12 students were selected for the 2019-2020 UF Health Cancer Center University Scholars Program.

Payton Bogert

• Major: Biology
• Minor: International Studies in Agriculture and Life Sciences
• Mentor: Dietmar Siemann, PhD
• College of Medicine
• Research Project Title:
  Evaluating the role of cathepsin inhibition in chemotherapy resistant osteosarcoma
• UFHCC Research Program: Cancer Therapeutics & Host Response

Belen De La Flor

• Major: Health Education and Behavior
• Minor: Chemistry
• Mentor: Shuang Huang, PhD
• College of Medicine
• Research Project Title:
  Defining Molecular Mechanism Underlying Ovarian Cancer Metastasis
• UFHCC Research Program: Mechanisms of Oncogenesis

Chamara Gunaratne

• Major: Biochemistry
• Minor: Mathematics
• Mentor: Olga Guryanova, MD, PhD
• College of Medicine
• Research Project Title:
  Effect of DNMT3A Mutation on Chromatin Dynamics
• UFHCC Research Program: Mechanisms of Oncogenesis

Alicia Hou

• Major: Biology (Pre-professional)
• Minor: Music Performance (Piano)
• Mentor: Jianping Huang, MD, PhD
• College of Medicine
• Research Project Title:
  Investigation of Dual-Target CAR T Cell Therapy Using CD70 and pp65 for GBM Treatment
• UFHCC Research Program: Cancer Therapeutics & Host Response

Tyler Kellenberger

• Major: Health Science
• Mentor: David Tran, MD, PhD
• College of Medicine
• Research Project Title:
  The role of MRDC1 in Dendritic Cell function
• UFHCC Research Program: Cancer Therapeutics & Host Response

Daniel Koppel

• Major: Biochemistry
• Mentor: Weizhou Zhang, PhD
• College of Medicine
• Research Project Title:
  Targeting Cancer-Specific Treg cells for Immunotherapy
• UFHCC Research Program: Mechanisms of Oncogenesis

Vikasni Mohan

• Major: Medical Geography
• Minor: Health Disparities in Society
• Mentor: Stephanie Staras, PhD
• College of Medicine
• Research Project Title:
  An Analysis of Provider Recommendations Regarding the HPV Vaccine
• UFHCC Research Program: Cancer Population Sciences

Nicole Pelletier

• Major: Anthropology and Psychology
• Minor: Innovation and Health Disparities in Society
• Mentor: Lei Zhou, PhD
• College of Medicine
• Research Project Title:
  Understanding Oncogenic Effects of Histone 2B Mutations Co-Expressed with Oncogenic RasV12
• UFHCC Research Program: Mechanisms of Oncogenesis

Siri Ravuri

• Major: Statistics and Biology
• Mentor: Walter O’Dell, PhD
• College of Medicine
• Research Project Title:
  Using Three-Dimensional Modeling to Analyze the Vascular System and Radiation Induced Lung Damage
• UFHCC Research Program: Cancer Population Sciences

Virginia Samuels

• Major: Biology
• Mentor: Diana Wilkie, PhD, RN, FAAN
• College of Nursing
• Research Project Title:
  Palliative Care in Cancer Patients
• UFHCC Research Program: Cancer Population Sciences

Alexis Trumbull

• Major: Microbiology and Cell Sciences
• Mentor: Jorg Bungert, PhD
• College of Medicine
• Research Project Title:
  The role of transcription factor TFII-I/Gtf2i in erythro-megakaryocytic cell differentiation
• UFHCC Research Program: Mechanisms of Oncogenesis

Lauren Vaughn

• Major: Pre-Professional Biology
• Minor: Health Disparities
• Mentor: Christopher Cogle, MD
• College of Medicine
• Research Project Title:
  Targeting Alternative mRNA Splicing in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
• UFHCC Research Program: Cancer Therapeutics & Host Response