From the Dean

Amazingly, we are at the end of another school year. This weekend, we will add 75 new M.D’s and 1 M.D/Ph.D. to our ranks as the newest graduates of the college. Please congratulate them as they move to the next level of their training. Other items of note this month:

• Many thanks to Mrs. LouAnn McKinney, the wife of Chancellor Michael McKinney, for hosting this year’s Magnolia Tea event at their home, the Reed House. The event raised both scholarship money as well as funds for research in Womens’ health. Also thanks to Dr. Farida Sohrabji for presenting to the group of over 100!
• Congratulations to our employees of the quarter, Yuanlong Shao and Yiwei Miao. They have been with the college for over 15 years. Comments from their nomination include “exceptionally responsible, reliable, collegial, mature, and even-tempered in the face of near catastrophes” and “their initiative, devotion to doing the job well, and many other qualities make them role models for all of us.”
• I would also like to congratulate M1 student Maen Abdelrahim, Ph.D., on his recent patent award with Dr. Stephen Safe on the drug Tolfenamic acid for the treatment of pancreatic cancer patients. Well done, Maen.

Christopher C. Colenda, M.D., M.P.H.
The Jean and Thomas McMullin Dean
Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine
147 Joe H. Reynolds Medical Building
College Station, TX 77843-1114
Phone: 979/845-3431; Fax: 979/847-8663
Email: colenda@medicine.tamhsc.edu

Dates to Remember

• May 8: Geriatric Research and Practice Conference
• May 9: Class of 2009 Commencement Ceremonies; Rudder Auditorium – 2 p.m.
• July 31 - August 1: COM Alumni Reunion
• August 2: Donor/Recipient Reception

College News

COM Hosts First Geriatric Research and Practice Conference on May 8, 2009

The inaugural Geriatric Research and Practice Conference will be held May 8, 2009 at the College Station Convention Center. The conference will focus on the newest trends in geriatrics with topics ranging from practical care to the latest in research.

The spotlight speaker for the event is our own Farida Sohrabji, Ph.D. who is presenting ‘Women’s Health in the Post-WHI/Study Era: A Stroke/Dementia Perspective.” Other College of Medicine presenters include Christopher C. Colenda, M.D., Richard Devaul, M.D., and Mary Elizabeth Herring, J.D.

The conference is free for health science center students and fifty-five dollars for other community members. More information about this special event and online registration is available at http://medicine.tamhsc.edu/geriatrics.

Health Science Center College of Medicine holds Commencement Ceremony on May 9, 2009

The college congratulates students participating in the 2009 Commencement Ceremony. Commencement is scheduled for Saturday, May 9, 2009, at 2 p.m. in Rudder Auditorium on the Texas A&M University campus and is open to the public. A reception for graduating students and their guests will be held in Rudder Exhibit Hall following commencement.

This year’s commencement speaker is J. James Rohack, M.D., professor of Internal Medicine and Humanities in Medicine at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. Dr. Rohack is also the director of the Center for Healthcare Policy at Scott & White and medical director for system improvement in Temple, where he continues his clinical practice at Scott & White Clinic. A cardiologist from Bryan, Dr. Rohack was named president-elect of the American Medical Association (AMA), the nation's largest and most influential physician organization, in June 2008. Following a yearlong term as president-elect, Dr. Rohack will assume the AMA presidency this June.

For more information about commencement, please visit http://medicine.tamhsc.edu/graduation/.

Shao and Miao Receive Employee of the Quarter Award for First Quarter

Yuanlong Shao and Yiwei Miao, both Senior Research Associates in the Wehner-Welch Research Laboratory, were named the Employee of the Quarter for the first quarter of 2009.

Congratulations, Yuanlong and Yiwei!

Long Elected to Leadership Position in Deans’ Assistant Group

Judy Smith and Marie Parmer recently attended the recent Deans' Assistants Group (DAG) meeting in Ponce, Puerto Rico, April 24-29, 2009. This meeting focused on creating a healthy environment in the workplace was sponsored by the Ponce School of Medicine and the Municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico.

At the meeting, Brenda K. Long, community relations coordinator for the college, was elected newsletter editor and webmaster for the coming year.

