BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN TZID:America/New_York X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VEVENT UID:83@researchweek.unc.edu DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20221010T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20221010T173000 DTSTAMP:20230719T190222Z URL:https://researchweek.unc.edu/events/pare-talks-2022/ SUMMARY:PARE Talks DESCRIPTION:Each year\, the Postdoctoral Awards for Research Excellence (PA RE) are given in recognition of the research promise demonstrated by indiv idual postdoctoral scholars. The awards are open to postdoctoral scholars in all disciplines and are designed to assist postdoctoral scholars in the ir continued professional development by supporting the recipients in conf erence travel\, purchasing books\, lab materials\, or engaging in other sc holarly activities that directly enhance the individual’s professional g rowth.\n\nClick Here to Register for this Event\n\nThis year's PARE recipi ents who will be presenting on their research at the event are:\nAobo Li\, College of Arts and Sciences\, Department of Physics and Astronomy \n\nAo bo Li is a postdoctoral research associate and COSMS Fellow in the College 's Department of Physics and Astronomy. He is described by his professors as a “rising star in the neutrino and nuclear physics community.” He l everages artificial intelligence to facilitate the experimental search of neutrino-less double-beta decay – part of an effort to explain why there was matter left after the Big Bang instead of only pure energy. His effor ts to stay informed about new tools in machine learning (and immediately l earn how to best apply them to experiments) has already led to several not able achievements. Li’s expertise and leadership provide a unique educat ional opportunity for UNC graduate and undergraduate students.\n\n\n\nSoph ie Maiocchi\, Department of Cell Biology and Physiology \n\nSophie Maiocch i is a National Heart Lung and Blood Institute postdoctoral fellow affilia ted with both the SOM's Department of Cell Biology and Physiology and the Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery\, as well as an associated fell ow of the Carolina Cancer Nanotechnology T32 Training Program. Her researc h focuses on studying how to deliver pharmacologic and biologic therapies\ , such as proteins and RNA\, to treat cardiovascular disease and its clini cal implications. She focuses on the development of nanoparticles\, like t hose used in the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines\, for the targeted delivery of the rapies to damaged vessels and blood clots with the goal of healing vessels and dissolving clots. Maiocchi is described by her professors as an ideal postdoctoral research fellow that “thinks critically\, is always expand ing on her knowledge base\, thrives working in teams\, has grown considera bly as a mentor in her time at UNC\, and is committed to helping advance h er field.” \n\n\nLaura Ornelas\, Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies \n\nL aura Ornelas is a postdoctoral research associate in Joyce Besheer’s lab at the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studues. Ornelas is characterized as “ an exceptional example of integrity and hard work” whose research is gai ning much attention. She studies the neurobiological mechanisms that under lie sex differences in comorbid alcohol use and stress. Specifically\, Orn elas focuses on characterizing and validating an animal model of traumatic stress and increased alcohol self-administration to better understand the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie PTSD and alcohol use disorders. In addition to her research\, Ornelas has taken on mentorship roles in her lab\, as well as serving as an advocate for promoting diverse groups in s cience and higher education. \n\n\nNipun Saini\, Nutrition Research Instit ute \n\nNipun Saini is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Nutrition Re search Institute under the mentorship of Susan Smith. Her professors say S aini’s “exceptionalism reflects a combination of brilliant insight\, a fine-honed research focus\, and sheer grit.” She researches nutrient-al cohol interactions in alcohol-exposed pregnancies\, specifically the effec ts of alcohol-glucose metabolic interactions in the maternal-fetal dyad in a mouse model of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). Saini also leads a seco nd project that studies alcohol-iron interactions in the PAE pregnancy mod el. The findings from this research highlight the potential contribution o f alcohol’s dysregulation of maternal metabolism. \n\n\nWei Shi\, Integr ative Program for Biological and Genome Sciences (IBGS) \n\nWei Shi is a p ostdoctoral fellow in the lab of Frank Conlon in the Integrative Program f or Biological and Genome Sciences. His studies aim to reveal the mechanism s underlying heart failure progression and cardiac tissue regeneration. He also contributed to the pioneering of the CHD4ᴹ²⁰²¹ mouse patient model\, which was one of the first few generated at UNC by CRSPR-based tec hnologies introducing a single-nucleotide substitution in the coding regio n of CHD4. His professors say he is “an outstanding and exceptionally pr omising” postdoctoral fellow whose work “has a high chance of developi ng novel approaches to clinical care.” ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://researchweek.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/ 2022/09/PARE-2022-scaled.jpg LOCATION:Koury Oral Health Science Building\, room G411\, 385 S Columbia St \, Chapel Hill\, North Carolina\, 27599\, United States X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=385 S Columbia St\, Chapel Hill\, North Carolina\, 27599\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=K oury Oral Health Science Building\, room G411:geo:0,0 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20220313T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR