SOP postdoc earns international recognition for research
VCU School of Pharmacy postdoctoral fellow and alumnus Aurijit Sarkar (Ph.D. ’10) is one of two recipients worldwide of the International Society for Matrix Biology’s Young Scientists Award. He and Elisa Migliorini of the University of Grenoble-Alpes in France were selected for the award based on their oral presentations at the 2014 Proteoglycans Gordon Research Conference earlier this month in Andover, N.H.
Sarkar researches computational glycoscience with professor Umesh Desai’s group in the School of Pharmacy’s Department of Medicinal Chemistry. His award-winning presentation, made during a seminar in conjunction with the conference, was titled, “Glycosaminoglycan-Protein Binding Specificity Constitutes More Than Arg/Lys-Sulfate Interactions.”
Sarkar’s Ph.D. advisor was professor Glen Kellogg. “I am not surprised that Aurijit was noticed by the senior scientists at the Gordon Conference,” said Kellogg. “He is bright, very talented and easy to talk to.
“I am very proud of his accomplishments since leaving my research group. The future is very promising for him – his independent research career will certainly turn heads.”
While working on his doctoral degree, Sarkar received the J. Doyle Smith Award, presented to the Medicinal Chemistry student achieving greatest distinction in scholarship, research, teaching and service. He also received the Charles T. Rector and Thomas W. Rorrer Jr. Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Study.
His dissertation was titled, “Novel Application of the Hydropathic Interactions (HINT) Forcefield in Sidechain-Optimization and Prediction of Antibiotic Efflux.”
Last year, Sarkar’s research poster at the School of Pharmacy’s Pharmaceutical Sciences Research and Career Day – “Role of Water in Glycosaminoglycan-Protein Binding and Specificity“ — earned an honorable mention in the postdoctoral category.