Faculty

Lifetime Achievement Award Presented to Dr. Bob L. Shull

Dr. Bob L. Shull, professor and interim chair for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Scott & White Hospital and the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, was presented with the Biden-Gibbs lifetime achievement award on April 4 at the 80th Annual Joint Meeting of the Texas Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists/ACOT District XI in Austin.

The Baden-Gibbs Award is presented annually to a member of the organization who has exhibited a lifelong commitment to foster and stimulate improvements in women's health care and within the specialty of obstetrics and gynecology, and who has exhibited outstanding leadership in medicine in the state of Texas.

For the full story, visit: http://medicine.tamhsc.edu/institutional-advancement/communications/news/08april2009.html.

Colenda Appointed HSC Vice President for Clinical Affairs

Christopher C. Colenda, M.D., M.P.H. has been appointed the new Vice President for Clinical Affairs for the Texas A&M Health Science Center. As vice president for clinical affairs, Dr. Colenda will be responsible for the operations, planning and integration for all clinical activities under the umbrella the HSC. This includes practice plan issues and graduate medical education sponsored by the HSC. He will play a significant role in managing the clinical program of the university's practice platform for defining areas of involvement, coordinating collaborations, and enhancing market adoption of the A&M Physician brand. He will also be responsible for creating and enhancing collaborative relationships with communities in which the HSC employs physicians to model productive, professional relationships across the practice spectrum.

For the full story, visit: http://medicine.tamhsc.edu/institutional-advancement/communications/news/01april2009.html.

Junior Faculty to Meet on Professional Advancement Opportunities

The new/junior faculty group will meet on May 13th from noon to one to informally discuss professional opportunities for advancement.

The meeting will take place at the following locations:

• College Station - Reynolds Medical Building room 163
• Temple - Medical Education Center room 407C
• Temple - West Campus room C-115
• Houston - Institute of Biosciences and Technology room 1105

 

Please contact Ian Murray, Ph.D. at ivmurray@medicine.tamhsc.edu to RSVP or for additional information.

Students

Hardegee wins award at the American College of Physicians National Meeting

Evan Hardegree, an M3 student, recently won recognition for his poster presentation "Cryptococcal eningoencephalitis Masquerading As A Brainstem Stroke" at the American College of Physicians national meeting in Philadelphia, PA. Evan was awarded as one of the top five presentations in the national Medical Student Clinical Vignette Abstract and Poster Competition. Congratulations!

Students honored at the 14th annual Graduate Student Symposium

The 14th Annual Graduate Student Organization (GSO) Symposium was held Thursday, April 16 at the Reynolds Building. This year the GSO focused on the contributions of both basic science research and clinical translational medicine under the theme of "Bridging the Gap Between Basic and Clinical Sciences."

Student winners of the oral and poster presentation competitions are listed below:

Oral Presentation

• 1st: Diana Bonilla
• 2nd: Megan Reynolds
• 3rd: Jue Zhang

Senior Poster

• 1st: Rui Xie
• 2nd: Chen Chen
• 3rd: Chaofeng Yang

Junior Poster

• 1st: Honey Golden
• 2nd: Heather Francis
• 3rd: Melissa Martin

Administration

No administration updates this month.

Basic Science

MICROBIAL & MOLECULAR PATHOGENESIS

Grants Received

Dr. Jeff Cirillo had a grant funded for 2009 China-U.S. Relations Conference Roundtable entitled “Tuberculosis epidemiology and emerging drug resistance”. The conference will meet in Beijing, China in October, 2009. Total costs: $10,000.

Scientific Presentations

Dr. Jeff Cirillo provided a seminar for the Sigma Xi Awards dinner “Emerging technologies to combat respiratory diseases”, April, 2009.

Dr. Jeff Cirillo presented a seminar and visited the Texas A&M University Department of Biomedical Engineering “Emerging strategies for imaging bacterial infections”, April, 2009.

Dr. Jeff Cirillo presented a seminar at the University of Texas Medical Branch for the Infectious Diseases and Immunity Colloquium “Strategies for imaging bacterial infections in live animals”, April, 2009.

Dr. Jon Skare presented an invited seminar at Albany Medical College. Kim W, Fan Y, Spmith R, Patil B, Jayaprakasha GK, McMurray DN, and Chapkin RS presented “Dietary curcumin and limonin suppress murine CD4+T-cell activation” at the Experimental Biology 2009 meeting in New Orleans, LA., April 2009.

