Two program students awarded HHMI grants for their Research Year

Tolani Olonisakin and Xiao Zhu have both been awarded grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to support their research year.

Ms Olonisakin's research project is "Identifying small molecule compounds that enhance the host innate immune response to infection"

Mr Zhu's research project is "Identifying Molecular Mechanisms within Preglomerular Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells that Contribute to Enhanced Renal Vascular Resistance in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats".

We congratulate both on continuing the PSTP's record of research excellence!

Match Results for 2015

THE PSTP IS DELIGHTED TO ANNOUNCE THE 2015 MATCH RESULTS

1. Ellen Caparosa, General Surgery, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia

2. Leo Chen, Preliminary Surgery and Urological Surgery, Stanford University

3. Brittany Dulmage, Transitional, UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside; Dermatology, Northwestern McGaw, Chicago

4. Erica Nakajima, Internal Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

5. Caroline Rieser, General Surgery, UPMC Medical Education

6. Sameer Shakir, Plastic Surgery, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Breaking News!

The Urology match results for the season are out, and PSTP's own (soon-to-be-Dr.) Leo Chen will be heading to Stanford for his residency!

We CONGRATULATE Leo on his great work and look forward to the productive scientific career he is sure to have!

PSTP student Erica Nakajima represents HHMI at International Achievement Summit in San Francisco

Erica Nakajima, a fourth-year PSTP student, was selected as one of four Howard Hughes Medical Fellows to attend the Academy of Achievement's International Achievement Summit in San Francisco, CA in September 2014.  As a delegate, she interacted with over 100 other young delegates and 100 Academy members who have made tremendous contributions through their careers in science, medicine, government, technology, and the arts.  Describing the conference, Ms. Nakajima says, "The Academy members gave fascinating and inspirational talks about the paths of their discoveries.  Some of my favorite talks addressed current issues from experts in the field.  Francis Collins, director of the NIH spoke on the Ebola outbreak, and the current commander of NATO, General Philip Breedlove, addressed the present conflict in Ukraine.  I felt that the Summit was a call to act and think boldly, to be less afraid of failure. These messages were very well timed as I consider my future medical career."  Ms. Nakajima spent her time as a HHMI Fellow in 2012-2013 investigating the impact of hypoxia upon tumor metabolism and intratumoral heterogeneity in the lab of Dr. Bennett Van Houten.​

PSTP Welcomes its incoming class

The Program welcomed its largest incoming class this year, with seven new students and one internal MS2 admission. They are, from left to right:

• Cyrus Tsang is originally from Hong Kong and attended the University of Michigan.  He practices Taekwondo and Karate, and enjoys watching movies , bowling, and charcoal drawing.  His research interest is in neurodegenerative diseases.
• Thiagu Meyyappan is from Massachusetts, where he attended Boston University.  Before he began his medical training, he spent a year working for a startup to develop a diagnostic and prognostic test for prostate cancer.  In his free time, he enjoys playing any kind of sport, although (he declares) “not very well”.
• Vincent DeStefino, who graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in neuroscience, is originally from Arizona.  He enjoys running, reading nonfiction, and politics.
• Beth Kenny is from the Pittsburgh area and graduated from Duquesne University with a degree in biology.  As an undergrad she studied novel therapeutics to preserve cognitive function after resuscitation.  She enjoys outdoor activities such as running and snowboarding.
•  Andrew Hughes is from New Jersey and graduated with degrees in engineering from Lehigh and Cornell Universities.  His graduate work focused on the capture of rare cells, including cancer cells, from blood samples.  When not in the library or lab he enjoys skiing, mountain biking, and golfing.
• Pooja Karukonda is originally from Connecticut.  She earned her undergraduate degrees in neuroscience and Russian from Johns Hopkins.  She enjoys Indian classical dance, hiking, and cooking.
•  Ross Carson (seated) attended the University of Michigan.  He enjoys cooking health food, and especially likes to experiment with different ingredients.  He also practices strength training.
•  Efstathios Kondylis (not pictured) ​is from Scottsdale, Arizona and studied biomedical engineering at Arizona State University.  He enjoys cooking, watching movies and playing basketball.  His research interest is the neurophysiology of cognition and understanding how it is perturbed in disease states such as epilepsy.

A PSTP Publication Hat Trick!

Careful readers of our list of 2014 publications may have noticed a unique entry in the list: an article in the journal Frontiers in Neurology on which three PSTP students are listed as co-authors (Efstathios Kondylis, Thomas Wozny, and Vincent DeStefino).  The result of a collaboration among those working in the lab of Dr. Mark Richardson, the article is an example of not only the quality of research undertaken by PSTP students, but also of the intellectual challenge and stimulation fostered in the community of our thirty outstanding medical student-researchers.  We congratulate Vince, Tom, and Stathis!

