From the Dean

Colleagues, Faculty, Staff and Students,

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Ed Sherwood as the College of Medicine’s Interim Dean. Dr. Sherwood has served as the Associate Dean for Veterans Affairs of the College of Medicine since 2006 and has just retired from the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System in Temple as chief medical officer. Dr. Sherwood has already begun to travel to College Station, and the transition in roles is moving along smoothly.

In less than two weeks, Dr. Sherwood will take charge of his new role. In less than two months you will open the doors to the new and permanent home of the Round Rock campus. And in less than six months new doors will open on the Bryan campus. Amidst all this you will continue to move forward and advance the landscape of this college both physically and academically, and I am confident in your desire for excellence at every level.

There is still more to come. You must continue to set the pace of exceptional medical education, research and clinical care. You must continue to expand the influence of the college on local, regional and national stages. You must maintain your centers of excellence and elevate the spirit on inquiry. Last, let your values guide you on your personal journey through life. Discover grace!

This has been and will continue to be a time of great decision, and I look forward with optimism that as a College of Medicine you will maximize the opportunities that lie ahead. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors. With lasting gratitude, thank you for allowing me to be a part of your lives.

Warmest regards,

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

Dates to Remember

• October 13: Farewell Reception for Dean Colenda, Temple, Hilton Garden Inn, 5 p.m.
• October 15: Farewell Reception for Dean Colenda, College Station, RMB Lobby, 3:30-5 p.m.
• November 5: Executive Committee Meeting, various locations, 3 p.m.

College News

Round Rock Ribbon-Cutting and Open House Announced

The College of Medicine family is proud to announce the opening of our Round Rock campus on Thursday, December 10, 2009 from 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. For more information about the event, please contact the HSC Office of Institutional Advancement at 979-458-7201. Campus construction photos are available online and in myHSC.

5th International Conference on Mesenchymal and Non-Hematopoietic Stem Cells

The 5th International Conference on Mesenchymal and Non-Hematopoietic Stem Cells (MSCs) will be held from Thursday, November 12, 2009 through Saturday, November 14, 2009 in Austin, Texas at the Omni Hotel. The conference is jointly organized by the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, the Scott & White Healthcare System, and the International Society for Cell Therapy (ISCT).

The program addresses the latest developments in research on the adult stem/progenitor cells referred to as mesenchymal stem cells or multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). Each session will begin with presentations by leaders in the field that including A. Uccelli, Y. Shi, J. Galipeau, F. Dazzi, P. Anversa, RH. Lee, P. Bianco, E. Mezey, I. Sekiya, M. Yoder and C. Westenfelder. Each session will also include presentations from selected abstracts. The program allows for both poster presentations and adequate discussions of successes and frustrations investigators have encountered. Registration which includes most meals is $450 for faculty or corporate attendees or $300 for students and postdoctoral researchers.

For more information, visit the conference website.

In Print and On Air: Prockop in New York Times

Director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Dr. Darwin Prockop, was recently quoted in the New York Times article “First Stem Cell Drug Fails 2 Late-Stage Clinical Trials” by Andrew Pollack in the September 9, 2009 edition.

The full text of the article is available online.

Last Screening of HBO’s The Alzheimer’s Project

The College of Medicine’s last screening of the HBO documentary, The Alzheimer’s Project will be on Monday, October 12, 2009, in Lecture Hall 1 of the Reynolds Medical Building at 6:00 p.m.

The last segment, Caregivers, highlights the sacrifices and successes of people who experience their loved one’s descent into dementia.

 

For questions, contact Brenda Long at 979-845-8526.

Employee of the Quarter

The Employee of the Quarter award winner for the second quarter of 2009 is Loria Lynce of Business Affairs. Below are the nominations that have been submitted for her.

Loria is a very hard worker, extremely pleasant and does an excellent job. She is very conscientious. She goes out of her way to assist others whether or not it is in her job description. The COM was extremely fortunate in recruiting Loria. Loria is very knowledgeable about the rules and regulations and strictly adheres to them and sees that others, whom she has to work with, follow the rules and regulations also.

Loria has been assisting the IRM with all of our budgets, personnel issues such as hiring and restructuring of duties, training me as the new HR/Payroll representative, and meeting almost daily with Dr. Prockop on administrative issues. She is doing this all as well as all of her own duties in the Business Affairs office at the Medical Education Center. She is the epitome of professionalism and is a delight to all she comes into contact with. She is gracious, humble, and bends over backward to serve everyone she meets above and beyond what is asked of her. The quality of her work is impeccable. She loves her job, no matter how hectic it gets, and inspires the same commitment to the College of Medicine in those around her. There is no doubt in my mind that Loria Lynce is the most joyful, hardworking professional in the College of Medicine and she truly deserves this recognition.

