Outstanding Human Sciences Graduate Students

Shirin Hooshmand, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Nutrition, Food & Exercise Sciences, received fellowship from Sigma Delta Epsilon/Graduate Women in Science. This organization, founded in 1921, is dedicated to advancing the participation and recognition of women in science and to fostering research through grants, awards, and fellowships. Hooshmand’s award, the Nell I. Mondy Fellowship, provides $8,333 for support of her pioneering study in the area of osteoarthritis, one of the top three health care problems of the developed world.

She and her mentor, Dr. Bahram H. Arjmandi, NFES Department Chair and Margaret A. Sitton Professor, propose to investigate whether estrogen is involved in the progression of osteoarthritis (OA) and the production of proinflammatory molecules in the cartilage. They will also determine if selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) can inhibit cartilage deterioration and halt the progression of OA. Her findings in this area may eventually shed light into the etiology of OA and lead to the discovery of new agents to effectively prevent and/or treat OA.

Hooshmand’s application was selected as one of the top 10 awards from a pool of 305 applicants. Along with the funding, GWIS offers all award recipients a free 1-year membership. This has encouraged Hooshmand to begin the process of establishing an FSU-initiated chapter of GWIS.

Girdhari (Gil) Sharma, a doctoral student in the Department of Nutrition, Food & Exercise Sciences, has garnered awards at several national meetings over the last year. In May 2009 his poster at the American Oil Chemists’ Society Annual meeting in Orlando was awarded 2nd place. In June of 2009, his research poster in the “Susan L. Hefle” graduate paper competition in the Toxicology & Safety Evaluation Division at the national meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) was selected for 1st place honor. He had received third place in this same competition the previous year. Dr. Shri Sathe is his major professor.

Sharma’s long term goals are to study foods to make them safer and more nutritious. His research interests include protein biochemistry, immunology and molecular biology. At FSU, he is investigating food-induced allergies with an emphasis on pecans and Brazil nuts.

Since there is no cure for food allergies, he has focused on identification and molecular characterization of pecan nut seed allergenic proteins and on development of an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for Brazil nut detection. His work has resulted in development of a highly sensitive ELISA capable of detecting trace (nanogram) quantities of Brazil nut proteins.