University of Florida College of Pharmacy graduate student Zachary Greenberg has repeated his impressive performance at the PHarmSCi 360 annual meeting — winning the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, or AAPS, Best Poster Award and Best Abstract Award for the second consecutive year.
The two awards are connected by the same line of research but are two separate honors. AAPS celebrated the award winners during PHarmSCi 360 in Boston, Oct. 16-19.
Greenberg is one of only three junior scientists, including graduate students, nationally selected to receive the 2022 AAPS Best Poster Award. The honor recognizes the most scientifically impactful posters among nearly 180 entries at the national meeting.
Greenberg and Jieqiang Zhou, a second-year graduate student in the UF College of Pharmacy, each won the 2022 AAPS Best Abstract Award by scoring in the top 10% of all submissions. Each year, AAPS receives hundreds of abstracts for review, with the most exciting research taking home the top abstract honors.
“To win these awards twice in a row is an honor in itself,” Greenberg said. “I’m grateful the committee has recognized my research contributions and for all the support I have received from my faculty mentors.”
Mei He, Ph.D., an assistant professor of pharmaceutics in the UF College of Pharmacy, serves as Greenberg’s primary advisor, while Kiley Graim, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, is a co-advisor. His research uses artificial intelligence to identify novel molecules capable of directing exosomal traffic toward any specific cell or tissue in vivo, with his latest research focusing on enhancing the algorithm involved in the studies.
Zhou studies at the UF College of Pharmacy’s campus in Orlando under the direction of his faculty mentor, Jürgen Bulitta, Ph.D., a professor of pharmacotherapy and translational research. His award-winning abstract focuses on providing important mechanistic insights into designing drug therapies to combat the spread of the resistant bacterial pathogen MDR Klebsiella pneumoniae.
“While aminoglycosides antibiotics play a critical role against this pathogen, their intracellular activity is poorly known,” Zhou said. “We need to optimize the dosing strategies based on mechanistic insight to evaluate the dose and schedule of administration of aminoglycosides. This award gives us the confidence to further investigate the combination of therapeutical dosing strategies against infectious disease and to explore enhancements to the antibacterial effects of our available drugs.”
Greenberg is a graduate student in the UF College of Pharmacy’s department of pharmaceutics, while Zhou is a graduate student in the department of pharmacotherapy and translational research.