Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences held its 2008 Convocation ceremonies on May 28. Graduate School leadership, including Dr. David Hajjar, dean; Dr. Randi Silver, associate dean; and Francoise Freyre, assistant dean, presented the following awards for special achievement.
"You're really going to make a difference in the field of medical research for years to come," Dr. Hajjar said. "We know that this next generation of scientists — all of you sitting in this room — will make a difference."
2008 Vincent du Vigneaud Prize
Assistant Dean Francoise Freyre, Ameer Thompson and Dean David Hajjar
Zhucheng Chen, "Mechanism of Homologous Recombination From Crystal Structure of RECA-SSDNA/DSDNA Filaments" (Professor Nikola P. Pavletich)
Marybeth Carrie Garceau, "Identification of PDE5 as a Target of S-Nitrosylation" (Professor Steven S. Gross)
Jaclyn C. Greimann, "Activities and Structure of the Eukaryotic Exosome" (Professor Christopher Lima)
Lisa Placanica, "Evidence of an Atypical Gamma Secretase in Cells of Hematopoietic Origin" (Professor Yueming Li)
Tyler Simpson, "Therapeutic TREG Depletion Generates Robust Systemic Responses and Transferable Anti-Tumor Immunity in an Autologous T-Cell Adoptive Cell Therapy Model" (Professor James Allison)
Ameer N. Thompson, "Molecular Mechanism of PH Sensing in KCSA Potassium Channels" (Professor Crina Nimigean)
Kai Xu, "The Study of Interaction Between Henipavirus and Their Host Cell Receptors" (Professor Dimitar Nikolov)
Xiaoxiao Xue, "Kinesin Switch During Epithelial Cell Polarization" (Professor Geri Kreitzer)
2008 Vincent du Vigneaud Awards of Excellence
Assistant Dean Francoise Freyre, Judith Mesicek and Dean David Hajjar
Rebecca Clare Ahrens, "Investigation of Arrhythmias in Anthropomorphized Murine Cardiac Myocytes" (Professor David Christini)
Clare Veronica LeFave, "Oncogenicity of Aberrant Alternative Splicing Events in Gliomas" (Professor Luca Cartegni)
Judith Mesicek, "Elucidating the Role of Ceramide Synthase in Radiation-Induced Apoptosis" (Professor Richard Kolesnick)
Elissaveta Petrova, "Hedgehog Acyltransferase: A Novel Therapeutic Target in Pancreatic Cancer" (Professor Marilyn Resh)
Kymora Bernisha Scotland, "Analysis of REX-1 (ZFP42) Function in Retinoic-Acid Induced Differentiation" (Professor Lorraine Gudas)
Yuan Tian, "Substrate Feedback Regulation of Secretase Activity" (Professor Yueming Li)
2008 Vincent du Vigneaud First-Year Awards
Christina Crump, "Using Salicylhydroxamic Acid and Phenylboronic Acid in Bioorthogonal Chemistry" (Professor Samie Jaffrey)
Armen Kherlopian, "Long-Range Connectivity, Event-Driven Networks, and Complex Stimuli: Next Steps in Visual Cortex Modeling" (Professor Jonathan Victor)
2008 Julian Rachele Prize
Assistant Dean Francoise Freyre, Meera Mani and Dean David Hajjar
Meera Mani, "The Dual Phosphatase Activity of Synaptojamin 1 Is Required for Both Efficient Synaptic Vesicle Endocytosis and Re-Availability at Nerve Terminals" Neuron, 56: 1004-1018 (2007) (Professor Timothy Ryan)
Matthias Stephan, "T-Cell-Encoded CD80 and 4-1BBL Induce Auto- and Transcostimulation, Resulting in Potent Tumor Rejection" Nature Medicine, 13: 1440-1449 (2007) (Professor Michel Sadelain)
Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring Award
Charles Inturrisi, Ph.D.
2008 Distinguished Student Commencement Speaker Award
Omar Vandal
2008 Student Service Award
Hajira Begum Koeller
Photography by Amelia Panico.