The UF Health Cancer Center Predoctoral Awards, awarded annually to up to five graduate students, are intended to recognize and support outstanding predoctoral candidates who are conducting innovative cancer research.

Description

The award allots a total of $10,000 to the recipient for a one-year period, $8,000 for lab and research supplies, and $2,000 for travel expenses for the student.

Eligibility 

• Applicants must have passed the Ph.D. qualifying exam within the last 15 months
• Applicant’s mentor must be a member of the UF Health Cancer Center and hold cancer-focused extramural funding
• Applicants must be in a UF graduate program with a project clearly focused on cancer

Application 

To apply, applicants are required to submit the following:

• NIH Fellowship-format biosketch
  • Fellowship Biosketch 
  • Instructions: Fellowship Biosketch
  • Sample: Predoctoral Fellowship Biosketch
• UF graduate school transcripts
• Research Project Title, Ph.D. qualifying exam proposal and qualifying exam chair summary
• Essay (one page maximum) should cover the following:
  • Summary of how applicant became involved in cancer research as well as future plans
  • Synopsis of applicant’s thesis work
  • Significance, impact and relevance of applicant’s work to cancer
• Letter of support from mentor (this may be emailed separately by mentor)
• Mentor’s NIH biosketch, including research support (this may be emailed separately by mentor)

Natalie Atyeo, B.A.
DMD-PhD Program
Mentor: Bernadett Papp, Ph.D.
Forkhead factor regulation in oral oncovirus infection

Charlotte Kaestner, B.S.
Biomedical Sciences Program – Cancer Biology
Mentor: Jonathan Licht, M.D.
Identifying Molecular Targets to Overcome Brain Infiltration in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Rachel Newsome, B.S.
Biomedical Sciences Program – Cancer Biology
Mentor: Christian Jobin, Ph.D.
The role of the gut microbiome in cancer immunotherapy

Daniel Stribling, B.S.
Genetics & Genomics Program
Mentor: Rolf Renne, Ph.D.
Integrated Deep Neural Network and Experimental Approaches to Uncover the Role of Noncanonical miRNA Targeting in KSHV-Driven Tumorigenesis

Xin Zhou, M.S.
Biomedical Sciences Program – Cancer Biology
Mentor: Lizi Wu, Ph.D.
Aberrant CRTC signaling in LKB1-inactivated lung cancers

Please email any questions to Education@cancer.ufl.edu.