National Funding Continues to Support Doctoral Biology Student
A doctoral student in biology is now in her second year of receiving funding support through a National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Kate Sadler, who is working in the lab of Dr. Benedict Kolber, assistant professor of biological sciences, developed a research proposal and graduate-student training plan while researching the brain’s role in modulating bladder pain in her first year of the three-year F31 Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
In this renewal year of the prestigious, $38,419 award, Sadler will work on completing her studies on the brain control of pain using physiology, molecular biology and behavior. In the last year, Sadler presented her work at one international and one national scientific meeting and published a substantive review on the brain’s control of bladder pain.
“This graduate fellowship award is well-deserved and personally significant for Kate, but it also reflects the quality of the graduate education available in the biology program and throughout the Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences,” said Bayer Dean Dr. Philip Reeder. “We are thrilled that Duquesne is represented in an award of this stature.”
Sadler anticipates graduating from Duquesne’s doctoral program in 2016 and plans to become a professor active in undergraduate teaching and research.
“These sort of awards strengthen the entire research program here at Duquesne by demonstrating to the entire country how talented our graduate students are,” said Kolber, who also serves as research and education coordinator for Duquesne’s Chronic Pain Research Consortium. “Simply the submission of an application is an important accomplishment for our students. It demonstrates their ability to develop a cohesive and meaningful research plan and shows their commitment to the public dissemination of basic and biomedical science.
“I am confident that receipt of this award will help propel Kate to the next level of her training,” Kolber said.