University of Mississippi

Dear Friends and Alumni,

It’s hard to believe that we are already in December and the semester is almost over?!? BMS kicked off the semester with our 10th anniversary and annual awards celebration. Pictures from the fun-filled event and our graduate students earning recognition are provided below. We were pleased that Dr. Tom Prisinzano from the University of Kentucky was able to join in the festivities and share his expertise as the 2nd annual Ronald F. Borne lecturer.

Below we highlight two BMS alums. This semester five of our students have earned their MS (1) or PhD (4) degrees and are advancing as BMS alumni in their careers. Graduate student defenses always provide an impressive recap of their work with their mentors. Assistant Professors Roper and Boudreau each graduated their first PhD students – also an exciting academic career achievement. Our new Online Masters in Dietary Supplements and Medical Cannabis is underway and continuing to admit new students. While there have been many successes this semester, we also struggled with infrastructural challenges in Faser Hall including floods, mold, and HVAC. New ongoing HVAC and roof projects will hopefully help, but we are also participating in new research space master planning initiatives to build for the future.

On campus, we have welcomed the largest freshman class ever and celebrated some big football wins – see me below with my son and the goal post from UGA victory that made its way to the Oxford Square.

As we move into the new year, we will be accepting both undergraduates into our summer STEMS REU and our fall class of graduate students. If you know of interested students, please send them our way! We truly appreciate your continued support and always welcome donations to enhance our graduate programs.

Happy Holidays!

Sincerely,

Kristie Willett

Chair of BioMolecular Sciences

On September 12, 2024, BMS students, faculty and staff came together to celebrate ten years of the Department of BioMolecular Sciences. It was former Dean David Allen’s vision to bring together the well-established but separate departments of Pharmacology, Pharmacognosy, and Medicinal Chemistry into one big department and at the same time incorporate Environmental Toxicology more formally as it was an interdisciplinary offshoot at the time. The Mississippi Institutes of Higher Learning, IHL, approved the merger in April 2014. Over our 10 years, we have developed and operated under two strategic plans and went through one external review… always with the goal of continuous improvement for our people and our communities so that we can together fulfill our mission to improve human health through research and education in the pharmaceutical and life sciences. We live in Mississippi where the human and environmental health needs are acute, I hope you agree our department is helping make our state better. - K. Willett

What did you love about the Ole Miss Department of BioMolecular Sciences?

"The exposure to the various subfields within the program. While I was personally focused on pharmacognosy and medicinal chemistry, I was always encouraged to explore areas like environmental toxicology, pharmacology, and pharmaceutics. The MALTO meetings were always a fantastic opportunity to connect with a close-knit group of regional researchers outside of MS. This interdisciplinary approach is very important to me. I started in the BMS department as a plant biologist who wasn't very strong in chemistry, but I ended up falling in love with research at the chemistry-biology interface. In fact, I even completed a postdoc in a chemistry department-something I never would have imagined before joining the BMS department at UMiss!"

Why would you encourage a student to pursue earning a master's or Ph.D. in this field?

"I would encourage any student interested in the scientific study of medicines or natural products. I always struggled with school coursework and exams, but after starting the graduate program in the BMS dept, I realized I had an incredible opportunity to indulge my interests and actually conduct the research I had previously only read about."

"Additionally, BMS dept's emphasis on research assistantship appointments also allowed for an immersive research experience but good teaching opportunities also exist in BMS dept if you are interested in gaining that experience!"

Fun fact: Mike is a double alum' of the dept! He earned both his MSc in Pharmacognosy (2013, Khan) and PhD in Medicinal Chemistry (2018, Rimoldi) .

Mike is co-founder and senior scientist at a biotech startup, Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals.

What did you love about the Ole Miss Department of BioMolecular Sciences?

"I really liked my experience with my advisor Joshua Sharp, the cutting edge research he is still doing, now seeing it being adapted by the pharmaceutical industry and others. The fact that I could learn from the four different disciplines of pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, toxicology, and pharmacognosy at the same time was a great advantage that gave me great perspective for my career. I also found lifelong friends at BMS that are worth their weight in gold."

Why would you encourage a student to pursue earning a master's or Ph.D. in this field?

"If you find interesting research currently going on within BMS department of Ole Miss, I encourage you to apply because it is a good setting for you to learn new skills or improve the ones you already have if you take advantage of the opportunities there. This includes getting assistance from different professors to launch your career, improve your presentation and writing skills which are crucial for your success in the future."

Niloofar is currently a research scientist within Pharmaceutical Development and Manufacturing organization at Gilead Sciences.

Fill out our form below to learn more about our graduate and research programs in BMS!

https://olemiss.edu/bms/

Whether it's been two years or twenty years, we would love to hear what you've been up to! If you would like to share in future newsletters, contact us!

The University of Mississippi, Dept. of BioMolecular Sciences

(formerly the Departments of Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacognosy, & Pharmacology)