PSTP student achievements, 2014: National awards, Publications, and Conference Presentations

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Fellowship Awards:

Wai-Ying (Wendy) Yau

Zachary Yochum

Publications

PSTP First Authorship

1. Al-Khafaji A, Moughania A, Al-Saadi M. Precaution (ihtiyāt): Do not proceed. American Journal of Bioethics. 2015;15(1):23.
2. Dulmage BO, Feng H, Mirvish E, Geskin L. Black cat in a dark room: Absence of a directly oncogenic virus does not eliminate the role of an infectious agent in CTCL pathogenesis. Br J Dermatol. 2014 PMID:25385510.
3. Hughes AD, Marshall JR, Keller E, Powderly JD, Greene BT, King MR. Differential drug responses of circulating tumor cells within patient blood. Cancer Lett. 2014;352(1):28-35.
4. Johnson PJ, Schmidt DE, Duvvuri U. Output control of da vinci surgical system's surgical graspers. J Surg Res. 2014;186(1):56-62.
5. Kondylis ED, Wozny TA, Lipski WJ, Popescu A, DeStefino VJ, Esmaeili B, Raghu VK, Bagic A, Richardson RM. Detection of high-frequency oscillations by hybrid depth electrodes in standard clinical intracranial EEG recordings. Front Neurol. 2014;5:149-149.
6. Ludwig DR, Friehling M, Schelbert EB, Schwartzman D. Impact of scar on SPECT assay of left ventricular contraction dyssynchrony. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2014;41(3):529-535 PMID:24213619.
7. Nakajima EC, Laymon C, Oborski M, Hou W, Wang L, Grandis JR, Ferris RL, Mountz JM, Van Houten B. Quantifying metabolic heterogeneity in head and neck tumors in real time: 2-DG uptake is highest in hypoxic tumor regions. PLoS One. 2014;9(8):e102452 PMID:25127378.
8. Shakir S, MacIsaac ZM, Naran S, Smith D, Bykowski MR, Cray JJ, Craft TK, Wang D, Weiss L, PhD., Campbell PG, Mooney M, Losee JE, Cooper GM. Transforming growth factor beta 1 augments calvarial defect healing and promotes suture regeneration. Tissue Eng Part A. 2014.
9. Shakir S, Razzak A, Malik SM. Wrong turn from right quadrant. Gastroenterology. 2014;146(1):34.
10. Vangara BS, Grandis JR. Jak-STAT signaling in HNC. In: Burtness B, Golemis EA, eds. Molecular determinants of head and neck cancer. New York: Springer; 2014:163.

