Guvench research lab welcomes international students working on their master’s degrees

The research group of Olgun Guvench, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, recently welcomed two international students working on their master’s degrees in France.

Mariem Ghoula, originally from Tunisia, completed her B.S. in biochemistry at Univerité Paris Diderot. Sarah Maskri, originally from Algeria, completed her B.S. in chemistry at the University of Montpellier. Both students are currently enrolled in the In Silico Drug Design master’s degree program at Univerité Paris Diderot.

As part of their degree requirements, they are doing five-month research internships with Guvench.

Ghoula will be working on computer simulations of proteoglycans (PGs) along with Elizabeth Whitmore, a current Ph.D. candidate studying under Guvench. PGs are vital constituents of cell membranes and extracellular matrices. They are implicated in neurodegeneration, arthritis, and cancer.

Ghoula hopes to complete a Ph.D. and ultimately work in drug design at a pharmaceutical company in New York City.

Maskri will contribute to a collaborative drug discovery project with Cássia Mizuno, Ph.D., associate professor in the College of Pharmacy, and Guvench in which they will modify green-tea extracts into anti-cancer molecules. Maskri will be applying computer-aided drug design technology to suggest new molecules for chemical synthesis and testing.

She would like to continue on to a Ph.D. program in drug design in Switzerland.

While in the U.S., the students plan to visit New York City, Boston, and the Grand Canyon. They also hope to give downhill skiing a try for the first time.