Current Staff

Graduate Students:

Sarah Gitto, Ph.D. candidate                     Biomedical Sciences               2013-present

“Inflammation induced stellate cell activation and its role in pancreatic cancer”

Awards:

  • 1st Place Presentation, UCF Graduate Research Forum, 2016
  • Outstanding Student Leader Recognition, UCF Women’s History Month, L.E.A.D. Scholars Academy, 2016
  • UCF Order of the Pegasus 2016

Sarah Gitto First Burnett School Graduate Student To Receive Order Of Pegasus Honors

  • Learning Institute for Elders (LIFE), UCF Gerontology Applied Research, 2016
  • UCF College of Medicine Founder’s Scholarship (supported by alumnus Dr. Mike Scholla), 2015
  • Learning Environment and Academic Research Network (L.E.A.R.N.) Graduate Student Mentoring Scholarship, 2015-2016
  • Young Alumni Chapter Scholarship Award, UCF Alumni Association, 2015
  • University of Central Florida’s Graduate Research Excellence Fellowship, UCF College of Graduate Studies, 2014

Undergraduate Students (Honors in the Major):

  1. Henley Cheng                         Biomedical Sciences               2016-present

Proposal in Progress

Representative Student Poster Presentations:

  1. Gitto, S.B., Cline, K., Khaled, A.S., Altomare, D.A. Chronic inflammation induces severe stromal damage and early pancreatic tumors in mice with activated Akt1 and KRas. American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: Advances in Science and Clinical Care. Orlando, FL, May 12-15, 2016 (BSBS Director’s Travel Award for S.B. Gitto)
  2. Pandey, V., Oyer, J.L., Igarashi, R.Y., Copik, A.J., Altomare, D.A. Immune cell expansion, in vivo trafficking and Natural Killer cell anti-tumor efficacy in a preclinical model of human ovarian cancer. NK2015: 15th International Meeting of the Society for Natural Immunity. Montebello, Quebec, Canada. May 2-6, 2015.
  3. Muth, A., Pandey, V., Han, X., Altomare, D.A., Phanstiel, O., IV. Targeting sphingolipid metabolism and metastasis with Motuporamine derivatives. American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Special Conference, Pancreatic Cancer: Innovations in Research and Treatment, New Orleans, LA, May 2014.