The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) has selected Geisel School of Medicine graduate student Ruth Kabeche as a 2014-2017-award recipient of the ASM Robert D. Watkins Graduate Research Fellowship. Kabeche will receive up to $21,000 in an annual stipend for three years to continue her research on the role of membrane compartments in fungal biology.<\/p>\n
The Watkins fellowship seeks to increase the number of graduate students from underrepresented groups completing doctoral degrees in the microbiological sciences. The program is aimed at highly competitive students who are enrolled in a PhD program and have completed their graduate coursework in the microbiological sciences. Fellows and their mentors are required to be members of ASM. This year, thirty-three applications were received and nine were awarded. All of the awardees are from doctoral\/research universities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis award is very well deserved. It recognizes Ruth\u2019s past accomplishments and future potential,\u201d says James Moseley, PhD, assistant professor of biochemistry at the Geisel School of Medicine and Kabeche's mentor. \u201cShe has tackled a very basic problem in cell biology: how are compartments inside the cell made, and what are their functions? As a graduate student at Geisel, she has characterized the formation and function of a previously mysterious compartment in fungal cells. The work has major implications for understanding how cells work, and may someday be applied to therapies that target fungal infections.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRuth has been so active in our research laboratory and throughout Geisel, it is great to see her recognized with such a prestigious award,\u201d says Moseley.<\/p>\n