Manuel Ramirez, Graduate Student

Manuel Ramirez, graduate student in Professor Aimee L. Edinger’s laboratory, Developmental and Cell Biology, was awarded an F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Predoctoral Fellowship to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, one of the National Institutes of Health. He received the fellowship for his project investigating the molecular mechanism by which sphingolipids (responsible for regulating whole body metabolism) cause nutrient transporter loss from the cell surface. Sphingolipids are involved in numerous human diseases. As part of his research in Professor Aimee L. Edinger’s laboratory, the goal is to understand how sphingolipids control cellular growth and survival, which may give insight to the pathogenesis of metabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cancer and could lead to the development of novel therapies.

Manuel is involved in cancer and sphingolipid biology research with his interest specifically in the molecular mechanism of sphingolipid-induced cancer cell death. He is set to graduate in 2016, after which he hopes to pursue a teaching-invested career at the college or university level. After he graduates, he also hopes to achieve a postdoctoral position at an Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Awards participating institution.

If you’d like to learn more about you can support undergraduate and graduate students at the Biological Sciences School, please contact Andrew DiNuzzo at 949.824.2734 or adinuzzo@uci.edu.