UF College of Pharmacy Robert and Stephany Ruffolo Graduate Education and Research Fellowship
2022 – Lobna Elsadek, (Mentor: Hendrik Luesch)
2020 – Peilan Zhang, (Mentor: Yousong Ding)
UF College of Pharmacy Research Showcase
2024 – Winners from Medicinal Chemistry
Oral Competition – William J. Millard Senior Graduate Basic Science Student Research
Yuzhao Zhang, Lead Optimization via Gatorator: A Case Study on Heparanase Inhibitor (Mentor: Lina Cui)
Poster Competition – Postdoctoral Trainee (B)
Amit Mondal, Biosynthetic Characterization of Antibacterial Pyrrolomycins, (Mentor: Yousong Ding)
2021 – Winners from Medicinal Chemistry
Oral Competition – Basic Sciences Division
Manyun Chen, Biocatalytic Synthesis of Natural Anti-UV Agents, (Mentor: Yousong Ding)
Poster Competition – Graduate Student Research: Cancer
Kelton Schleyer, Expanding the toolkit of Small Molecule Imaging Probes for Heparanase, (Mentor: Lina Cui)
2020 – Winners from Medicinal Chemistry
Oral Competition – Millard Basic Science Division Finalist:
Peilan Zhang, Dihydroxyacid Dehydratases are a Promising Growth Inhibition Target, (Mentor: Yousong Ding)
Poster Competition – Graduate Student Research: Infectious Diseases
Lobna Elsadek, Genomic and targeted approaches unveil targets of an antifungal natural product, (Mentor: Hendrik Luesch)
2019 – Winners from Medicinal Chemistry
Oral Competition – Millard Junior Division:
Daniel Schultz, Structure-based drug design towards small molecule interleukin-6 inhibitors, (Mentor: Chenglong Li)
2018 – Winners from Medicinal Chemistry
Oral Competition – Millard Senior Division:
Yasmeen Abouelhassan, RNA-Seq Reveals a Unique Mechanism of MRSA Biofilm Eradication Using Halogenated Phenazine HP-14 as a Probe Molecule, (Mentor: Robert Huigens III)
Peilan Zhang, A cytotoxic protein from the mushroom Coprinus comatus possesses a unique mode for glycan binding and specificity, (Mentor: Yousong Ding)
2017 – Winners from Medicinal Chemistry
Oral Competition – Millard Senior Division:
Weijing Cai, Development of Apratoxins, Marine-Derived Anticancer Agents with Novel Effects on Growth Factor Signaling, (Mentor: Hendrik Luesch)
Poster Competition – Ph.D. Category:
Yi Zhang, Multi-site Lactonization introduced by a Distributive ATP Grasp Ligase in Microviridin Biosynthesis, (Mentor: Yousong Ding)
2016 – Winners from Medicinal Chemistry
Oral Competition- Junior Division:
Weijing Cai, Discovery, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Apratyramide, a Marine-derived Transcriptional Stimulator of VEGF-A, (Mentor: Hendrik Luesch)
Poster Competition – Ph.D. Category:
Danmeng Luo, Discovery and Development of the Potent Marine-Derived Elastase Inhibitor Lyngbyastatin 7: Structure-Activity Relationship Studies, Total Synthesis and In Vitro Biological Evaluation in Model Systems, (Mentor: Hendrik Luesch)
UF College of Pharmacy Best Paper Awards
2021
Dr. Hendrik Luesch, Gatorbulin-1, A Distinct Cyclodepsipeptide Chemotype, Targets a Seventh Tubulin Pharmacological Site. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2021,118, e2021847118.
2020
Dr. Lina Cui, Ultrasensitive small molecule fluorogenic probe for human heparanase, Chem.Sci., 2021,12, 239-246
2019
Dr. Guangrong Zheng, A selective BCL-XL PROTAC degrader achieves safe and potent antitumor activity, Nature Medicine.25,1938-1947
2018
Dr. Yousong Ding, Cytotoxic protein from the mushroom Coprinus comatus possesses a unique mode for glycan binding and specificity, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 2017, 114: 8980-8985
2017
Dr. Yousong Ding, A distributive peptide cyclase processes multiple microviridin core peptides within a single polypeptide substrate, Nat. Commun. 2018, 9: 1780, doi:10.1038/s41467-018-04154-3