MICaB NEWS
May 2009
New MICaB students for 2009-2010:
Thanks to all of the MIcaB faculty and students who participate in the recruiting
activities this semester. Your participation is essential to the successful
recruitment of outstanding students to our program. The following students
will be joining the program this fall:
Ph.D. Students: Juliet Crabtree (U of Washington),
Jeremy Drees (Concordia College), Samantha Dunmire
(Macalester College), Jeremy Herrera (UCLA), Nicholas
Kotloski (U of Wisconsin, Madison), Adam Litterman
(Princeton University), Hope O’Donnell (Northern Michigan
University), Edward Zamora (Carleton College).
MD/PhD Students: Daniel Beisang (U of MN,
TC) Bohjanan lab, Caitlin Conboy (Wellesley College ) Largaespada
lab, David Knorr (UND, Grand Forks) Kaufman lab,
Ryan Nelson (Washington University) Jenkins lab, Jared Rowe
(Georgia State University) Way lab, Nicole Skinner (University
of Virginia) Pennell lab.
Please welcome these students to the MICaB program!
Biomedical Sciences Graduate Programs Research Recognition Day
The second Biomedical Sciences Graduate Programs Research Recognition Day
will be held on May 28, 2009; 11:30 – 5:00 pm in Coffman Great Hall.
The graduate programs participating include MICaB; Biochemistry, Molecular
Biology & Biophysics; Cellular and Integrative Physiology; Molecular,
Cellular, Developmental Biology & Genetics; Neuroscience and Pharmacology.
Registration is required (Deadline for registration is Friday, May 15) http://www.orbs.umn.edu/orbs/gradresearchday
Beatrice Z. Milne and Theodore Brandenburg Award
MICaB students Hamlet Chu (mentor, Marc Jenkins) and Michael
Gerner (mentor, Matt Mescher) were selected as two of six recipients
of the 2009 Beatrice Z. Milne and Theodore Brandenburg Award for research
excellence in the basic biomedical sciences. Each awardee receives $6,000
cash and presents their research at the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Programs
Research Recognition Day on May 28, 2009.
Golden Pipetman Award
This award (http://www.micab.umn.edu/current/GoldenPipetman.html)
is given to an outstanding MICaB student who has contributed to the excellence
of the MICaB program. The contribution can be in the form of publications,
outside funding, and/or service to the program. The recipient of the Spring
2009 Golden Pipetman Award is Jon Larson
(mentor, David Largaespada)
MICaB Student Travel Awards
The recipients of the Spring 2009 MICaB Student Travel Awards are: John
Albin (Harris lab), Lisa Johnson (Jameson lab),
Jon Linehan (Jenkins lab), Johanna Reed
(Schwertfeger lab) and Luci Zacci (Davis lab). Each recipient
receives a travel award of $1000 to attend a national research meeting and
present their research. Congratulations!
Thanks also to the MICaB Travel Awards Review Committee:
Kim Mansky (chair), Dave Masopust and Steve
Rice.
The next MICaB Student Travel Award competition will occur at the beginning
of the fall 2009 semester. Look for an e-mail announcement.
Congratulations new MICaB Ph.D.s
MICaB students who have earned their Ph.D. degree (May 2008 - present) Dr.
Sonja Nodland (LeBien lab), Dr. Danhua Fan (Bitterman
lab), Dr. Daniel Cohen (Anderson lab), Dr. Laura
Bursch (Hogquist lab), Dr. Anthony Dodge
(Wackett lab), Dr. Liangxing Zou (Peterson lab), Dr.
Jennifer Gori (McIvor lab), Dr. Jianying Yang (Farrar
lab), Dr. Mark Osborn (Blazar lab), Dr. Kerry Casey
(Mescher lab), Dr. Ryan Kelly (Blazar lab), Dr. Amanda
Brosnahan (Schlievert lab), Dr. Michael Gerner (Mescher
lab), Dr. Kristi Strandberg (Schlievert lab), Dr.
Lisa Jasperson (Blazar lab), Dr. Yong Kim (Bitterman
lab), Dr. Colleen Winstead (Khoruts lab), Dr. Olivia
Chuang (Dunny lab).
2009-10 Student Representatives
Geoff Hart and Antonio Pagan are the student
representatives for 2009-2010.
KUDOS Congratulations to the following MICaB faculty and students:
Faculty:
Leslie Schiff, Ph.D. has been elected to the American Academy
of Microbiology.
