The department congratulates Anna Lewis, Amer Abuabed, and Vignesh Anand on receiving the Summer 2024 Provost’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Fellowship. The fellowship provides financial support, mentorship, and presentation opportunities to undergraduate students of all disciplines who wish to engage in research and/or creative activities.
Amer will work with Dr. Nagib Ahsan on a project entitled “B-cell epitopes profiling of pollen allergen of Oklahoma native grass species for better management of pollen allergy.” The project will focus on the discovery and comparative characterization of grass-specific pollen allergen epitopes (peptides) using a mass spectrometry-based proteomics approach, which will offer new allergen-specific immunotherapy targets.
Vignesh is working with Dr. Ulrich Hansmann on a project entitled "Investigating the Role of SARS-CoV-2 Protein Fragments on the Amyloidogenicity of CGRP with Molecular Dynamics Simulations.” The goal is to study whether SARS-COV-2 protein fragments encourage amyloid formation of the Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), which plays a role in migraines, heart disease, arthritis, and potentially other conditions.
Anna Lewis will work with Dr. Shanteri Singh on a project entitled “Introducing Fluorine into Cannabigerol Acid Analogs via Fluorine-containing IPP and DMAPP Analogs.” Her project will focus on synthesizing novel fluorine-containing analogs of cannabigerolic acid (CBGA). The added fluorine is hoped to broaden CBGA’s known therapeutic potentials, including its antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective properties.
