In 2022, we held a competition inviting Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to submit designs that we could print on WCP2023 merchandise. The profits from the sale of these items will go to the WCP2023 ECR Fund, which provides financial support and creates more opportunities for ECRs to attend and get involved at WCP2023.
We are pleased to announce the winner of the competition is Rita Lauro, a PhD student studying Translational Molecular Medicine and Surgery at the University of Messina, in Italy. Rita’s design is titled ‘From Bench to Bedside and Beyond’ and represents her vision of pharmacology: ‘a science that examines how the effect of a molecule is able to provide answers to physiological questions. More importantly, the science which exploits these informations to drive the development of new agents with great therapeutic potential, and the effective delivery of cutting-edge bench-to-bedside research.’
Rita’s design has been made into an exclusive WCP2023 ‘From Bench to Bedside and Beyond’ t-shirt which is available to purchase, alongside a refreshed favourite which reads ‘I ♥ Pharmacology’. Both can be preordered online now, or added to your order when you register for WCP2023. If you have already registered, you can edit your booking and add the t-shirts to your order. We also plan to let you preorder the t-shirts at selected events prior to WCP2023. The t-shirts will be available to collect at the conference, or can be posted to you if you aren’t attending.

Professor David Webb and Professor Amrita Ahluwalia wearing the two WCP2023 t-shirt designs.
All profits from the sale of these t-shirts will go to the WCP2023 ECR Fund, which provides financial support and creates more opportunities for ECRs to attend and get involved with WCP2023.
More about our competition winner – Rita Lauro
I’m Rita Lauro, PhD student on the course of Translational Molecular Medicine and Surgery at the University of Messina in Italy. I graduated in Biotechnology (Bachelors Degree) and in Medical Biotechnology (Masters Degree) before applying for the PhD position. I work in the Molecular Pharmacology Laboratory of Professor Bitto at the University of Messina, and specifically my research project involves mostly the screening of nutraceuticals to promote the healing process associated with osseointegration. I’ve always been passionate about science, Biotechnology in particular, and lately in the pharmacology field which seems, to me, one of the most complete subjects which can give you answers and explanations, literally, from bench to bedside and beyond. However, I’ve also always followed my passion for graphics and art, which allowed me to exploit this little ability even during my everyday activity, and some of my illustrations have been used in different published work and for the IUPHAR International Students’ Poster Competition 2022 (image can be found here), in which I was awarded 3rd place. Moreover, since I have some editing competence as an autodidact, I’ve been collaborating in the last two years with the Italian Society of Pharmacology (Società Italiana Farmacologia (SIF)) as a content creator (posts and videos) for their Instagram account @societaitalianafarmacologia and for the online journal SIF Magazine.
Articles in which Rita’s illustrations have been featured:
- Fibrosis after Myocardial Infarction: An Overview on Cellular Processes, Molecular Pathways, Clinical Evaluation and Prognostic Value
- Role of Adenosine and Purinergic Receptors in Myocardial Infarction: Focus on Different Signal Transduction Pathways
- Polydeoxyribonucleotide: A Promising Biological Platform to Accelerate Impaired Skin Wound Healing
- Pros and Cons of the Cannabinoid System in Cancer: Focus on Hematological Malignancies
- Emerging Evidence and Treatment Perspectives from Randomized Clinical Trials in Systemic Sclerosis: Focus on Interstitial Lung Disease
- Could Antigen Presenting Cells Represent a Protective Element during SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Children?
- Potential Role of microRNAs in inducing Drug Resistance in Patients with Multiple Myeloma
Rita’s entries for other competitions:
- BioTech Job Competition 2020 – (Italian Biotechnologists Association (Associazione Biotecnologi Italiani) – Winner
- BioTech Job Competition 2021 – (Italian Biotechnologists Association (Associazione Biotecnologi Italiani) – Finalist
- In 2021, the Italian Biotechnologists Association also asked Rita to create an illustration representing the mechanism of action of mRNA vaccines.
- IUPHAR International Students’ Poster Competition 2022 – 3rd Place
T-shirts can be added to your order when you register for WCP2023. If you have already registered, you can edit your booking and add t-shirts to your order.
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