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RISING STAR FOURTH-YEAR DOCTORAL STUDENT WINS PRESTIGIOUS KROWN FELLOWSHIP Doctoral student Melanie Galano is the recipient of the 2021–2022 Charles and Charlotte Krown Fellowship, the top honor awarded to graduate students in the USC School of Pharmacy. The fellowship carries a $5,000 stipend, plus an additional $5,000 allowance that can be used toward travel or educational and research materials. A fourth-year PhD candidate in molecular pharmacology and toxicology, Galano works in the lab of Dean Vassilios Papadopoulos and is also pursuing a master’s in regulatory science. Her research explores the molecular mechanisms and protein-lipid interactions involved in cholesterol transport into the mitochondria for steroid biosynthesis. In early 2021, she was lead author on a publication in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences about the role of steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (STAR) in Leydig cells, the endocrine component of the testis where testosterone is made. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has spanned half of Galano’s four-year tenure at USC, Papadopoulos says she has remained doggedly and consistently focused on her research. “She didn’t let anything stop her,” Papadopoulos says. “Melanie is very determined, focused on the work, extremely well organized and an independent thinker. These attributes— together with her ability to carefully analyze the literature, ask the right questions, design important experiments and critically analyze the results—make her an excellent scientist with a promising career whatever she chooses to do. ” One especially rewarding aspect of Galano’s experience at USC, she says, came last year when a Canadian physician who had read published work from the Papadopoulos lab contacted the team. The doctor needed help in treating a patient who had an extremely rare genetic mutation that caused debilitating neurological and
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reproductive side effects. The USC researchers eagerly offered to collaborate, studying samples from the patient and working to translate their laboratory findings into possible treatments. “We are the first lab trying to find the biochemical mechanism behind why this is happening,” Galano says of the research. “We are using patient cells to search for available treatments that could alleviate these symptoms.” The Southern California native attended UC San Diego for her undergraduate degree in biochemistry and cell biology, with a minor in global public health. She has made a point of being actively involved on campus while still juggling full schedules of research and coursework. Her activities include joining the USC student chapter of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and serving as vice chair of the student committee for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (SC-DEI). She is also a founding board member of Parmasya, the school’s Filipino cultural affinity group, “Lab can be all-encompassing and it can become your whole life,” Galano explains. “I wanted to experience things outside lab and grow in other ways. Being part of SC-DEI and getting to know all these other students on campus, especially during this time, was very important to me. People always talk about how grad school is the hardest part of your life—but just having the support from Dr. Papadopoulos and Dr. [Martine] Culty, it’s been very rewarding.” After graduating in May 2022, Galano plans to work in the pharmaceutical industry as a research scientist, preferably on the West Coast. Her goal? To continue translating laboratory discoveries into potential treatments, helping patients live better, healthier lives. “That’s why I want to continue doing drug development research,” she says.
