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The Third Annual Dr. Raniyah Ramadan Research Symposium will feature three speakers from the neuroscience field and an East Central University student on Thursday, Jan. 29, from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Raymond Estep Multimedia Center inside the Bill S. Cole University Center.

The symposium, free and open to the public, is named in honor of the late Dr. Raniyah Ramadan, who was a research scientist in neuro-ophthalmology.

“Our daughter had a belief in promoting science and research, especially in the neuroscience field,” said Dr. Tawfik Z. Ramadan, who along with his family, sponsor the event. “We do this because we feel that we belong to ECU.”

The list of speakers include Dr. Dimitrios Karamichos, Dr. Ferenc Deak, Dr. Williams M. Freeman and ECU student Landon Rodriguez.

Karamichos is from the Department of Ophthalmology from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. His topic is “Corneal Stroma: Diseases and Defects.”

Deak is from the Reynolds Oklahoma Center on Aging and Department of Geriatric Medicine at the OU Health Sciences Center. Deak will be speaking on “Risk for Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease: Novel Pathways in the Aging Brain.”

Freeman is the Donald W. Reynolds chair in aging research from the Departments of Physiology and Geriatric Medicine from the OU Health Sciences Center. Freeman’s topic is Metebolic Memory and Diabetic Retinopathy.

Rodriguez is the recipient of the Raniyah Ramadan Undergraduate Research Scholarship at ECU. He will be speaking on “Plexin-B2 Antibody Therapy in a Potential Glioma Therapy.

The symposium is being facilitated by the ECU Biology Department, Tri-Beta Biology Club, ECU College of Health and Sciences, Dr. Raniyah Ramadan Center for Undergraduate Research and Learning and the ECU Foundation, Inc.

“The purpose of the symposium is to show what’s being done in the neuroscience research field and to engage scholarly activities between the two universities (East Central

University and the University of Oklahoma),” said Nick Cheper, professor and chair of ECU’s Department of Biology.

The Ramadan family also sponsors on all-day event similar to this event at the OU Health Sciences Center each year. The family invites the public to attend the free event on Jan. 29.

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