PSTP Co-authorship

1. Chen X, Sadowska GB, Zhang J, Kim JE, Cummings EE, Bodge CA, Lim YP, Makeyev O, Besio WG, Gaitanis J, Threlkeld SW, Banks WA, Stonestreet BS. Neutralizing anti-interleukin-1beta antibodies modulate fetal blood-brain barrier function after ischemia. Neurobiol Dis. 2015;73:118-129 PMID:25258170.
2. Ahmed M, Gorcsan J,3rd, Marek J, Ryo K, Haugaa K, Ludwig DR, Schwartzman D. Right ventricular apical pacing-induced left ventricular dyssynchrony is associated with a subsequent decline in ejection fraction. Heart Rhythm. 2014;11(4):602-608.
3. Basu S, Hertsenberg A, Funderburgh MK, Burrow MK, Mann MM, Du Y, Lathrop K, Syed-Picard FN, Adams SM, Birk DE, Funderburgh JL. Human limbal biopsy–derived stromal stem cells prevent corneal scarring. Sci Transl Med. 2014;6(266):ra172.
4. Benson JA, Cummings EE, O'Reilly L,P., Lee M, Pak SC. A high-content assay for identifying small molecules that reprogram C. elegans germ cell fate. Methods. 2014;68(3):529-535.
5. Boone BA, Zeh HJ, Mock BK, Johnson PJ, Dvorchik I, Lee K, Moser AJ, Bartlett DL, Marsh JW. Resection of isolated local and metastatic recurrence in periampullary adenocarcinoma. HPB (Oxford). 2014;16(3):197-203 PMID:23601033.
6. Bowden G, Kano H, Caparosa E, Tonetti D, Niranjan A, Monaco EA,3rd, Flickinger J, Arai Y, Lunsford LD. Stereotactic radiosurgery for arteriovenous malformations of the postgeniculate visual pathway. J Neurosurg. 2014:1-8 PMID:25423270.
7. Bowden G, Kano H, Tempel ZJ, Caparosa E, Monaco E,3rd, Niranjan A, Flickinger J, Luketich JD, Lunsford LD. Gamma knife radiosurgery for management of cerebral metastases from esophageal carcinoma. J Neurooncol. 2014;118(1):141-146.
8. Chen X, Leeman JE, Wang J, Pacella JJ, Villanueva FS. New insights into mechanisms of sonothrombolysis using ultra-high-speed imaging. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2014;40(1):258-262.
9. Cheng X, Zhang X, Gao Q, Ali Samie M, Azar M, Tsang WL, Dong L, Sahoo N, Li X, Zhuo Y, Garrity AG, Wang X, Ferrer M, Dowling J, Xu L, Han R, Xu H. The intracellular Ca²⁺ channel MCOLN1 is required for sarcolemma repair to prevent muscular dystrophy. Nat Med. 2014;20(10):1187-1192.
10. Das PP, Shao Z, Beyaz S, Apostolou E, Pinello L, De Los Angeles A, O'Brien K, Atsma JM, Fujiwara Y, Nguyen M, Ljuboja D, Guo G, Woo A, Yuan GC, Onder T, Daley G, Hochedlinger K, Kim J, Orkin SH. Distinct and combinatorial functions of Jmjd2b/Kdm4b and Jmjd2c/Kdm4c in mouse embryonic stem cell identity. Mol Cell. 2014;53(1):32-48 PMID:24361252.
11. Domsic RT, Dezfulian C, Shoushtari A, Ivanco D, Kenny E, Kwoh CK, Medsger TA, J., Champion HC. Endothelial dysfunction is present only in the microvasculature and microcirculation of early diffuse systemic sclerosis patients. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2014;32(6):S-154-60.
12. Friehling M, Menon PG, Ludwig DR, Schwartzman D. Single-photon emission computed tomographic-multidetector computed tomographic fusion image integration: A potential aid to left ventricular substrate ablation. Europace. 2014;16(12):1860-1863.
13. Kozai TDY, Li X, Bodily LM, Caparosa EM, Zenonos GA, Carlisle DL, Friedlander RM, Cui XT. Effects of caspase-1 knockout on chronic neural recording quality and longevity: Insight into cellular and molecular mechanisms of the reactive tissue response. Biomaterials. 2014;35(36):9620-9634.
14. Naran S, Shakir S, Emelife P, Quigley M, Russavage J, Manders E, Rubin JP, De La Cruz C, Gimbel M, Nguyen V. Abstract 44: Components separation for abdominal wall reconstruction: The pitt experience, a review of 605 cases. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2014;133(3S):54-55 10.1097/01.prs.0000445077.09085.b1. 
15. Naran S, Zaulan Y, Shakir S, Gilula LA, Werner FW, Wollstein R. Radiographic assessment of ligamentous injuries in distal radius fractures after open reduction and internal fixation. Eur J Orthop Surg Traumatol. 2014;24(7):1151-1154.
16. O'Reilly L,P., Benson JA, Cummings EE, Perlmutter DH, Silverman GA, Pak SC. Worming our way to novel drug discovery with the caenorhabditis elegans proteostasis network, stress response and insulin-signaling pathways. Expert Opin Drug Discov. 2014;9(9):1021-1032.
17. Schowalter MK, Dulmage BO, Ho J, Vu JR, Falo,Louis D.,,Jr, Geskin LJ. Comparative proteomic analysis reveals unique tumor protein composition among the melanoma subtypes pure desmoplastic and superficial spreading. Melanoma Res. 2014;24(4):397-400.
18. Strachan RT, Sun J, Rominger DH, Violin JD, Ahn S, Rojas BT, Zhu X, Kleist A, Costa T, Lefkowitz RJ. Divergent transducer-specific molecular efficacies generate biased agonism at a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). J Biol Chem. 2014;289(20):14211-14224.

Conference Presentations

Chapman, B.V., Kabolizadeh, P., Berhane, H., Smith, R.P., Clump, D.A., Heron, D.E. Post-operative simultaneous integrated boost-intensity modulated radiation therapy in head and neck cancer: outcomes from a single institution series (#14042493), Radiological Society of North America 100^th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, December 2, 2014.

Cummings EE, King DE, O'Reilly LP, Luke CJ, Pak SC, Silverman GA.  Modeling rare alpha-1 antitrypsin variants in C. elegans.  Oral presentation given at 7th International Symposium on Serpin Biology, Structure, and Function, Leogang, Austria, April 1, 2014.  

Nakajima, E. Taking 'Time Off': Exploration and Research in the Pursuit of a Medical Career. Carleton College, Northfield, MN; Feb 2014.

Shakir S, Wang D, Shaw MA, Smith DM, Naran S, Gilbert JR, MacIsaac ZM, Losee JE, Cooper GM. BMP2 Stimulation of Adipose, Bone Marrow, and Muscle-Derived Stromal Cells Fails to Augment Cranial Repair. 71st Annual Meeting of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association. Indiana, IN. March 24-29, 2014.

Shakir S, Jarrett NJ, Kumar AR. An Evaluation of a Novel Craniofacial Skills Laboratory Curriculum: An Aid to Plastic Surgery Resident Milestone Achievement in Technical Skills and Instrument Knowledge. 71st Annual Meeting of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association. Indiana, IN. March 24-29, 2014.

Shakir S, Wang D, Shaw MA, Smith DM, Naran S, Gilbert JR, MacIsaac ZM, Losee JE, Cooper GM. BMP2 Stimulation of Adipose, Bone Marrow, and Muscle-Derived Stromal Cells Fails to Augment Cranial Repair. 60^th Annual Meeting of the Robert H. Ivy Society of Plastic Surgeons. Bedford, PA. May 17, 2014.

Vasireddi A, Vasquez A, Whitney D, Georgopoulos A, Kim SG. Sub-millimeter scale resting state functional connectivity in the mammalian visual cortex. Organization for Human Brain Mapping 2014 Annual Meeting, Hamburg, Germany, June 10, 2014.