Yog R, Barhoumi R, McMurray DN, and Chapkin RS presented “N-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids suppress T-cell mitochondrial translocation to the immuno-logical synapse” at the Experimental Biology 2009 meeting in New Orleans, LA., April 2009.

Recent Publications

S.L.G. Cirillo, S. Subbian, B. Chen, T.R. Weisbrod, W.R. Jacobs, Jr., J.D. Cirillo (2009). "Protection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from reactive oxygen species conferred by the mel2 locus impacts persistence and dissemination." Infect. Immun. Apr 6. [Epub ahead of print].

Kim W, Fan Y-Y, Smith R, Patil B, Jayaprakasha G, McMurray DN, Chapkin RS. Dietary curcumin and limonin suppress CD4+ T-cell proliferation and interleukin-2 production in mice. J Nutr 139: 1042- 1048 (2009).

MOLECULAR & CELLULAR MEDICINE

Scientific Presentations

Dr. Kayla Bayless chaired a minisymposium on ECM/Proteases at the 2009 Experimental Biology Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana held April 18-22.

Hojin Kang, a graduate student in the Bayless Laboratory, presented "Calpain 2 is activated downstream of wall shear stress and sphingosine-1-phosphate to induce endothelial cell sprout formation in three dimensional collagen matrices" at the Mechanosensing/Signal Transduction minisymposium. Coauthors on the study include Hyeongil Kwak, Roland Kaunas and Kayla Bayless.

Dr. Geoffrey Kapler gave an invited seminar entitled "Mechanisms for DNA recognition by the Tetrahymena Origin Recognition Complex" at the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, UMDNJ New Jersey Medical School on April 7.

Dr. Hyeongil Kwak, a post-doctoral researcher in the Bayless laboratory, presented “Calpain 2 functions upstream of MT1-MMP activation to regulate endothelial cell invasion in 3D collagen matrices."

Dr. Siegfried Musser gave an invited seminar entitled "Single Molecule Fluorescence Studies of Nucleocytoplasmic Transport" at the Center for the Physics of Living Cells, Department of Physics, University of Illinois (Urbana, IL) on April 24.

Dr. J. Martin Scholtz presented "Electrostatic Effects in Proteins: Charges and Consequences" at the 14th Annual Sealy Center for Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics Symposium in Galveston, Texas, on March 27.

Recent Publications

Greer, A.M., Huang, Z., Oriakhi, A., Yang, L., Lou, J., Matthews, K.S., Bondos, S.E. "The Drosophila transcription factor Ultrabithroax self-assembles into protein-based biomaterials with multiple morphologies." Biomacromolecules, 10: 829-837.

Saksena, S., Wahlman, J., Teis, D., Johnson, A. E.,* and Emr, S. D.* (2009) "Functional Reconstitution of ESCRT-III Assembly and Disassembly." Cell, 136: 97-109. (* co-corresponding authors)

Awards

Emily S. Weiss, a researcher in the Gregg Wells’ laboratory and member of the Texas A&M University Undergraduate Research Scholars Program, was awarded first place in both the session and taxonomy competitions in the Medicine/Human Nutrition/Biomedical Engineering section of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the Twelfth Annual Student Research Week at Texas A&M University on March 23-27, 2009. Emily presented her poster titled "Size, Solubility, and the Serotonin-Gated Ion Channel Receptor: In Search of an Improved Extracellular Domain Model" during this event.

NEUROSCIENCE & EXPERIMENTAL THERAPEUTICS

Faculty

Dr. Murray and Dr. Gumienny organized a Junior/New Faculty Group lunch seminar on April 8, 2009.

Dr. Murray and Dr. Frye hosted a special two-day visit and lecture by Dr. Dekosky on April 23, 2009.

Dr. Murray interviewed with a reporter for HealthDay concerning recent finding on brown adipose tissue and obesity featured in the New England Journal of Medicine on April 8, 2009.

Dr. Reddy served as a charter member of the NIH study section ANIE (Acute Neuronal Injury and Epilepsy) and participated in the NIH-provided training session on “Enhanced Peer Review.”

