Partnership with OSI Pharmaceuticals Creates Studentships That Keep on Giving

When Vivienne Zhang ’08C entered St. John’s University, she already knew she wanted to pursue a career in the sciences. But it wasn’t until she finished a unique 10-week industry/academic “studentship” that she knew she wanted to go to dental school.

The “studentships” — paid student summer research grants — were forged in 2006 by Diana Bartelt, Ph.D., Director of the Institute for Biotechnology at St. John’s during her sabbatical at OSI Pharmaceuticals. “OSI approached me requesting that the University identify two outstanding students in the sciences to be recipients of these full-time, paid summer grants, which OSI referred to as studentships,” Dr. Bartelt explained.

The studentships were designed as well to give ”promising St. John’s science students an opportunity to work closely with both their St. John’s faculty mentors and OSI chemists on pharmaceutical research projects of importance,” said Dr. Bartelt.

 “These coveted opportunities enabled our students to participate in scientific research with the potential to improve world health and make a difference,” she observed. “Paid student research grant collaborations point the direction for future industry-St. John’s relationships in the sciences,” Dr. Bartelt said. “I am actively searching for more such relationships.”

During the past three years, St. John’s partnership with OSI has reaped tremendous academic and professional rewards for the students involved. In addition to Vivienne, two St. John’s graduate students — Fang Guo and Jay Patel — who also took part in this unique collaboration have realized outstanding career success. 

St. John’s is in the forefront in forming mutually beneficial partnerships providing students with first-hand experience contributing to their future leadership success.

A Route to Dental School
“I gained “a real sense of accomplishment and confidence from my summer research project exploring ways to more effectively use chemicals containing anti-cancer properties,” said Vivienne. The position also helped her obtain critical laboratory research skills.

“The most valuable part of the experience,” she said, “was being able to work closely with my mentor, Victor Cesare, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry at St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “Dr. Cesare is always there for me when I need personal or professional guidance,” she said.

Dr. Cesare selected Vivienne for the OSI studentship when she was only a sophomore chemistry major at St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “I was impressed by the quality of her work,” he said. From her vantage point today as a first year student in the NYU College of Dentistry, Vivienne credits her studentship with giving her an edge in fulfilling her career objectives. 

“Having pharmaceutically sponsored lab experience definitely helped me gain admission to NYU,” she stated. “It is also making my first year in dental school much easier because I came prepared to operate independently in the lab and dentistry is highly lab-intensive.”

Standing Apart 
After Vivienne completed her studentship, OSI decided to continue funding the research for another year. Dr. Cesare then selected Fang Guo, a second-year master’s student in chemistry at St. John’s College, who took the project to fruition.

The experience paid off handsomely for Fang as well. Now in her first year of a doctoral program in chemistry at Rutgers University–Newark, Fang noted, “my work with OSI helped set me apart from other applicants to Rutgers. It made me stand out,” she stated.

“It also gave me vital laboratory research to put on my resume — adding to my credentials for advanced graduate study,” she said.  In addition, she said, “being involved in this project confirmed my decision to go on for a doctorate in chemistry and whetted my desire to teach at a university.”

A Distinguished Resume
Jay Patel, a first-year student in the doctoral program in Medicinal Chemistry at the College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions, marvels that the collective work done by him, his mentor, Vijaya Korlipara, Ph.D. and the chemists at OSI was published in the September 2009 issue of Tetrahedron Letters.

“The honor of being published in such a well- recognized and highly regarded journal will go a long way toward helping Jay achieve his career goal of becoming a research scientist with a leading pharmaceutical company,” said Dr. Korlipara, Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at St. John’s College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions.

OSI was so impressed with Jay’s work that it decided to extend his research grant for another year while he worked on his master’s thesis. In his thesis, he got the chance to demonstrate applications for the new synthesizing methodology he developed during the initial part of the project. Zhe-Sheng Chen, Ph.D., also on the College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions faculty, subsequently joined the project. working alongside Jay and Dr. Korlipara.

Summing up, Jay stated, “Along with being published in a leading professional journal, completing my master’s, having a poster presentation of my research presented at the National American Chemical Society’s 2007 conference, I also got into St. John’s doctoral program in Medicinal Chemistry.”

What’s impressive, he said, is that “ I accomplished all this while also getting invaluable industry exposure and experience.”

“This has truly been a mutually beneficial collaboration,” Dr. Korlipara observed. 

“These collaborative interactions with industry not only enrich our students’ education while allowing them to work closely with our faculty, but also lead to fulltime employment and outstanding academic and other leadership placements,” said Dr. Bartelt.  “I am thrilled that the studentships were so fruitful, and I am hopeful that I can generate more collaborations with industry.”