Success at the Undergraduate Awards for Life Sciences Students September 27, 2017 Congratulations to the following Life Sciences students and graduates who have been Highly Commended in the 2017 Undergraduate Awards. These awards aim to celebrate top undergraduate coursework and foster interdisciplinary collaboration between students and recent graduates worldwide. Two of the three students from Dundee that were Highly Commended in the Life Sciences category undertook their Honours Projects in GRE. They were: Michaela Omelkova, BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences, 2017 Her submission was her honours thesis, conducted under the supervision of Professor Sonia Rocha in GRE, titled FAM60A is a novel D-glucose and serum responsive hypoxia regulator in HepG2 cells. Michaela is originally from Slovakia and is now doing a Wellcome Trust funded PhD in the School. Maxim Tsenkov, BSc (Hons) Molecular Genetics, 2017 His thesis project was titled ‘Characterising mutant versions of PML-RARa derived from relapsed patients with refractory acute promyelocytic leukaemia’. For his final year research project in the laboratory of Professor Ron Hay in GRE, he characterised unique mutations of an oncoprotein, derived from relapsed patients with refractory acute promyelocytic leukaemia. The aim of his project was to understand why certain patients,harbouring these rare mutations, were resistant to arsenic trioxide as the treatment. He was an Associate President of the School of Life Sciences, where he facilitated and supported the communication of students’ concerns to the School of Life Sciences and the University. Maxim is now doing a Wellcome Trust funded PhD in the School.