Dr. Reddy served as the executive editor of the Journal of Pharma Sciences and Nanotechnology Volume II, Issue 1 in mid-April 2009.

Dr. Sohrabji served on the external advisory committee site visit of Reynolds Oklahoma Center on Aging from April 6 to April 7, 2009.

Dr. Sohrabji co-chaired the American Heart Association South Central and Western Affiliate Brain and Renal Review Committee in Houston, Texas from April 8 to April 9, 2009.

Dr. Sohrabji was the keynote speaker for the college’s Magnolia Tea on April 29, 2009.

Grants Received

Dr. George, C.Y. Chiou received approval by the board of directors of MacuClear for the proposal “Research and Development of anti-AMD drugs.” The total award for this renewal, which runs through 2011, is $516,600.

Scientific Presentations

Dr. Murray presented at the Texas Brain and Spine Institute quarterly meeting on April 7, 2009.

Recent Publications

Briyal S and Reddy DS. "Antiepileptogenic and antiepileptic activity of progesterone in the rapid kindling model in PRKO mice." FASEB J 2009, 23:947.7 [Abstract]

Jong-Hyun Son, Ursula H. Winzer-Serhan. "Signal intensities of radiolabeled cRNA probes used alone or in combination with non-isotopic in situ hybridization histochemistry." Journal of Neuroscience Methods 179(2); 159-165

Reddy DS and Rogawski MA. "Neurosteroid replacement therapy for catamenial epilepsy."Neurotherapeutics 2009, 6:392-401.

Reddy DS and Rogawski M. "Protective efficacy and potency of neuroactive steroids and benzodiazepines in the amygdala kindling model of epilepsy." FASEB J 2009, 23:947.6 [Abstract]

Reddy DS. "Antiseizure activity of ganaxolone in kindling model of epilepsy." J Am Pharma Assn 2009,49(2):260 (Abstr#81). [Abstract]

SYSTEMS BIOLOGY & TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE

Faculty

Dr. Zawieja participated in the Microcirculatory Society Council Meeting and Microcirculation Editorial Board meeting at Experimental Biology 2009, New Orleans, La., April 2009.

Scientific Presentations

Sanjukta Chakraborty, Wei Wang, David C. Zawieja, and Mariappan Muthuchamy presented the poster “Molecular Mechanisms of Substance P Mediated Signaling in Lymphatic Muscle” at Experimental Biology 2009, New Orleans, LA., April 2009.

Hailin Chen presented StarNet 2.0: Visual data mining for gene regulatory network discovery at the 14th Annual HSC-College of Medicine Student Research Symposium, April 2009.

Anatoliy A. Gashev, Patrick Dougherty, Olga Y. Gasheva, Zhanna V. Nepiyushchikh, Wei Wang, Katherine Kelly, S Cai, M Periasamy, GJ Babu, Cynthia J. Meininger, Michael J. Davis, Mariappan Muthuchamy, and David C. Zawieja presented the poster “Culture of lymphatic vessels and development of transfection techniques to target genes involved in regulation of lymphatic contractility” at Experimental Biology 2009 New Orleans, LA., April 2009.

Olga Gasheva, Anatoliy Gashev, and David Zawieja presented the poster “cGMP/PKG-mediated regulation of lymphatic contractility” at Experimental Biology 2009, New Orleans, LA., April 2009.

Wei Wang, Mariappan Muthuchamy, and David C. Zawieja presented the poster “Low density lipoprotein modulates rat mesenteric lymphatic pumping” at Experimental Biology 2009, New Orleans, LA., April 2009.

David C. Zawieja presented “Contractile physiology of lymphatics” at the American Venous Forum, 21st Annual Meeting in Phoenix, AZ., February 2009.

David C. Zawieja presented “Lymphatic endothelial and smooth muscle cell contribution to lymphatic vasoreactivity and fluid clearance” at the 2nd International Conference on Neonatal and Childhood Pulmonary Vascular Disease in San Francisco, CA., March 2009.

David C. Zawieja presented “Lymphatic transport function” to the Lymphatic Dysfunction Task Force at M.D. Andersen Cancer Center, Houston, TX., April 2009.

Clinical Science

INTERNAL MEDICINE

Faculty

Dr. DeMorrow attended the NIDDK New Investigator workshop in at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland from April 20 - 21, 2009.

