Statewide Awards

UF Drug Discovery Symposium

2021 – Winners from Medicinal Chemistry 

Oral Presentation – Student Category:
Kelton Schleyer, Expanding the Toolkit of Small Molecule Imaging Probes for Heparanese, (Mentor: Lina Cui) 

Oral Presentation – Postdoctoral Category:
Pratik Pal, Discovery of a BCL-XL/BCL-2 Dual Function Protac, (Mentor: Guangrong Zheng) 

Poster Presentation –  Student Category:

Lobna Elsadek, Genomic and Targeted Approaches Unveil the Cell Membrane as a Major Target of Antifungal Cytotoxin Amantelide A, (Mentor: Hendrik Luesch)

Poster Presentation – Postdoctoral Catergory:
Tengfei Bian NNAL Promotes Lung Cancer Progression in an Isomer-Dependent Manner, (Mentor: Chris Xing) 

Florida Annual Meeting and Exposition (FAME) Conference

2019 – Best Poster Award, Yi Zhang, (Mentor: Yousong Ding)

UF Drug Discovery Symposium

2019 –  Winners from Medicinal Chemistry
Oral Presentation – Student Category:
Verrill (Chip) Norwood, Preventing Morphine Seeking Behavior through the Re-Engineering of Vincamine’s Biological Activity, (Mentor: Robert Huigens III)
Yi Zhang, Reconstitution of the Biosynthesis of Multiple Microviridin Core Peptides reveals Synergy between Processing Enzymes, (Mentor: Yousong Ding)

Oral Presentation – Postdoctoral Category:
Sebastiano Intagliata,
Synthesis and Preliminary Pharmacological Evaluation of New Σ Receptor Ligands with Anti-Neuropathic Pain Effects in Mice, (Mentor: Christopher McCurdy)

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Poster Presentation – Student Category:
Guandge Jiang,
One-Pot Biocombinatorial Synthesis of Herbicidal Thaxtomins and Substituted Aromatic 2,5-Diketopiperazines, (Mentor: Yousong Ding)
Kelton Schleyer,
Responsive Fluorophore Aggregation Provides Contrast for Lifetime Imaging in Cells, (Mentor: Lina Cui)

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Poster Presentation – Postdoctoral Category:
Alejandra Chavez-Riveros, Tryptoline Induced C-N Bond Cleavage of Indole Alkaloids: A Platform to Generate Novel Small Molecules for Drug Discovery, (Mentor: Robert Huigens III)

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2017 – Winners from Medicinal Chemistry
Oral Presentation – Student Category:
Nick Paciaroni, Ring Distortion of Yohimbine Leads to Diverse Biological Discoveries, (Mentor: Robert Huigens III)

Poster Presentation – Student Category:
Yasmeen Abouelhassan, Discovery of Halogenated Phenazines, Hydroxyquinolines and NH125 Small Molecules as Potent Biofilm-Eradicating Agents of Gram-Positive Pathogens and MRSA Persister Cell Killers, (Mentor: Robert Huigens III)
Chip Norwood, Complexity-to-Diversity on the Indole-Containing Natural Product Vincamine, (Mentor: Robert Huigens III)
Ran Zuo, Developing Biocatalytic Processes for the Synthesis of Nitro Compound, (Mentor: Robert Huigens III)

2016 – Winners from Medicinal Chemistry
Poster Presentation – Student Category:
Danmeng Luo, Total Synthesis of the Potent Marine-Derived Elastase Inhibitor Lyngbyastatin 7 and In Vitro Biological Evaluation in Model Systems for Pulmonary Diseases, (Mentor: Hendrik Luesch)
Yasmeen Abouelhassan, Discovery of Potent Halogenated Phenazine and Quinoline Small Molecule Biofilm-Eradicating Agents, (Mentor: Robert Huigens III)