Apryle O'Farrell, a graduate student in the laboratory of Shahriar Mobashery, is the recipient of an Indiana CTSI Predoctoral Fellowship. The fellowship will support her graduate studies in organic chemistry and research in the development of new antibiotics. She will receive a stipend along with travel funds for training at the National Predoctoral Clinical Research Training Program meeting in St. Louis, Missouri in May 2011.
The selection process for predoctoral funding was extremely competitive, as nearly 50 applications were submitted. The CTSI selection committee considered several factors during their review, including diverse research with different disciplines and schools, and a balance between T1 and T2 types of translational research. O’Farrell will be eligible for a second year of predoctoral funding based on a progress report. O’Farrell will complete the Tools and Techniques in Translational Research course at IUPUI in the fall and present her own research at a meeting in Indianapolis in January in order to enhance her experience as a CTSI Predoctoral Trainee.
Indiana Clinical Translational Sciences Institute (I-CTSI) is a collaborative effort of the University of Notre Dame, Indiana and Purdue universities, Clarian Health, BioCrossroads, private industry, state and local government, and others to implement a new program of translational research, the process of turning basic scientific discoveries into new medical treatments and business opportunities. The institute, which Notre Dame became a full partner last spring, is supported by $25 million from the National Institutes of Health and nearly another $25 million from other agencies and groups in Indiana.