Farag, Mintz selected as Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Fellows
Program recognizes doctoral students for achievements, promise in biomedical sciences
Mina Farag and Rachel Mintz, MD/PhD students in the McKelvey School of Engineering and at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, have been selected as Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Fellows by the Medical Scientist Training Program Committee at WashU. The prestigious fellowship, awarded annually, recognizes superior accomplishments in biomedical research by doctoral students.
As a doctoral student in the lab of Rohit Pappu, the Gene K. Beare Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Farag worked to understand how proteins behave at the surface of biomolecular condensates and how this behavior can be connected to physiological and pathological functions of condensates. Specifically, using LASSI, a Monte Carlo simulation engine developed by members of the Pappu lab, he simulated full biomolecular condensates comprised of proteins. By analyzing these simulations using multiple novel techniques, he drew inferences about the organization and interfacial features of real-world condensates.
Rachel Mintz, a doctoral student in the lab of Gwendalyn Randolph, Emil R. Unanue Professor in Pathology & Immunology, is working to better understand how ovarian cancer metastasizes to the omentum. She aims to elucidate how the omentum, the earliest site of peritoneal metastasis, supports ovarian tumor seeding and dissemination. Ultimately, the insight gained could result in the development of more specific therapeutic strategies to improve outcomes for ovarian cancer patients with peritoneal metastasis.
Olin Fellows will be recognized at a dinner held later this spring.
