Ibrahim Boyenle Receives G. Forrest Woods Memorial Scholarship and Outstanding Presentation Award at the Regional NOBCChE Meeting

Please join us in congratulating Ibrahim Boyenle, a 3rd year PhD student in Dr. Yanxin Liu’s lab (IBBR Fellow) on receiving the UMD Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry's G. Forrest Woods Memorial Scholarship. The annual award provides funds towards the educational expenses of an outstanding undergraduate or graduate student in Chemistry or Biochemistry for the next school year. Selection is based on faculty nominations, academic performance and the student's area of interest.

Ibrahim also recently received the Outstanding Presentation Award at the Northeast–Southeast Regional Meeting of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE). The award speaks to Boyenle’s “exceptional skill, clarity and engagement” at the 2025 conference. Ibrahim’s presentation highlighted his ongoing PhD work on two chaperone proteins: Hsp90 and Sgt1, which are important for supporting key cellular processes including cell cycle regulation, protein homeostasis and immune signaling. His work reveals how co-chaperone proteins help regulate the conformational cycle of Hsp90. Understanding this regulation is helpful for further understanding how essential proteins mature in cells, and could eventually aid in the development of targeted therapies for diseases involving the dysfunction of these proteins.