Biomedical Sciences Student Receives Research and Study Abroad Grants
Posted on July 18, 2024 by CAHP
Each year the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology selects undergraduate Student Chapter members from around the country as the recipients of grant funding that will support the students’ summer research projects.
Kyle Gaviria, a biomedical sciences student at the University of South Alabama, was recently awarded a 2024 ASBMB Undergraduate Research Award of $1,200 to support his research on the wound-healing capabilities and gene expression of a special type of pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells.
His mentor Dr. Phoibe Renema, assistant professor of biomedical sciences, had previously discovered a population of anoikis-resistant cells residing among regular pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells, which line the lung capillaries. An anoikis-resistant cell is one that is resistant to the process of controlled cell death that human cells typically experience when detached from their extracellular matrix.
Gaviria’s research aims to determine if these anoikis-resistant cells have gene expression patterns and wound-healing capabilities that match endothelial stem/progenitor cells. If they do, it will provide evidence that endothelial stem/progenitor cells reside in our lung microvasculature and become activated when our lung capillaries are damaged.
“Dr. Renema and I had spent lots of time planning out the project and perfecting our proposal,” Gaviria said. “When we heard that ASBMB accepted it, we were ecstatic. I'm very excited to work on this project and grateful to have excellent support.”
“Kyle's research project focuses on a relatively new topic of interest in my lab. As such, he did not have many previous projects or data to rely on to build his hypothesis,” Renema shared. “The ASBMB undergraduate research award is a testament to his outstanding initiative, collaborative efforts, and scientific creativity.”
In addition to receiving his research award, Gaviria was also recently selected as a recipient of a 2024 Phi Kappa Phi Study Abroad Grant. He is one of 125 students across the nation to receive one of the $1,000 grants. Two more students at USA also received study abroad grants.
Gaviria traveled to Madrid, Spain, through USA in Spain, a USA faculty-led, study abroad program. He and his classmates had the opportunity to experience Madrid as if they were locals, staying in apartments with members of the Madrid community, taking classes with Spanish professors, and exploring the city whenever they had the chance.
Being immersed in the city, its culture and their classes gave Gaviria and his classmates the opportunity to expand their Spanish fluency significantly by speaking the language constantly. One of his favorite parts of the program was the close-knit community he was able to build with his classmates and their professors.
I’m very grateful for Phi Kappa Phi’s generous support of my study abroad experience,” Gaviria said. “It’s awesome to know that Phi Kappa Phi valued this opportunity enough to endorse it.”