Dec 11, 2009: Garrett Heinrich successfully defends his dissertation
| Congratulations to Garrett Heinrich who successfully defended his dissertation December 11. The title of his dissertation is A Role for CEACAM Proteins in Energy Balance and Peripheral Insulin Action and his major advisor was Dr. Sonia Najjar, Professor and Director of the Center for Diabetes and Endocrine Research (CeDER). Using mice with null deletion of Ceacam genes, Garrett found that while CEACAM1 regulates insulin action by promoting insulin clearance in liver, CEACAM2, which is mostly expressed in the CNS, exerts a central control of insulin action in skeletal muscle by regulating the balance between feeding (or energy intake) and energy expenditure. Garrett’s studies included the finding that female mice lacking the CEACAM2 gene not only eat more but also use less energy with the consequence that they gain weight. Garrett’s advisory committee shown below after the exam included Silvana Obici, M.D. from the Dept. of Internal Medicine-Endocrinology at the University of Cincinnati, who during her visit gave a stimulating seminar on the Role of CB1 receptors in the control of energy metabolism. Garrett will be carrying out his post-doctoral work in the laboratory of Domenico Accili, M.D., in the Dept. of Medicine at Columbia University in New York City. We wish Garrett the best in his future scientific endeavors. |
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From left: Drs. Edwin Sanchez, Silvana Obici, Garrett Heinrich, Sonia Najjar, David Giovannucci, Guillermo Vazquez |
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Dec 10, 2009: Gargi Roy successfully defends her dissertation
Congratulations to Gargi Roy who successfully defended her dissertation December 10. The title of her dissertation was Sorting Signals, Domain Conformation and Interdomain Interactions in CFTR Misprocessing and Rescue and her major adviser was Dr. Robert Wang. CFTR is the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, a chloride channel that when defective causes cystic fibrosis. The most common cause of the disease is a mutation which leads to the insertion of an insufficient number of CFTR channels in the cell membrane. In her project, Gargi has been studying the mechanism by which this mutation prevents normal trafficking of the protein to the plasma membrane. Since the mutated protein itself is functional, understanding the cause of the trafficking problem is an important step in finding a treatment for this common disease. Gargi gave an excellent presentation of her very interesting project. Gargi will be doing her post-doctoral work at the University of Michigan with Dr. James Douglas Engel, Ph.D., who is the G. Carl Huber Professor of Developmental Biology, Chair, Cell & Developmental Biology, and Co-Director of the Center for Organogenesis. As icing on the cake after her defense Gargi learned that her first paper entitled Interplay between ER Exit Code and Domain Conformation in CFTR Misprocessing and Rescue was accepted for publication in Molecular Biology of the Cell (authors Gargi Roy, Elaine Chalfin, Anita Saxena and Xiaodong (Robert) Wang). The picture below shows Gargi with some members of her advisory committee following her defense.
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From left: Drs. Edith Mensah-Osman (Grad School Rep), Bina Joe, Andrew Beavis, Gargi Roy, Ron Mellgren and Robert Wang |
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Oct 30, 2009: Annual Ohio Physiological Society Meeting
Sima Rahman and Ed Toland attended the 24th Annual Meeting of the Ohio Physiological Society held this year at the Blackwell Hotel on the campus of the Ohio State University hosted by the Dept of Physiology and Cell Biology. Sima who works in the laboratory of Dr. Beata Lecka-Czernik presented a talk entitled B-Catenin Sequesters PPARg2 Pro-Adipocyte Activity.
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Ed who works in the laboratory of Dr. Bina Joe presented two posters one entitled Analysis of Blood Pressure Effects of Overexpressing RESP18 in a Transgenic-Congenic Rat and the second, shown on the right, entitled Mapping Determinants of Blood Pressure that are Different Between Dahl Salt-Sensitive and Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats. |
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| Dr. Richard Klabunde (right) from Ohio University discusses his work with Dr. Peter Lauf the founding President of the Ohio Physiological Society from Wright State University. |
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| The Annual OPS meeting brings together faculty, post-docs, graduate students as well as undergraduate researchers from many of the colleges and universities in Ohio. This year the Ohio Physiological Society's Peter K. Lauf American Physiological Society Travel Award went to Jamie Wagner (right) for her talk (and poster) entitled Calcineurin homologous protein is required for a proton-activated muscle contraction that occurs during defecation in C. elegans. This is a $1000 travel grant to attend the 2010 Experimental Biology conference of the American Physiological Society in Anaheim, CA. Above: Lab-mate Connie Chin congratulates Jamie on her award. Jamie is an undergraduate researcher in the lab of Dr. Maureen Peters at Oberlin College. |
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Sept 3, 2009: Sima Rahman to present talk at Bone Research Meeting
Sima Rahman, a student in Dr. Beata Lecka-Czernik's lab, has been selected to give an oral presentation at the 31st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research the premier society for bone research to be held in Denver, CO, Sept. 11-14, 2009. The title of her presentation is: "beta-catenin Sequesters PPARg2 Pro-adipocytic Activity". The authors are S. Rahman, P. Czernik, and B. Lecka-Czernik.