The U of M has received a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Reuben Harris, PI.
Harris’s project is one of 81 grants announced by the Gates Foundation
in the second funding round of Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative
to help scientists around the world explore bold and largely unproven ways
to improve health in developing countries. The grants were provided to scientists
in 17 countries on six continents.
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a five-year,
$9.5 million project grant to Bruce Blazar, and Joseph Antin,
M.D., and Jerome Ritz, M.D., both with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
The grant will be used to further their research on Graft-Versus-Host Disease
(GVHD), a complication that can occur after a patient undergoes a stem cell
transplant for treatment of hematologic malignancies including leukemia, lymphoma,
and multiple myeloma. GVHD occurs when the transplanted donor cells perceive
the patient’s body as foreign and attack the patient’s organs
and tissue.
Students:
Stevie Haasken received the 2009 American College of Rheumatology
REF/Abbott Health Professional Graduate Student Research Preceptorship.
Hamlet Chu received the J. Jacob Kaplan Award, 2009.
Amy Moran received the 2008 Award for Outstanding Performance
as a Teaching Assistant in CBS.
John Albin was awarded the Warwick Fellowship from the Graduate
School at the University of Minnesota. This award, which includes a stipend
of $27,000, tuition and health insurance, and a research grant of $3,000,
can be given to an MD/PhD student in the graduate phase of training. The award
is funded by a generous gift from Warren and Henrietta Warwick. His work in
the laboratory of Dr. Reuben Harris focuses on outcomes of HIV-1 interactions
with host cell restriction factors.
Joan Beckman was awarded the Minnesota Medical Foundation
J. Thomas Livermore Award this year.
Joan Beckman was awarded a travel grant and the American
Federation for Medical Research (AMFR) Scholar's Award at the recent Central
Society for Clinical Research (CSCR)/AMFR Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL.
Joan Beckman received an American Society of Hematology Travel
Award to attend the national meeting in San Francisco in December 2008.
Laura Okagaki received a Genetics Society of America Poster
Award 2009.
Laura Okagaki received a Eukaryotic Cell Outstanding Young
Investigator Award, American Society for Microbiology 2009.
Mariangellys Rodriguez won the 2009 Robert Hebbel Research
Day Graduate Student Award given for the top poster presentation by a graduate
student in the Department of Medicine. The title of her poster was: “Xenobiotic
and Dietary Regulation of Cytochrome P450 1A1 Metabolism of Essential Fatty
Acids.”
Mariangellys Rodriguez received the American Association
for Cancer Research (AARC) Minority Scholar in Cancer Research Award, and
also the top 3% poster/abstract recognition AARC, April 2009. Title “Possible
role of insulin-like growth factor I in breast cancer proliferation via the
CYP1A1 epoxygenase pathway.”
Mariangellys Rodriguez currently serves as the Records Chair
of the Association of Multicultural Scientists, May 2009-
Recipients of NIH Individual Predoctoral MD/PhD Fellowships:
John Albin - 2009-2013 (National Institute on Drug Abuse)
His research examines the role of APOBEC3 proteins in HIV-1 drug resistance.
Joan Beckman - 2007-2011 (National Institute on Aging) Her
research focuses on vascular inflammation and blood vessel stasis that occurs
in patients with sickle cell disease and transgenic sickle mice.
Christopher DeNucci - 2008-2011 (National Institute of Diabetes
and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) His research project, "The role of
beta1 integrin in modulating gut-homing alpha4beta7 on T cells" focuses
on investigating the molecular mechanisms by which T cells acquire and regulate
integrin expression.
Lisa Jasperson - 2008-2011 (National Institute on Aging)
Her research focuses on the role of IDO in the age-related increase in severity
of graft-versus-host disease.
MICaB Kick-off and poster session
Wednesday, September 2, Noon, Mississippi Room, Coffman Union.
Poster session to follow in the atrium of Nils Hasselmo Hall.
Fun fact - MICaB Ultimate Frisbee team
Team name: Cells Angels
Record 3-0
MICaB students on the team:
Nick Zumwalde, Mike Weinreich, Antonio Pagan, Ryan Kelly, Casey Katerndahl,
Geoff Hart, Ryan Flynn, Jon Linehan
Email me (armst018@umn.edu)
or Louise Shand (shand@umn.edu) your news
items for the MICaB newsletter.
Sandy Armstrong
Director of Graduate Studies
Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology (MICaB) Ph.D. Graduate Program
