Congratulations to Mrinalini (Minu) for receiving a Predoctoral Fellowship from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of NIH.
The purpose of a Kirschstein-NRSA predoctoral fellowship (F31) award is to enable promising predoctoral students to obtain individualized, mentored research training from outstanding faculty sponsors while conducting dissertation research in scientific health-related fields relevant to the missions of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers.
Minu is currently a graduate trainee working in the labs of both Drs. Sharon Campbell and Wolfgang Bergmeier. Minu’s current research interests in graduate school are to learn about protein structure, dynamics and function using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and other biophysical techniques. Specifically, she uses these tools to understand out how the C1 domain of CalDAG-GEFI activates the platelet-activating protein, Rap1b. Her hope is that this molecular model of C1-Rap1b interaction will help anti-platelet therapies improve the condition of patients suffering from heart disease, stroke, and other platelet-related health conditions. Her future research interests are varied and include applying learned biophysical techniques in these fields: carbohydrate-protein interactions in human disease, food science and nutrition, and bioremediation for urban settings.
Minu’s award began on April 1, 2015.