Category: Uncategorized

Tolulope Ajayi, a fourth year PhD student in the Sharma Lab, presented her work at the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) World Congress in Berlin, Germany! OARSI is the premier international organization for scientists and health care professionals focused on the prevention and treatment of osteoarthritis. At this conference, Tolu shared her research on the […]

This spring, Suzanne Lightsey, a second year PhD student, was awarded the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). The NSF GRFP strives to support outstanding graduate students in STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based doctoral degrees. The GRFP provides three years of support over a five-year fellowship period for the graduate education […]

The Sharma Lab was well represented at the 11th Annual UF Biomaterials Day on March 18th, 2022. The theme of this year’s Biomaterials Day was “Scaffolding New Ideas.” Both Suzanne Lightsey, a second year PhD student, and Tiffany Conklin, a first year Master’s student, shared their work and were capable of the adapting to the […]

This Spring, undergraduate researcher, Robert Ovalle Jr., was selected as a part of the 2022 University Scholars Program. This prestigious award is given to 200 undergraduate students across all disciplines at UF. Those selected are paired with faculty mentors to complete a research project throughout the year. Students who receive the award are expected to […]

In December 2021, the Sharma lab celebrated the graduation of our second and third PhD graduates! On a beautiful Florida day, Dr. Sharma was able to hood both Dr. Temples and Dr. Kumar during the graduate ceremony hosted at the O’Connell center (we were excited for the return of in-person celebrations and graduations to commemorate […]

Shreedevi Kumar successfully defended her thesis, ‘Tissue-specific targeting of inflammatory pathways in osteoarthritis’, on November 3rd. Starting as a lab volunteer and then transitioning to her PhD, Shreedevi has made significant contributions on the research in the connections between inflammation and osteoarthritis in her tenure. While a part of the Sharma lab, Shreedevi was awarded […]

October 29th Madison Temples successfully defended her PhD, ‘Engineered three-dimensional tumor models to investigate natural killer cell migration and interactions with cancer cells’! This work is the culmination of the last five years of Madison’s work in lab. While in the Sharma Lab Madison earned several awards including an Attribute of the Gator Engineer and […]

The first hybrid BMES conference took place in Orlando, Florida this year. Due to the continued concern of Covid-19 the conference was held both in person and online. The Sharma lab was well represented by several talks and posters across biomaterials, orthopedics, and cancer research. Research presentations related to NK cell migration and tumor models […]

To kick off the fall semester, Jessica completed her qualifying exam in September by presenting her proposal over zoom to her committee and a collection of lab mates and others from the department. Her thesis proposal was titled Evaluating the Efficacy of Targeted Manganese Dioxide Nanoparticles in the Prevention of Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis. Over the next […]

Although the last year was anything but ordinary, a large number of Sharma lab students completed their studies and graduated at the end of the Spring Term. The contributions of these undergraduate and Masters students during their time as a part of the lab is something we won’t soon forget. While they were not able […]