Congratulations to UF BME undergrad Syed Tahir for being selected for the 2022 Emerging Scholars Program to work under the supervision of Dr. Meghan Ferrall-Fairbanks.

The Emerging Scholars Program from the UF Center for Undergraduate Research was established to introduce outstanding full-time undergraduate students to the exciting world of academic research. In this program, students work one-on-one with UF faculty on selected research projects. 

Tahir will be working with Dr. Ferrall-Fairbanks using a Generalized Diversity Index (GDI) to analyze tumor population dynamics. He will leverage a computational model to see whether it can infer selective pressures on the tumor from GDI curves. He hopes to implement different modes of evolution to expand the scope of cancers their research covers, as cancers can vary in their growth and evolutionary patterns. Dr. Meghan Ferrall-Fairbanks’ BEAT Cancer Lab uses quantitative biology approaches to cultivate a mechanistic understanding of tumor heterogeneity and evolution to optimize cancer treatment strategies.