain." (Professor Charles Peskin)
2004 VINCENT du VIGNEAUD FIRST-YEAR AWARDS
Ram Madabhushi, "Mcs6 Genetically Interacts with Sep1, a HNF-3/Fkh Transcription Factor." (Professor Robert Fisher)
Lisa Placanica, "Regulation of Anxiety-Associated Genes Linked to the 5HT1aR." (Professor Miklos Toth)
Branka Stancevic, "Ceramide-Rich Platform Formation in Endothelial Cells." (Professor Richard Kolesnick)
Photo by Amelia Panico.