UConn Pharmacy Pupil Honored with Journey and Best Poster Awards in Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society Conference

Graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from Bangalore University in India and a Master’s in Applied Microbiology from Vellore Institute of Technology, Sai Pallavi Pradeep has a demonstrated love for analysis. Diving additional into her ardour after acquiring her levels, Sai labored as a junior analysis fellow within the Indian Institute of Science, probably the most prestigious institutes in India.  

With a purpose of constant her training, Sai started making use of to graduate packages and selected the UConn School of Pharmacy. For the previous 5 years, she has excelled in school rooms and labs below her advisor and mentor, Raman Bahal (Ph.D.).

At the start of her journey right here at UConn, Sai skilled a studying curve. Working as a educating assistant and taking programs her first 12 months, she discovered how one can multitask and stability her busy schedule. Now, being within the research-focused a part of her Ph.D., Sai makes use of the writing and communication expertise she discovered from her lessons throughout her first 12 months in this system to facilitate and advance her analysis.  

Because presentation and communication expertise are a necessity in presenting analysis findings and to find areas of enchancment, Sai is grateful for the coaching she’s acquired from her advisor, Associate Professor of Pharmaceutics, Raman Bahal. From dialogue to experiments to writing papers and making ready displays, Raman guides Sai with suggestions and enthusiasm. Additionally, Raman pushes Sai out of her consolation zone, one thing she was anxious about initially however is grateful for now. Raman encourages Sai to strive issues she by no means imagined she would, just like the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition, the place she offered her analysis in a three-minute presentation to a non-specialist viewers. In this competitors hosted by UConn, Sai received and went on to signify UConn within the world U21 competitors.  

Passionate about nucleic acid therapeutics, Sai works primarily on peptide nucleic acids that can be utilized to focus on DNA, coding, and non-coding RNA. Her analysis facilities on synthesizing peptide nucleic acids for antisense and anti-gene approaches aimed toward modulating mRNA and lowering pathological protein expression. 

“Sai is an inquisitive student who consistently shows an intense eagerness to explore interdisciplinary knowledge and learn new experimental skills at the same time. OTS is a prestigious organization, and awarding her travel and poster awards for her research highlights her diligent efforts and dedication to nucleic acid-based therapeutics.” – Raman Bahal 

When Sai shouldn’t be within the lab researching, she might be discovered on the UConn Rec Center or open air. A traveler on trekking and snowboarding journeys with the Rec, Sai enjoys exploring New England in each season. 

Initially within the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society Conference (OTS) due to the overlap between their work and her analysis, Sai did analysis into OTS’s webinars and prolific scientific neighborhood. Also desirous to discover the business element of OTS and their work, Sai utilized for a journey grant for graduate or post-doctoral college students. Sai was awarded the grant and attended the OTS Conference final month. When there, Sai additionally offered her analysis on nucleotides, profitable the Best Poster award.  

Although Sai is comfortable that her exhausting work was acknowledged, she’s equally grateful for the chance to go to the convention within the first place. Learning from gifted scientists about what she may implement in her personal analysis whereas engaged on her professionalism expertise, profitable the Best Poster Award for Sai was an added bonus.  

“When it came to the conference, the interactions that I had with people and also what I got to learn was much more beneficial.” – Sai Pallavi Pradeep

Looking to the long run, Sai is curious about a profession path within the therapeutics area, the place she will be able to see her analysis translate into new drugs. From validating peptide nucleic acids in in-vitro and in-vivo settings with varied animal fashions, Sai has gained the boldness to use her findings to an business setting in the future and is trying ahead to facilitating discoveries that may translate to affected person outcomes. This purpose for translation was impressed by Sai’s first internship within the Ph.D. program, the place she labored at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a number one biopharmaceutical firm that develops RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics in Boston. 

Sai’s success within the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society Conference proved to be a full-circle second for the devoted researcher, serving as a end result of her ardour for discovery and confidence in her presentation expertise she’s constructed at UConn.