Loading

Graduate Student Appreciation Week 2020 Celebrating the more than 600 graduate students and postdoctoral appointees at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry.

The University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry is home to hundreds of master's and PhD students and postdoctoral appointees. By the numbers:

  • 365 PhD students
  • 153 postdoctoral appointees
  • 122 master's students

These remarkable grad students and postdocs are at the heart of research throughout the University of Rochester Medical Center and beyond.

For Graduate Student Appreciation Week 2020, some of these students and trainees shared their perspectives on the experience of conducting research—whether it's in the lab or via video conference—to better understand, prevent, and treat COVID-19.

Jessica Ciesla

PhD Student | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | Munger Lab | Hometown: Oswego, NY

What research are you working on? Our lab is working towards developing a high-throughput drug screen against coronaviruses to identify effective antiviral therapeutics against COVID. Currently, I am working to optimize viral growth to produce large stocks of virus for this drug screen.

What is it like to be part of the COVID response?

Being part of the COVID response is an exciting and rewarding opportunity. I am impressed by the involvement of the University of Rochester research community in their efforts to shift their research towards fighting COVID.

Christopher Anderson, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Fellow | Mariani Lab

What research are you working on? We have used the advanced computational resources at the University of Rochester to study how the COVID-19 virus is adapting to the human population. This will help us predict the effectiveness of emerging COVID-19 vaccines.

We are using our state-of-the-art models of virus infection in the lungs to understand how the COVID-19 virus is causing severe disease and using this model to evaluate the effect of therapeutics on COVID-19 lung infection.

What is it like to be part of the COVID response?

It has been humbling and inspiring. The willingness of the scientific community to work together and freely share ideas, data, and resources has been motivating for me as a scientist to do what I can to aid these efforts.

Raven M. Osborn

PhD Candidate, Translational Biomedical Sciences | Dewhurst/Thakar Lab | Hometown: Kansas City, MO

What research are you working on? I will be studying SARS-Cov-2 innate immune evasion while working to understand how age and sex contribute to COVID-19 severity.

What is it like to be part of the COVID response? It has been exciting and stressful. Keeping up with the latest literature, coordinating collaborations, and planning experiments in a race against the clock during a pandemic can be quite hectic. However, the outpour of support and scientific interest that my friends and family have shown has made this process a lot easier.

I am genuinely excited to start working every day. The pressure and unpredictability of this work is exactly why I chose to go into infectious diseases.

Daniel Steiner

PhD Student | Biophysics, Structural and Computational Biology | Miller Lab | Hometown: Carthage, NY

What research are you working on? I am using state-of-the-art optical techniques to characterize the reactivity of the human immune system to SARS-CoV-2 in high throughput. This system can analyze hundreds of experimental parameters to identify Covid-19 exposure, but also cross-reactivity with SARS and MERS.

What is it like to be part of the COVID response?

Working on COVID-19 is exhilarating. We are learning new things every day that this pandemic persists. I am convinced that my research will make detection faster, easier, and more sensitive not only for COVID-19, but anything we might face in the future.

Joe Bucukovski

PhD Student | Biophysics | Miller Lab | Hometown: Rochester, NY

What research are you working on? We are developing a SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) antigen biosensor chip as a research tool to detect antibody response and to monitor infection status of individuals via serum titers.

What is it like to be part of the COVID response?

It is exciting and sure to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Morgan Monaghan, PhD

Postdoctoral Appointee, Department of Biochemistry | Munger Lab | Hometown: Hatboro, PA

What research are you working on? Our lab specializes in metabolomics, so we are trying to understand how coronaviruses use a human cell's energy resources to grow. Hopefully, this information could be used to develop an antiviral to treat coronavirus infection.

What is it like to be part of the COVID response?

I’m very grateful to be part of a network of generous University of Rochester Medical Center researchers who are willing and eager to share their time, knowledge, and resources.

John Cognetti

PhD Student | Biomedical Engineering | Miller Lab | Hometown: Syracuse, NY

What research are you working on? I’m working on developing a photonics-based biosensor capable of detecting SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies in very small quantities of blood. Our platform is able to measure the presence of multiple different types of antibodies simultaneously and quantify them, which will be useful for determining immune profiles in individuals, which can then be used to put together a population immunity profile based around different disease antigens.

What is it like to be part of the COVID response?

It’s cool to be a part of something so relevant at this time.

My thesis is related to neurodegenerative disease, but the pressing nature of a pandemic adds to the value of being able to contribute to the infectious disease field.

It’s nice to feel like I’m contributing in some way, even if in a lesser manner than our health care and essential retail workers.

Aizan Embong

PhD Student | Immunology, Microbiology, Virology | Topham Lab | Originally from: Malaysia

What research are you working on? I am currently working on two COVID-related projects: first is to discover if there is any cross-reactive pre-existing immunity to SARS-CoV-2 by looking at the immune memory. Second is looking at the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in human population and its implication in vaccine design.

What is it like to be part of the COVID response?

This is an uncharted territory as the field as a whole learning more about it every day. It has been a learning experience, certainly a humbling one for me.

Mike Lutz

PhD Student | Immunology, Microbiology, Virology | Takimoto Lab | Hometown: Syracuse, NY

What research are you working on? Currently I am working on cloning genes from the SARS-CoV-2 virus and creating a cDNA library so that we can study the genes and proteins of this virus to understand it better and possibly develop treatment options.

Specifically, our lab is very interested in studying the genes and proteins used by this virus to inhibit the innate immune response so that we can understand how it is so pathogenic. I am also in the process of receiving Biosafety Level 3 training so that I can directly work with live SARS-CoV-2 virus.

What is it like to be part of the COVID response?

It’s exciting, stressful and a little frightening.

As a virologist I am really interested in studying this virus because amongst RNA viruses the coronaviruses are some of the most unique in terms of genome organization. However, it’s also stressful to have had my entire world flipped upside down in the span of about one month, and we’ve had to shift all the research in our lab to be focused on SARS-CoV-2. It’s also a little frightening because just like everyone else, I don’t know when things will go back to normal and I am worried about people I care about becoming sick with the virus.

I hope that our work will be helpful in understanding this virus and helping us get through this pandemic.