|
National Postdoc Appreciation Week kicked off this week. To celebrate UF’s postdoctoral scholars, read about their research across the state and how it impacts Florida and the future. |
Diogo Cosenza, Ph.D. I study applications of geotechnologies — such as satellites and drones — in the assessment of forest environments. I also study the impact of the Brazilian Amazon deforestation on the global environment. I develop tools to ease the assessment of forest environments and the assess impacts of deforestation in real-life tropical countries. |
Flavia Tabay Zambon, Ph.D. The grapefruit industry is shrinking by the day. The recovery of this important crop and iconic symbol of the Indian River region of Florida is at the core of the research I contribute to. I am responsible for planting and checking the growth of more than 12,000 grapefruit trees across the state of Florida. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Indian River Citrus League, the USDA and UF are all partners in this project. The main goal of this long-lasting trial is to test several combinations of scion and rootstock against the most deadly citrus disease ever found, citrus greening. Results from this huge trial will advise growers and the next generation of breeders to which combination is the best to be planted in the era of citrus greening, considering best yields, fruit and juice quality, and resilience to the disease. |
Mary Kate Koch, Ph.D. I am evaluating an intervention that aims to connect patients who have received terminal diagnoses to a greater sense of dignity and peace through narrating their life stories for loved ones. Specifically, I am looking at how differences in the ways in which people tell their life stories (e.g., How do they try to make meaning out of life events?) and differences in the interviewer’s communication style contribute to dignity and peace for patients. |
Emily Smail, Ph.D. My research looks at two distinct but overlapping traits in older adults: mental health and mobility. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, I’ve looked into how the pandemic impacts trajectories of mental health and substance use over time, and how people’s behaviors have changed in response to the pandemic. I’ve worked with a team to develop a survey that will soon be deployed to measure the pandemic response in older adults living in North Florida. I also study the prevention of both mental distress and mobility decline. To study mobility, I’m part of a team that uses smartwatches to assess mobility in real-time using an application that tracks risk factors for mobility decline. This technology can be used to look at patterns of behavior before, during and after a fall. |
Keon Wimberly, Ph.D. My research focuses on understanding and defining the molecular mechanisms behind muscle wasting, functional decline and frailty in older adults. Physical frailty is a clinical state associated with an individual’s increased risk of dependence or mortality when exposed to a stressor and has emerged as a major predictor of poor health outcomes in the elderly and other susceptible populations (smokers, patients with chronic kidney disease, etc). The research I contribute to looks to define the mechanisms that cause frailty. If we can define these mechanisms, we can generate novel and effective treatments. |
Edward Kalkreuter, Ph.D. My research contributes to the exploration and continuous development of one of the world's largest bacterial collections, the UF Scripps Natural Product Discovery Center (NPDC), which contains more than 120,000 bacterial strains. These strains have been collected since the 1940s based on their predicted ability to produce natural products, which are specialized compounds evolved by nature to confer some advantage. These types of natural products have given us most of our anti-cancer and antibiotic drugs. As DNA sequencing technology has advanced, it is revealing that the genomes of some bacteria have far more diversity within them than previously thought, meaning there's huge potential for the discovery of new compounds that could benefit humanity. Some of the best natural product producers for this purpose are actinobacteria, but there's minimal information about the important bacteria in public DNA databases. A major goal of the project I work on is developing the UF Scripps Natural Product Discovery Center database into a resource that could revolutionize the field of drug discovery by significantly increasing the known actinobacteria genomic data available to science. It's a truly multidisciplinary effort from our lab, with huge contributions from research technicians, graduate students, postdocs, staff scientists, and our principal investigator, Ben Shen, Ph.D. |
Marek Szczepanczyk, Ph.D. In classical astronomy, astronomers observe the sky using light from stars, galaxies or bright stellar explosions. In the newly formed field of gravitational-wave astronomy, we listen to violent phenomena that do not emit light and cannot be measured by astronomical instruments. The gravitational waves are "ripples of spacetime," analogously to a stone tossed to a calm water surface, creating ripples propagating in every direction. In 2015, I was one of 1,200 scientists who discovered — for the first time — gravitational waves resulting from a collision of black holes, which have such strong gravity that even light cannot escape them. Since then, we have observed a surprising number of these collided black holes and have also discovered collisions of stars that are extremely dense and heavy. In my field, we observe the sky and achieve a deep understanding of nature. For example, our discoveries finally allowed us to understand how gold was created. We are waiting to detect the inner engine of a spectacular star explosion or even exotic hypothetical objects such as cosmic strings. With every discovery, we are checking whether Einstein is right with his theory of gravity, and so far, all his predictions are correct. |
Vanessa Miller, J.D., Ph.D. My research currently focuses on the intersection of law, education and race. Specifically, I study how traditional legal norms and principles (i.e., principles like reasonableness, safety, equality) hinder racial equity in schools. I am currently focusing on campus policing, race in the curriculum, education for those incarcerated and critical legal theory. |
Marta Reguera Gomez, Ph.D. My research is focused on the biology of Cryptococcus neoformans, a fungus that invades the brain in immunocompromised patients. I am studying the mechanisms by which it can reach the central nervous system and how it affects different cell types of the brain (such as neurons) once it has colonized it. By knowing the factors that influence the entrance of the fungus in the brain, new therapies or preventive treatments can be developed, improving the prognosis of the infection |
