“I am very thankful to have had a great graduate school experience that was positive in many aspects,” said Huda Barhoosh, a recent graduate of the UC Irvine School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences’ PhD in Pharmacological Sciences program. “I feel blessed to have a supportive advisor who has helped shape me into a well-rounded scientist. My fellow graduate students have been welcoming and supportive, and I have built lasting friendships.”
A graduate of Qatar University’s BSc in Pharmacy program, Barhoosh chose to pursue her PhD in Pharmacological Sciences at UCI, stating that the program “offered the perfect combination of rigorous research, exceptional faculty, interdisciplinary opportunities, a supportive community, and outstanding resources.”
During her time in the PhD program, Barhoosh served as a student representative for the UCI Diverse Educational Community and Doctoral Experience (DECADE) initiative, which aims to foster inclusivity and guide the success of women and underrepresented minorities who are pursuing graduate degrees. She was on the UCI School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences’ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee as well. She also mentored first-year PhD students and was an organizer for the Synthetic and Chemical Biology Club.
Barhoosh completed a 10-week rotation in the Alachkar Lab in her first year at UCI, assisting with research that studied the impact of prenatal stress on mice offspring. Then, she joined the Paegel Lab, contributing to the research team’s studies of miniaturization.
“I worked on developing a miniaturized droplet-based high-throughput screening assay to screen DNA-encoded libraries for inhibitors of eukaryotic translation. A large number of drug targets are currently inaccessible to small-molecule therapeutics due to the nature of the protein target. By inhibiting translation, we can circumvent this and prevent the disease target from being produced in the first place. I’ve designed an assay that can screen small-molecules for translation inhibition and have used it to screen large libraries built in our lab and have discovered novel translation inhibitors,” she shared. “I am fortunate to be part of a research lab that conducts cutting-edge research, which has expanded my skills and knowledge and includes amazing individuals who have enriched my graduate school journey.”
On June 4, Barhoosh presented the culmination of her research at UCI with “Activity-Based DNA-Encoded Library Screening for Inhibitors of Eukaryotic Translation.”
“Small molecule probes exist for only ~2% of human proteins because most lack functional binding pockets or cannot be assayed for high-throughput screening (HTS). Selective translation modulation is a possible mechanism to circumvent canonical druggability constraints and can be evaluated via in vitro transcription translation (IVTT),” she explained in the summary of her dissertation defense. “We developed a plug-and-play IVTT activity assay by fusing a GFP reporter to various target gene sequences and screened these constructs in microfluidic droplets using DNA-encoded libraries (DEL). This work sets the stage for scaling microfluidic IVTT screening to the entirety of the human proteome as a universal biochemical assay, and perhaps more broadly across the tree of life.”
With the completion of her studies, Barhoosh is ready to apply what she has learned to her upcoming professional endeavors.
“The interdisciplinary nature of the PhD in Pharmacological Sciences program has exposed me to a wide range of research areas, broadening my knowledge and perspective. The available resources and facilities have significantly advanced my research,” she said. “I aim to join the pharmaceutical industry and establish my career as a scientist. I hope to use the skills and knowledge that I’ve gained through my training to advance the field of drug discovery.”