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August, 2009: New CVMD track faculty Jennifer W. Hill, Ph.D.
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We welcome Jennifer Hill to the CVMD track. Jennifer joined the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology in June and is also a member of CeDER. After obtaining BA in Biology from Williams College and a Ph.D. at Northwestern University in 2003, she did post-doctoral work at the Beth Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard Medical School and in the Division of Hypothalamic Research, in the Dept. of Internal Medicine at the UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas. |
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Her research interests are in the hypothalamic homeostatic mechanisms controlling body weight and fertility and the interactions between them. Her current hypothesis is that the suppression of reproductive cyclicity during states of negative energy balance results from the action of circulating metabolic factors (such as leptin, insulin, ghrelin, glucose, LC-FAs or PYY3-36), in the hypothalamus. Her experimantal approach includes use of timed, targeted genetic manipulation, such as tissue-specific gene deletion. | |
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June 19, 2009: The 36th Annual Pharmacology Colloquium in Detroit
Twenty-seven students and post-doctoral fellows and 6 faculty members of the Physiology and Pharmacology Department and CVMD graduate track attended the 36th Annual Pharmacology Research Colloquium held this year in Scott Hall at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. This colloquium brings together graduate students and faculty from the “pharmacology” departments of the Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, and the University of Toledo, College of Medicine for a day long scientific program. Each of the schools takes turns in hosting this annual event. The colloquium primarily provides a forum for doctoral students to present their research in both oral and poster presentations and an opportunity for all participants to exchange ideas. These colloquia were initiated 36 years ago by Dr. Theodore M. Brody of Michigan State University and Dr. Benedict Lucchesi of the University of Michigan.
The welcome address was delivered by Dr. Daniel A. Walz, Associate Dean of Research at the Wayne State University, School of Medicine in the Jaffar Auditorium of Scott Hall.
The program included 13 oral presentations, including those by UT students Gargi Roy, Terry Hinds and Damien Earl, 48 poster presentations and a keynote lecture by Heidi Hamm, Earl W. Sutherland, Jr. Professor and Chair of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University.
| Gargi Roy, (UT) presented a talk entitled: Global conformation reversion underlies the rescue of ΔF508 CFTR misprocessing. |  |
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Heidi Hamm, Ph.D. The keynote speaker was Heidi Hamm, Earl W. Sutherland, Jr. Professor and Chair of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. Her presentation was entitled: Structural Basis of G protein Signaling. |
| Terry Hinds, (UT) presented a talk entitled: The discovery of glucocorticoid receptor beta in mice. |
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Damien Earl, (UT) presented a talk entitled: Direct, concentration-dependent inhibition of recombinant neural L-type voltage-gated calcium channel currents by GABA-A receptor modulators |
| Dinner was held at the Majestic Cafe. |
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During dinner winners of the oral and poster presentations were announced and presented by Dr. Nick Davis the faculty organizer of this year's colloquium. The prize for best oral presentation went to Sarah Schumacher (UM). Second place went to Daniel Foster, (UM). The prize for best poster went to Margaret Prior (WSU) and second place went to Laurie Svoboda (UM).
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Eric Morgan, Nick Davis and Ed Toland |
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Gargi Roy and Anita Saxena at the Majestic Cafe |
Next year, the 37th Annual Colloquium will be hosted by Michigan State University.
