Three graduate students awarded 2025–26 Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships

  • Shamim Ahmed, Dr. Fernanda Fumuso, and Ismael Karkache

    Three graduate students awarded 2025–26 Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships

    The award recognizes the University’s most accomplished PhD candidates

    (Left to right) Shamim Ahmed, Dr. Fernanda Fumuso, and Ismael Karkache

Three graduate students from the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) have been awarded prestigious 2025–26 Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships from the University of Minnesota Graduate School. 

 

The award recognizes outstanding PhD candidates who have demonstrated exceptional research potential and are in the final stages of dissertation work.

 

This year’s CVM awardees are:

 

  • Shamim Ahmed (Comparative and Molecular Biosciences; Herschhorn Lab, Medical School)
  • Dr. Fernanda Fumuso (Comparative and Molecular Biosciences; O’Connor Lab, CVM)
  • Ismael Karkache (Comparative and Molecular Biosciences; Bradley Lab, Medical School)

 

The Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF) gives the University's most accomplished PhD candidates an opportunity to devote full-time effort to an outstanding research project by providing time to finalize and write their dissertation during the fellowship year. The award includes a highly competitive stipend and full tuition support. Fellows are selected based on the significance and originality of their dissertation research, the strength of their academic record, and their potential for scholarly and professional impact.

 

“It’s a testament to the strength of our graduate programs and the outstanding mentorship provided by faculty across our College and partner units,” says Sandra Godden, associate dean of graduate programs. “We’re incredibly proud of all the students who participated in this year’s nomination process, and we’re thrilled to see Fernanda, Shamim, and Ismael’s work recognized at the University level.”

About the Fellows

Shamim Ahmed 
(Herschhorn Lab, Medical School)


Shamim Ahmed’s dissertation research focuses on developing next-generation vaccines to prevent HIV-1 infection, a virus that still affects more than 39 million people worldwide and continues to spread with millions of new cases each year. A major challenge in creating an effective HIV vaccine is the virus’s ability to rapidly mutate and vary across strains. To address this, Ahmed is using cutting-edge bioengineering tools—similar to those used in COVID-19 vaccines—to design HIV vaccine candidates in the form of mRNA-lipid nanoparticles. He’s comparing different vaccine approaches in animal models to identify combinations that produce strong, broad immune responses. His next steps include testing the most promising candidates in specialized mouse models with human immune cells to better predict how well these vaccines could work in people.

Fernanda Fumuso 
(O’Connor Lab, College of Veterinary Medicine)


Dr. Fumuso’s dissertation research focuses on developing better treatments for cryptosporidiosis, a serious diarrheal disease caused by the parasite Cryptosporidium. This parasite is difficult to eliminate, spreads easily between people and animals, and poses a major health risk—especially to infants and people with weakened immune systems. It also causes costly infections in livestock. There are currently no effective vaccines or treatments, making this a high-priority issue in both human and animal health. Dr. Fumuso is working on the preclinical development of a promising new drug candidate, tartrolon E (trtE), which has shown strong potential to stop the parasite in lab studies.

Ismael Karkache 
(Bradley Lab, Medical School)


Ismael Karkache’s dissertation research focuses on identifying new ways to prevent bone loss caused by osteoporosis, a condition that affects millions of older adults and significantly increases the risk of serious fractures. Hip and spine fractures can lead to long-term disability—or even death—and most of this bone loss occurs in the dense outer layer of bone called cortical bone. Karkache’s work has identified a gene, Phlpp2, as a potential new target for therapies that could strengthen this part of the skeleton. His research explores how this gene interacts with hormones like estrogen and with cholesterol biology, with the goal of advancing more effective treatments for osteoporosis.