Loria is very friendly and a hard worker. If she does not know the answer to something she will research it on her own before making a call to someone else. She is a big help to the Business Office in College Station and makes my job as a Business Coordinator so much easier. Any task that is sent from my desk to hers is a task that will be handled quickly and professionally. She has a cheery disposition and I can tell she is smiling on the phone when we talk even though our topic of conversation is sometimes boring and routine. I'm thankful for her and so happy she is a part of our team!

Faculty

Amrein Hired as Professor

The Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine is pleased to announce that Hubert Amrein, Ph.D. has accepted a position as a Professor. Dr. Amrein recently joined the department in September 2009.

Dr. Amrein received his B.S. in Genetics and Molecular Biology in 1983 and his Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics in 1989, both from the University of Zürich under the guidance of Dr. Rolf Nöthiger. Following postdoctoral research at Harvard University in Dr. Tom Maniatis’s lab and at Columbia University in Dr. Richard Axel’s lab, he became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Genetics at Duke University in 1998. There he received tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2005.

Dr. Amrein studies the sensory perception of the external chemical world, focusing on how animals detect and discriminate among the thousands of different chemical signals that “flood” the olfactory and taste organs. Drosophila is used as a model to investigate the molecular and neural basis of olfaction and taste because their chemosensory systems are structurally and functionally very similar to those of mammals, yet smaller and less complex. Dr. Amrein’s work has been published in prestigious journals including Neuron, EMBO, Nature Neuroscience and Current Biology. He has been invited to speak at numerous academic institutions, as well as national and international scientific meetings. He has also written several review articles by invitation in journals such as Cell and Current Biology.

Dr. Amrein is currently funded by two RO1 awards from the NIH. His long-term goals are to 1) determine the molecular and neural basis of sugar and amino acid perception; 2) identify and determine the role of pheromone receptors in social behaviors including, courtship, mating, egg-laying, and aggression; and 3) identify receptors and signaling molecules involved in auditory perception. Acoustic signals, along with pheromone cues, provide the major sensory input in the social interaction of Drosophila, as well as many other animals.

Sitcheran Joins the Faculty

The Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine is pleased to announce that Raquel Sitcheran, Ph.D. has accepted a position as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Sitcheran joined the department in September 2009.

Dr. Sitcheran received her B.A. in Biology from Columbia University in 1992 and her Ph.D. in Physiology and Genetics from the University of California, San Francisco in 2000, working with Dr. Keith Yamamoto. Her postdoctoral work was with Dr. Albert Baldwin at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She was a Research Associate at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at UNC Chapel Hill from 2006-2009 before joining the faculty at Texas A&M Health Science Center.

Dr. Sitcheran has been working to understand the molecular mechanisms that control NF-κB regulatory networks in the central nervous system (CNS). She is taking a multidisciplinary approach to investigate how different signals regulate NF-κB and how de-regulation of the NF-κB pathway impacts cancer cell growth, self-renewal and survival. Dr. Sitcheran’s research employs 1) biochemical, cellular and molecular strategies to compare how different signals regulate NF-κB activity, 2) bioinformatics analysis of NF-κB-dependent genes involved in glioblastoma survival and pathogenesis, and 3) mouse models to investigate NF-κB signaling in glioblastoma and normal neural cells in vivo. Her work has been published in a number of journals including Genes & Development, EMBO and Molecular Cellular Biology.

While at UNC Chapel Hill, Dr. Sitcheran was funded by a Cancer Research Institute postdoctoral fellowship and an NIH KO1 Career Development Award. Her long term goals are to identify components of the NF-κB regulatory network that can be targeted for cancer therapy.

Students

L. T. Jordan Institute International Service Program Reaching out to COM

To all M1 students! Save the date October 29 from 12:00-1:00 p.m. for an informational meeting about the International Service Program, administered through the MSC L. T. Jordan Institute for International Awareness. This past summer, five College of Medicine students participated in the program with a few weeks stay in The Dominican Republic and Honduras. Some of those students, now M2s, will present some of their experiences. More information will be available from the Department of Humanities in Medicine.

M4 Kumar Receives $10,000 TMLT Scholarship

Out of 112 applications from students at eight Texas medical schools, fourth-year student Ravi Kumar received one of four $10,000 Texas Medical Liability Trust (TMLT) 2009 TMLT Memorial Scholarships in August. Kumar was the only student from the College of Medicine to receive the scholarship. Other recipients included one student from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston and two from the Baylor College of Medicine.

