Honors in biology
Doctoral students earn nationally competitive awards for research projects
8:07 a.m., July 12, 2011--Two graduate students in the Department of Biological Sciences have won nationally competitive awards for research they are conducting at the University of Delaware, one on the cardiovascular system and one on the lens of the eye.
Jody Greaney, who earned her master's degree in exercise science and now is a doctoral student in biological sciences, received a pre-doctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association. The two-year award, for $23,000 a year, will support her dissertation research on the neural control of the cardiovascular system.
Honors Stories
National Medal of Science
Warren Award
Her research focuses on the sympathetic nervous system and the role it plays in hypertension, or high blood pressure. One of the factors she is exploring is salt content in the blood and the effect it has on sympathetic nervous system activity in adults with and without hypertension.
Greaney is working with William Farquhar, associate professor of kinesiology and applied physiology, who has a joint appointment in biological sciences and is head of UD's Cardiovascular Research Laboratory.
"Her efforts will likely lead to a greater understanding of the disease of hypertension, which affects over 75 million Americans," Farquhar said, adding that a biological sciences student conducting doctoral research in a kinesiology and applied physiology lab "demonstrates the strong relationship between these two academic units on campus."
Greaney's professional goal is to continue to conduct research in a related area, possibly working in a lab funded by the National Institutes of Health.
David Scheiblin, a doctoral student working on vision research, won a 2011 Student Award from the Microscopy Society of America. The scholarship, for which a small number of students were selected from among more than 175 applicants, will allow him to attend the society's annual meeting in August, where he will be recognized at an awards ceremony and present his research.
Scheiblin works with Melinda Duncan, professor of biological sciences and of animal and food sciences, on the lens of the eye, which consists of two types of cells. He is studying the molecular control of lateral membranes in the lens fiber cells. The research has implications for understanding the development of cataracts and a secondary condition that sometimes occurs in the eye after cataract removal surgery.
Scheiblin's career goal is to teach anatomy at a university or medical school.
Article by Ann Manser