Rocky Giwa, a graduate student in the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences and member of the Brestoff Lab at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received the Roy & Diana Vagelos International Student Fellowship. The ISF fellowship, which is awarded through the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences (DBBS), provides Rocky with funding for her PhD training at the university.
“I am honored and thrilled to receive the DBBS ISF award. This fellowship is a remarkable privilege that will have a profound impact on my academic and professional journey as an international graduate student. I am inspired, now more than ever, to advance my research project, engage in interdisciplinary collaborations, and contribute meaningfully to the study of immunology,” Rocky said.
Rocky’s research in the Brestoff Lab focuses on the role of Uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) in the regulation of immune responses to type 2 cytokines. Since joining the lab, Rocky has made a tremendous amount of progress and established new functions for UCP1 in regulating the metabolism of an important immune cell type known as macrophages. The DBBS ISF award will support Rocky’s work to understand how UCP1 expression by macrophages regulates type 2 immune responses under physiologic stressors, such as infection, cancer, and wound healing.
“Rocky is an outstanding PhD student. I know that this award means a lot her and her career development. She has worked so hard and is a very motivated student who makes our lab a better place to work,” said Jonathan Brestoff, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology & Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine.
