Congratulations to Sayo McCowin, Recipient of an NIH F30 – Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award

Sayo McCowin was recently awarded an NIH F30, Individual Predoctoral MD/PhD Fellows Award from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), which began on 7/1/20.  Sayo is a Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology (MIC) Department degree candidate in the Petri lab.  Sayo’s research aims to characterize (i) the role of PKC? in Cryptosporidia invasion of the intestinal epithelium in vitro and in vivo (ii) define the impact of the SNPs on PRKCA expression and downstream function, and (iii) identify if PRKCA expression mediates severity of disease in children. The overarching goal of these independent yet interacting aims will be the translational development of host PKC? as a potential target to advance critically needed treatments for cryptosporidiosis.