Pharmacology Graduate Student Matteo Ottolini is the winner of the 2020 Outstanding Graduate Student Award for Pharmacology. This award recognizes a graduate student who shows exemplary scientific merit and productivity.
Matteo is a trainee in Swapnil Sonkusare‘s lab, where he recently first authored a paper in Circulation, titled “Local Peroxynitrite Impairs Endothelial TRPV4 Channels and Elevates Blood Pressure in Obesity.” In this paper, Matteo and colleagues in the Sonkusare Lab show novel pathological signaling microdomains that contribute to high blood pressure in obesity. These microdomains in endothelial cells show increased formation of the oxidant molecule peroxynitrite, which reduces TRPV4 channel activity and increases blood pressure. Matteo and colleagues also show that lowering peroxynitrite levels might represent a strategy for normalizing endothelial TRPV4 channel activity and blood pressure in obesity. Matteo received a strong letter of nomination for this award from Dr. Sonkusare.
As the recipient of this award, Matteo will also be nominated for the prestigious Michael J. Peach Award and Jill Hungerford Prize. The Outstanding Graduate Student Award recipients from all Biomedical Sciences programs are normally acknowledged at the annual GBS Symposium. However, given the current COVID-19 restrictions for group gatherings, GBS and BIMS are developing a virtual platform this year. Information on when this will take place are forthcoming. Please tune in to support Matteo!