Each fall, the graduate students in the Department of Pharmacology organize a symposium, which includes two poster sessions, several slide presentations, lunch, and a keynote address. This year's Symposium was coupled with an overnight departmental retreat at the T Bar M Ranch in New Braunfels, Texas. The event was organized by Michelle Baladi and Matt Rowan, 2nd-year graduate students.
The retreat and symposium began with two poster sessions
in which the research of 36 students, postdocs, and faculty
was highlighted.
Michelle Baladi, 2nd-year Graduate Student
Ha Van Truong, 2nd-year Graduate Student
Maria Grazia Morgese, Postdoctoral Fellow
Jacob Garza, 4th-year Graduate Student
Dr. Alan Frazer, Chair of Pharmacology, congratulates the winners
of the student poster competition. Back Row: Matt Rowan
Front Row: Jennifer Stewart and Fresnida Ramos
Awards were also presented to Drs. Luis Gimenez and
Changhua Wang for their outstanding posters in the postdoc category.
After a morning of scientific discussions, members of the
Department
enjoyed friendly games of softball and volleyball.
Dania Rossi, Graduate Student, prepares to hit a home run!
Pete Campos, 1st-year Graduate Student, awaits the pitch from our
guest speaker, Dr. Marc Caron.
Alex Seillier, Postdoctoral Fellow, shows off his awesome serve!
Harinder Singh, 1st-year Graduate Student, goes for the ball while
Jason Justice, 4th-year Graduate Student, and Dr. Wei Zhang,
Assistant Professor, are ready to back him up.
The evening ended with a reception and Bar-B-Que dinner
that were enjoyed by all.
On Friday morning, we got back to business with several
slide presentations
Joe Vela, 6th-year Graduate Student and 4th-year Dental Student, gets
the day started with his presentation entitled,
"B1 Adrenergic Inhibition
of Bradykinin/Prostaglandin E2 Response in Trigeminal Nocicpetors."
Corina Bondi, 5th-year Graduate Student, followed with a presentation
entitled,
"Stress Reactivity of the Brain Noradrenergic System and its
Relevance to Stress Adaptation and Vulnerability."
Dr. Weirong Zhang, Postdoctoral Fellow, concluded the departmental
presentations by discussing his research project entitled, "Chronic
Hypoxia Alters Alpha-Adrenoreceptor Modulation of Synaptic
Transmissions
of Peripheral Chemoreceptor Inputs in the
Nucleus Tractus Solaitarius (NTS)."
Dr. Marc Caron, James B. Duke Professor of Cell Biology
at Duke University,
concluded the morning with a few words
of wisdom for our graduate students
in his presentation,
"Career Decisions/Choices: Luck, Serendipity, and Hard Work."
Dr. Alan Frazer, Chair of Pharmacology, presents Dr. Caron with a
certificate of our appreciation for his participation in our symposium.
