CANCER CENTER NEWS
Postdoctoral fellow receives prestigious Italian scientists award
Angela Bononi , PhD , a UH Cancer Center thoracic oncology postdoctoral fellow , was one of five recipients of the prestigious 2017 Italian Scientists and Scholars of North America Foundation ( ISSNAF ) Awards for Young Investigators presented at the Italian Embassy in Washington , D . C .
“ There are no words , neither in English nor in Italian , to express how much winning this ISSNAF award means to me ,” she said .
Bononi received the Hogan Lovells Award in Medicine , Biosciences and Cognitive Science for “ Germline BAP1 mutations impair IP3R3-mediated Ca2 + flux to mitochondria and induce a Warburg effect .”
Phillip Allen Sharp , PhD
Nobel Laureate wins Weinman Award
Nobel Prize winner Phillip Allen Sharp , PhD , was honored with the Weinman Award for a major cancer research breakthrough at the Ninth Annual Weinman Symposium at the UH Cancer Center . Sharp ’ s current research focuses on small ribonucleic acids ( RNAs ) and other types of non-coding RNAs .
ISSNAF awards young Italian researchers each year in five subjects . The winner in each category receives a $ 3,000 prize . The 16 finalists , all Italian researchers younger than 40 , were chosen through a rigorous selection process and presented their research projects to a panel of judges .
ISSNAF ‘ s mission is to promote scientific , academic and technological cooperation amongst Italian researchers and scholars active in North America and the world of research in Italy .
Angela Bononi , PhD and Vito Campese , MD , president of ISSNAF .
A question-and-answer session with Sharp allowed local high school , graduate and postdoctoral students an opportunity to interact with the co-winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine .
“ Having done research myself for the past few months at UH Mānoa , it was very interesting to see all of the professionals and what they had to say about their own fields ,” said Jessica Revilla , a Maryknoll School senior . “ Attending this event motivates me to pursue further study in the field of biology .”
The symposium was made possible by a generous donation from the Weinman Foundation . The funds are directed toward advancing innovation and collaboration in cancer research .
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