PhD Students Anjali Dixit and Yijun Gu Honored as Vertex Scholars at 2024 Vertex Day

On March 28, 2024, the UC Irvine School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences hosted another successful Vertex Day!

Vertex Day, an annual collaboration between Vertex Pharmaceuticals and the UCI School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences going back 15+ years, is a one-day event that features presentations from faculty, Vertex scientists, and the year’s Vertex scholars, as well as a Vertex career panel. Founding Dean Jan Hirsch welcomed everyone to the event, with Dr. Brian Paegel (Associate Dean of Research) providing introductions and Dr. Benita Sjogren serving as UCI faculty speaker. Vertex Pharmaceuticals was represented by Sabine Hadida (Senior Vice President and San Diego Site Head), AJ Roecker (Executive Director, Medicinal Chemistry), Lily Feng (Research Scientist, High Throughput Biology), Anne Phan (Senior Research Scientist, Molecular and Cell Biology) Les Dakin (Senior Director, Medicinal Chemistry), Jamie Arterton (Executive Director Project Management & Strategic Operations), and Britt Davis (Senior Director, Human Resources). Dakin presented “Discovery of Inaxaplin for APOL1-Mediated Kidney Disease (AMKD)” during the event.

Anjali Dixit and Yijun Gu were honored as the 2024 Vertex scholars!

Dixit is a fifth-year student in the PhD in Pharmacological Sciences program, co-advised by Dr. Brian Paegel and Dr. David Mobley. She is a UC Santa Barbara alumna, with a BS in Pharmacology and BA in Psychology. Following her undergraduate research on fMRI imaging, Dixit has centered her studies on finding a closer relationship with current pharmaceutical development and the intricacies of drug design and informatics-based design and synthesis of novel compounds for activity-based screening using DNA-encoded libraries.

“Being chosen as a Vertex scholar is an honor!” said Dixit. “It is so exciting to showcase my work and that of my lab in front of industry professionals, especially the highly innovative minds at Vertex. I’d like to thank Vertex for their continued support of our program, as it facilitates groundbreaking research and fosters the culture of technology development and drug discovery at UCI.”

Gu is a researcher in Dr. Claudia Benavente’s lab who earned her BS in Pharmaceutical Sciences from UCI. Entering the PhD in Pharmacological Sciences program with an interest in cancer biology and biochemistry, Gu’s research focuses primarily on translational study, developing RNA tools, and the mechanisms underlying tumorigenesis. She aims to identify the driver of tumors with Retinoblastoma1(Rb1) gene inactivation, particularly small cell lung cancer (SCLC). In 2023, Gu and Dr. Benavente were awarded a grant from the American Lung Association to support their research into SCLC therapies.

“I am deeply grateful for being chosen as a Vertex scholar,” Gu shared. “It is indeed an honor to have my research in small cell lung cancer supported by Vertex, which is renowned for its significant contributions to the treatment of cystic fibrosis.”

“We are thankful to Vertex Pharmaceuticals for their continued support of our PhD students,” said Sonia Batra, Director of Development for the UCI School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences. “Anjali Dixit and Yijun Gu are stellar students and are very deserving of this honor.”

Check out photos from this year’s Vertex Day here!