For full report and many more pictures from the 36th Colloquium go to CVMD Activities and Events
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| March 6, 2009: Yiliang Chen Receives Award for Best Poster Presentation at Graduate Research Forum | |
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Congratulations to Yiliang Chen - selected as the 1st place winner at the 2009 Graduate Research Forum on the Health Science Campus. Yiliang, a CVMD PhD student working in the laboratory of Dr. Zi-Jian Xie, will receive $500. See below for further details. |
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March 5-6, 2009: Annual Graduate Research Forum
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The annual Graduate Research Forum was held on March 5 and 6, 2009. This event is organized by the Council of Graduate Students of the UT College of Medicine and provides an opportunity for students to present their work to fellow students and faculty. Eight students in the CVMD track presented posters. CVMD student Yiliang Chen was awarded the first place prize for his poster entitled Regulation of Intracellular Distribution of Cholesterol by the Na+/K+ ATPase. He received a prize of $500. His major advisor is Dr. Zijian Xie of the Dept. of Physiology and Pharmacology. Second and third places went to Mithun Khattar and Andy (Yutein) Chun respectively both from the IIT track. Runners-up were Miao Chen, Cynthia Kenmuir and Sara Campbell. The judges of the final six were Dr. Akira Takashima, Chair of MMI, Dr. Johnnie Early, Dean of the College of Pharmacy, and Dr. Jeremy Rich, Chair of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Rich also presented the keynote address entitled "When the Few Rule the Many: Tumor Stem Cells in Cancer Biology". The event was held in the atrium of the Center for Creative Education |
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| From the top: Yiliang Chen with judge Dr. Pat Hogue and students Junbo Mai and Jason French. |
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| Yiliang Chen with his prize-winning poster. |
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Yiliang Chen discusses his work with Dr. David Dignam one of the first round judges.
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Dr. Zi-Jian Xie, Yiliang's major advisor, and Dr. Thea Sawicki, IIT Track Director. |
| Ashwin Prakash, CVMD student, with his poster describing bioinformatic techniques to identify possible causes of autism-related disorders. |  |
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Katye Smedlund, CVMD student, discussing her work on endothelial TRPC3 channels with Dr. Sumudra Periyasamy. |
| Randy Hart, IIT track student, discusses his work with Dr. Surya Nauli, CVMD track faculty and one of the first round judges. |  |
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Vipula Petluru, CVMD student, with her poster presenting work on the role of TZD diabetes drugs in causing loss of bone density. |
| Jacobi Cunningham, NND student, explains his work to CVMD faculty judge Dr. Edith Mensah-Osman. |  |
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QiQi Ye, CVMD student, with her poster on the regulation of Src kinase by the Na+/K+ ATPase. |
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National Institute of Health Research Fellowship Award Congratulations to CVMD student Terry Hinds, Ph.D. candidate. He has been awarded an Individual National Research Service Award (NRSA). His proposal was entitled: "Fatty Acid Control Obesity and the Metabolic Syndrome via TPR Proteins". Terry works in the lab of Dr. Edwin Sanchez.
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October 16, 2008: New CVMD track Faculty Edith Mensah-Osman, M.D., Ph.D.
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We welcome Edith Mensah-Osman to the CVMD track. Edith joined the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology in July and is also a member of CeDER. Prior to being recruited she obtained an M.D. from Kharkov State Medical University in the Ukraine, obtained a Ph.D. at Wayne State University in 2003 and was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Michigan. She has a variety of research interests that relate to metabolic diseases, pharmacology and cancer. If you see her say hello and welcome. |
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September 12-16, 2008: Beata Lecka-Czernik's lab attend Bone meeting in CanadaMembers of Dr. Beata Lecka-Czernik’s lab attended the 30th Annual Meeting of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research that was held in Montreal, Quebec on the 12-16th September 2008. The meeting concentrated on bone biology, bone health, and the clinical and scientific advances in treating bone-related diseases and Dr. Lecka-Czernik’s lab. presented two posters. Shilong Huang MD, Ph.D. et al., presented the plenary poster entitled “Regulation of Bone Mass and Osteoclastogenesis by CEACAM 1,” and predoctoral student Sima Rahman, et al., presented a poster called “PPARγ2-mediated proteolytic degradation of b-catenin determines an anti-osteoblastic effect of anti-diabetic TZDs.”
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September 10, 2008: Yiliang Chen wins the Retirees' Scholarship Award
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Congratulations to Yiliang Chen! Yiliang was selected from among the CVMD students to receive the 2008 Retirees' Scholarhip award. The award is given to the best overall student in each of the four biomedical research tracks. Each winner will receive $250. The winners in the other graduate tracks were: Goleeta Alam, (CB) |
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September 4, 2008: Zhichuan Li successfully defends his dissertation
Congratulations to CVMD student Zhichuan Li who successfully defended his Doctor of Physiology dissertation on September 4. The title of his dissertation was the Na/K-ATPase Signaling: from Bench to Bedside. Zhichuan gave an excellent presentation of his very interesting project.
