2005 Neuroscience News: Congratulations to the 2005 Spring Doctoral Neuroscience IDP Graduates! The faculty and student members of the Neuroscience IDP program wish you all the best in your future professional pursuits. Jessica Conde Barry Flanary Jenny Fortun Eugene Martin Anthony Rodrigues Congratulations to Dr. Floyd Thompson who has been named the 2005 Basic Science Teacher of the Year for the College of Veterinary Medicine. Floyd Thompson directs the Veterinary Neuroscience Course each year and has also been nominated for SCAVMA National Teacher of the Year. Congratulations! Please join the Department in congratulating Dr. Lucia Notterpek who was recently promoted to Associate Professor with tenure, Dr. Ron Mandel who was recently promoted to Professor with tenure, Dr. Floyd Thompson who was recently promoted to Professor and last, but not least, Dr. Sati Kalra who was awarded the title, Distinguished Professor. Congratulations to Stephanie Amici, Silver medal winner, and Sean Kearns, Bronze medal winner, in the 30th Annual UF College of Medicine Medical Guild Competition Stephanie Amici, a senior graduate student in Dr. Lucia Notterpek's laboratory, was awarded a silver medal for her outstanding research presentation titled, "Peripheral myelin Protein 22 is a novel binding partner for the a6b4 integrin complex in Schwann cells". Sean Kearns, a senior graduate student in Dr. Dennis Steindler laboratory, was awarded a bronze medal for his outstanding research presentation titled, "A more complete in vitro Parkinson's model: Slice culture bioassay for modeling and maintenance and repair of the nigrostriatal circuit". Congratulations to Dr. Sue Semple-Rowland who was recognized and received a Doctoral Dissertation Adviser and Mentoring Award for 2004-2005 from the UF College of Medicine. Dr. Semple-Rowland's former graduate students include Dr. Patrick Larkin, Dr. Jason Coleman and Dr. Yan Zhang. Shannon Haire and Melissa Williams are currently working toward their doctoral degrees in Dr. Semple-Rowland's laboratory. Congratulations to Firas Kobeissy, winner of a 2005 Alec Courtelis Award The UF International Center announced today, March 31, the winners of the 2005 Alec Courtelis Awards. These awards are presented to only three international students selected from the entire UF campus each year. Firas entered the Neuroscience IDP graduate program in 2002 and is conducting his research under Dr. Kevin Wang. Congratulations to the winners of the 2005 Neuroscience IDP Medical Guild Research competition. Stephanie Amici was awarded first place and Kristin Wildeboer amd Fredric Manfredsson were awarded second and third place, respectively. Stephanie Amici will now go on to compete in the college-wide competition scheduled for April 27, 2005.