Celebrating Accomplishments and Exciting Future
Twelve Florida students are among those earning their doctorates on May 15 during the 34th Commencement Ceremony of the Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences, and we couldn’t be prouder.
Among them are four students who benefitted from generous donor fellowships.
Their studies advanced understanding of a genetic cause of blindness and brain signaling; revealed new potential treatments for diabetes and metabolic diseases; increased understanding of the hormone progesterone in breast and prostate cancers, and explored the role of glial cell mutations as a possible cause of autism spectrum disorders.
Their studies were supported by Dr. Herbert Wertheim, the BallenIsles Men’s Golf Association and Cornelia T. and Glenn W. Bailey.
The institute’s graduate program is operated by the University of Florida in partnership with Scripps Research. The Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences was recently ranked No. 1 in the nation for degrees in the biomedical sciences. Coming soon, the institute will also begin taking applications for the University of Florida’s Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences.
The 34th Commencement Ceremony of the Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences will be held on Friday, May 15 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. (1 p.m. Eastern)
Honorary degrees will be bestwoed upon Ian A. Wilson, Ph.D., and Peter B. Dervan, Ph.D.
The ceremony can be viewed via Zoom. Register at the link.
Florida-Based 2026 Skaggs Graduates
| Student | Mentor | dissertation title | Awards and recognition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rubens Almeida Tavora | Susana Valente, Ph.D. | Efforts towards the “block-and-lock” strategy for curing HIV. | |
| Chu-Ting Chang | Kirill A. Martemyanov, Ph.D. | Defining extracellular interactions of metabotropic glutamate receptors. | Cornelia T. and Glenn W. Bailey Endowed Graduate Education Fellow |
| Sarah Dallo | Luiz Pedro Sorio de Carvalho, Ph.D. | Ligand engagement in mycobacterial enzymes that inactivate small molecules. | –– |
| Lucas Fluegel | Ben Shen, Ph.D. | Exploring natural product biosynthesis across scales: from one biosynthetic pathway to many. | –– |
| Patricia Hahn | Mauricio Martins, Ph.D. | Immune activation in HIV pathogenesis and cure: from risk factors to barriers in therapeutic intervention. | –– |
| Robin Russo Kobylski | Laura A. Solt, Ph.D., Kendall W. Nettles, Ph.D. | Ligand modulation of steroid receptor signaling: mechanisms of allostery, crosstalk, and selectivity. | –– |
| Kuang-Ting Kuo | Patrick R. Griffin, Ph.D. | Next generation PPARγ modulators: therapeutic potential and structure-function insights in metabolic disorders. | Wertheim Graduate Research Fellow |
| Hao Li | Michael Farzan, Ph.D. | Enhancing the immunogenicity of HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein trimers via cytoplasmic modifications. | |
| Matthew Mann | Patrick R. Griffin, Ph.D. | Integrative structural and functional analysis to dissect progesterone receptor regulation and chromatin engagement in breast cancer. | BallenIsles Men’s Golf Association Fellow |
| Changran Niu | Baoji Xu, Ph.D. | Regulation of protein synthesis in glial cells and its role in sexual dimorphism of autism. | Wertheim Graduate Research Fellow |
| Xinpei Yue | Baoji Xu, Ph.D. | Neural circuits of BDNF-expressing paraventricular hypothalamic neurons in the regulation of energy balance. | –– |
| Chuanping Zhao | Kirill A. Martemyanov, Ph.D. | Defining the GPCR landscape of photoreceptors. | –– |