MD-PhD student Monica Bulla wins prize at the Swiss Physiology Section Meeting
The PHYM Department congratulates Monica Bulla, an MD-PhD student in the group of Prof. Nicolas Demaurex who won the second place Young Investigator Prize for her excellent oral presentation entitled “ORAI1 mutations with distinct channel gating defects cause tubular aggregate myopathy” at the Annual Swiss Physiology Section Meeting that took place in Fribourg, Switzerland this past Tuesday Sept 6th, 2016.
The Swiss Physiology Section, formerly the Swiss Physiological Society and recently fused with the larger national biosciences society Life Sciences Switzerland (LS2), promotes the work of young physiologists by both continuously awarding travel grants to member students, as well as through the disbursement of 4 generous prizes, supported by the Hans Oetliker Foundation and awarded each year at the section’s annual meeting.
This year Monica impressed the judges by relating her work that characterizes more deeply the effects of two newly identified mutations in the ORAI1 Ca2+ channel in patients with tubular aggregate myopathy (TAM), a rare muscular disease that has no cure. Monica’s work helps explain the differences in severity of the disease linked to the different mutations that up to now seemed otherwise identical according to the only diagnostic tools available presently. Monica’s work may help in the design of novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to help patients suffering from TAM.
Congratulations once again Monica!
Posted by: P. Nunes-Hasler
12 Sept 2016