Roopra Lab graduate student, Nadia Khan, receives NIH Blueprint Diversity Specialized Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Advancement in Neuroscience (D-SPAN) Award.
Nadia Khan, a Ph.D. candidate in cellular and molecular biology and member of the Roopra Lab, has been awarded the NIH Blueprint Diversity Specialized Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Advancement in Neuroscience (D-SPAN) Award. This award supports a defined pathway across career stages for outstanding graduate students who are from diverse backgrounds underrepresented in neuroscience research. This two-phase award will facilitate completion of the doctoral dissertation and transition of talented graduate students to strong neuroscience research postdoctoral positions, and will provide career development opportunities relevant to their long-term career goal of becoming independent neuroscience researchers.
Khan’s research characterizes the role of a histone modifier named Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2 (EZH2) in epilepsy. Prior to graduate school, Khan earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Texas at Austin and worked as a research scientist at the University of North Carolina Gene Therapy Center with Dr. Steven J. Gray. While at UW-Madison, Khan has received a number of awards to present her research both in the US and abroad from organizations such as SACNAS, the CURE Epilepsy Foundation, and the UAB Neuroscience Roadmap Scholars program.