Zhichuan Li and Dr. Zi-Jian Xie
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August 6, 2008: Garrett Heinrich wins the Satellites' Scholarship Award
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Congratulations to Garrett Heinrich! Garrett was selected from among the CVMD students to receive the 2008 Satellites' Scholarhip award. The Satellites are a group of UT-HSC volunteers who have a long tradition of providing support and scholarships to our students. This award is given to one outstanding upper level graduate student in each track. Each winner receives $300. The winners in the other graduate tracks were: Aparna Kaul, (CB) |
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July 23, 2008: Manya Warrier successfully defends her dissertation
Congratulations to Manya Warrier who successfully defended her dissertation July 23. The title of her dissertation was the Role of FKBP51 and FKBP52 in Glucocorticoid Receptor Regulated Metabolism. FKBPs are a family of proteins that bind FK506, which is the immunosuppressant drug tacrolimus marketed as Prograf®. Manya gave an excellent presentation of her very interesting project. Manya will being doing her post-doctoral work with Dr. Daniel P. Kelly, who is the Scientific Director of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, Orlando, Florida. The picture below shows Manya with her advisory committee following her defense. (see Physiology Pharmacology Dept. News for another picture)
Manya Warrier (front) with her committee, from left to right, Drs. Eddie Sanchez (major advisor), Cynthia Smas, Linda Dokas, ZiJian Xie, and Sonia Najjar
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July 10, 2008: CVMD student Carmen Quatman awarded $5,000 grant
Congratulations to Carmen Quatman a fourth-year MD/PhD student, who has received a $5,000 grant from the American College of Sports Medicine Foundation to further develop a mathematical model to learn more about the biomechanics of ACL injuries and to determine why women are more susceptible to ACL tears that can sideline athletes for up to one year. This story was reported in UTNews. The picture, taken from the article, shows Carmen and Dr. Vijay Goel, adjunct professor of orthopedic surgery, the McMaster-Gardner Professor of Orthopedic Bioengineering, and co-director of the Engineering Center for Orthopedic Research Excellence on the Main and Health Science campus with whom she is working on the project.
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June 27, 2008: The 35th Annual Pharmacology Colloquium in Ann Arbor
Thirty-five students and 6 faculty members of the Physiology and Pharmacology Department and CVMD graduate track attended the 35th Annual Pharmacology Research Colloquium held this year in the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. This colloquium brings together graduate students and faculty from the “pharmacology” departments of the Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, and the University of Toledo, College of Medicine for a day long scientific program. This year faculty from the four schools judged the posters and talks. Five out of the 6 selected finalists among the posters were students from the CVMD track. These were Zhichuan Li in ZiJian Xie's lab, Sima Rahman in Beata Lecka-Czernik's lab, Gargi Roy in Robert Wang's lab, Katye Smedland in Guillermo Vazquez lab, and Cory Stebal in Sandrine Pierre's lab. Congratulations to all of you! As icing on the cake, Gargi Roy was awarded first place and will receive a check for $300 and an enscribed plaque will be sent to display in the department until next year when the colloquium will be held at Wayne State university in Detroit. (More details and more pictures of the event)
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Dr. ZiJian Xie congratulates Gargi Roy awarded the prize for best poster presentation. |
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June 6, 2008: College of Medicine Graduation Held at the Peristyle
Fourteen students in the CVMD track graduated June 6 with MS or PhD degrees. Many of them attended the graduation ceremony, which this year was held in the beautiful Peristyle theater in the Toledo Museum of Art.
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Graduating students and their major advisors in the CVMD track included:
Ying Chen, PhD; (ZiJian Xie, PhD)
Jihad Elkareh, PhD; (Joseph Shapiro, MD)
Aaron Kellogg, PhD; (Rodica Pop-Busui, PhD)
Manya Warrier, PhD; (Edwin Sanchez, PhD)
Justin Ways, PhD; (George Cicila, PhD)
Elias Antypas, MD, PhD; (Ana Maria Oyarce, PhD)
Hussein Bagalb, MS; (Joana Chakraborty, PhD)
Haiping Cai, MS; (Jiang Liu, PhD)
Nasser El-Okdi, MS; (Joseph Shapiro, MD)
Samuel Lupica, MS; (John Turner, PhD)
Andrew McSweeny, MS; (George Cicila, PhD)
Vanamala Raju, MS; (Joseph Shapiro, MD)
Jaganath Saikumar, MS; (Bina Joe, PhD)
Amjad Shidyak, MS; (Joseph Shapiro, MD)
(link to more graduation pictures)
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Summer 2008: SURF Summer Undergraduate Research Program
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May 28, 2008: Maria Szkudlarek Awarded AHA Predoctoral Fellowship
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CVMD student Maria Szkudlarek has been awarded an AHA predoctoral fellowship from the Great Rivers Affiliate of the American Heart Association to support her predoctoral research. Her project is entitled Transcriptional Regulation of Adipogenesis by Prieurianin and her major advisor is Dr. Khew-Voon Chin. The award is for $21,000 for the year beginning July 1. Congratulations Maria! Picture shows Maria discussing her work at the Annual Pharmacology Colloquium at the University of Michigan, June 27, 2008 |
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