Dr. Dostal served as a peer reviewer for American Heart Association Region III Review Consortium, Houston, April 7-8, 2009.

Dr. Dostal served as a reviewer and chair for the National Institutes of Health/NHLBI Special Emphasis Panel ZRG1 CVS-C 02M, February 25-26, 2009.

Dr. Lal received third prize in basic sciences for his poster presentation in the Internal Medicine Research Day competition, Scott & White, Temple, April 23, 2009

The Division of Molecular Cardiology has completed four interviews for an open assistant/associate faculty position. Three candidates have been invited for second interviews. Two additional interviews will be completed in May.

Grants Received

Dr. Baker and Dr. Kumar received a $221,058 grant for their proposal “Intracellular RAS in Development of Diabetic Cardiomyopathy”, from Novartis Pharmaceuticals.

Scientific Presentations

R Mancinelli, J Venter, E Gaudio, P Onori, A Franchitto, S Kopriva, S DeMorrow, G Alpini, and H Francis presented “Variations in the local concentration of histamine modulate cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) tumor growth by recruitment of angiogenic factors” at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting in Denver, CO., April 2009.

Timothy Miller, Candace Wise, David E. Dostal, and Shannon S. Glaser presented the poster “Simvastatin stimulates apoptosis of cholangiocarcinoma cells through disruption of lipid rafts: potential involvement of the small GTPase RhoA,” at the AACR annual meeting in Denver, CO., April 2009.

Timothy Miller, Candace Wise, David E. Dostal, and Shannon S. Glaser presented “Simvastatin stimulates apoptosis of cholangiocarcinoma cells through disruption of lipid rafts: potential involvement of the small GTPase RhoA” at the Internal Medicine Research Day on April 24, 2009. Timothy Miller won the Best Oral Presentation at the Research Day.

Recent Publications

Lam IP, Lee LT, Choi HS, Alpini G, Chow BK. "Bile Acids Inhibit Duodenal Secretin Expression via Orphan Nuclear Receptor Small Heterodimer Partner (SHP)." Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2009 Apr 16. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 19372104 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Mancinelli R, Onori P, Gaudio E, Demorrow S, Franchitto A, Francis H, Glaser SS, Carpino G, Venter J, Alvaro D, Kopriva S, White M, Kossie A, Savage J, Alpini G. "Follicle Stimulating Hormone Increases Cholangiocyte Proliferation by an Autocrine Mechanism via cAMP-dependent Phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and Elk-1." Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2009 Apr 23. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 19389804 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Onori P, Demorrow S, Gaudio E, Franchitto A, Mancinelli R, Venter J, Kopriva S, Ueno Y, Alvaro D, Savage J, Alpini G, Francis H. "Caffeic acid phenethyl ester decreases cholangiocarcinoma growth by inhibition of NF-kappaB and induction of apoptosis." Int J Cancer. 2009 Jan 21. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 19358267 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Glaser SS, Gaudio E, Miller T, Alvaro D, Alpini G. "Cholangiocyte proliferation and liver fibrosis." Expert Rev Mol Med. 2009 Feb 25;11:e7. Review. PMID: 19239726

Glaser SS, Gaudio E, Rao A, Pierce LM, Onori P, Franchitto A, Francis HL, Dostal DE, Venter JK, DeMorrow S, Mancinelli R, Carpino G, Alvaro D, Kopriva SE, Savage JM, Alpini GD. "Morphological and functional heterogeneity of the mouse intrahepatic biliary epithelium." Lab Invest. 2009 Apr;89(4):456-69. Epub 2009 Feb 9. PMID: 19204666

Kumar R, Singh VP, Baker KM. "The Intracellular Renin-Angiotensin System in the Heart. In: Hypertension: Kidney, Sodium, and Renin-Angiotensin System section of Current Hypertension Reports", 11: 104-110, 2009.[Book Chapter]

SURGERY

Faculty

Dr. Friedman was appointed ex-officio to the board of directors of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons for a two-year term.

Recent Publications

Friedman JA, Kumar R. "Intraoperative angiography should be standard in cerebral aneurysm surgery." BMC Surgery 2009, 9:7. Text available online at http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2482/9/7.

Academic Medicine

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