Launched in 2005, the TMLT Memorial Scholarships award $40,000 annually to Texas medical students who are interested in finding creative and effective ways to enhance patient safety. Recipients are chosen based on each student's financial need and a written essay analyzing the risk management considerations for a closed claim study provided by TMLT.

M2 to Present at AMA Symposium in Houston

M2 Rebekah Condit will present her poster from the College of Medicine’s Summer Research Program at the American Medical Association’s 7th Annual Poster Symposium in Houston on November 6. The poster is entitled “Ovarian Aging and Hypoxia: Effects of Astrocytes on Neural Progenitor Cells.” Condit’s research was done in Dr. Sohrabji's lab under the guidance of Dr. Danielle Lewis.

 

Three Students to Present at CNS Meeting in New Orleans

Congratulations to COM students Ravi Kumar, Daniel D. Binz and Sohum Desai who will present the following posters at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 24–29, 2009.

Kumar R, Friedman JA. Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage - The First 24 Hours: Evolving Management Paradigms and Literature Review

Binz DD, Toussaint LG, Friedman JA. Hemorrhagic Complications of Ventriculostomy: A Meta-Analysis

Desai S, Friedman JA, Hlavin JC, Briner RP, Toussaint LG, Van Amerogen A. Disseminated enterogenous cells at the cervicomedullary junction causing communicating hydrocephalus

Desai S, Friedman JA. Analysis of the Effect of Statewide Medical Liability Reform in Texas on Neurosurgeon Migration

Administration

Legislative Aides Land in Temple for Operation S&W-TAMHSC-COM

Taking a cue from Texas Speaker of the House Joe Straus who visited COM facilities on September 2, nearly 30 legislative aides and members of the Governor’s office traveled to Temple to tour Scott & White and College of Medicine facilities including the Institute for Regenerative Medicine on Wednesday, September 30, 2009. The visit, organized by HSC Governmental Affairs, was part of Operation Scott & White-TAMHSC-COM, an annual event to educate legislators on clinical and educational partnerships now in its fifth year.

HSC and COM leaders including, Dr. Nancy Dickey and Dr. Donald Wesson accompanied the aides and governor’s delegates throughout the afternoon.

At the IRM, guests were greeted by director Dr. Darwin Prockop and Dr. Joe Jilka, Assistant Director of Innovation Development, with a presentation of the IRM’s work. Afterward, the visitors toured the four core labs with the IRM’s own researchers. The event received such a positive response, that for the first time ever, a second Operation Scott & White-TAMHSC-COM was scheduled for Thursday, October 8.

 

Prockop speaks to group of legislative aides

OFFICE OF FACULTY DEVELOPMENT

College of Medicine Education Grand Rounds Presents

“Strategies and Technologies for Teaching Across Campuses” will be presented by Litao Wang, M.Ed., Instructional Designer and Bradley Perrin, Administrative Coordinator, from the Learning Resources Center on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 from noon-1:00 p.m. in the Reynolds Medical Building, room 162.

The presentation will be simulcast to:

• Mayborn Auditorium in the Medical Education Center at Scott & White Temple
• Old Town Square, Ste. 400 in Round Rock
• Cardiovascular Research Institute, room 1R21 in Temple
• St. Joseph’s COM Classroom in Bryan
• Alkek Tower, room 202A & Smith Tower, room 1115 in Houston

OFFICE OF RESEARCH & GRADUATE STUDIES

Cardiovascular Research Institute Teams Present at American Heart Association Conference

The following teams presented posters at the American Heart Association’s Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Annual Conference 2009: Molecular Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Disease in Lake Las Vegas, Nevada in July 2009. Their abstracts were published in Circulation Research in September.

Suresh Verma, Hind Lal, Honey Golden, Donald Foster and David Dostal, presented a poster titled Rho GTPases Regulate Stretch-Induced FAK and Akt Activation in Rat Cardiac Fibroblasts. Poster presentation by Suresh Verma.

Honey Golden, Linley Watson, Hind Lal, Suresh Verma, Donald Foster and David Dostal presented Anthrax Lethal Toxin Induces Diastolic Dysfunction Associated with Diminished JNK Activity. Poster presentation by Honey Golden.

Hind Lal, Suresh Verma, Honey Golden, Donald Foster and David Dostal presented β1 Integrin and MAP Kinases Regulate Cardiac Myocyte Angiotensinogen Gene Expression Through Caveolae. Poster presentation by Hind Lal.

Basic Science

HUMANITIES IN MEDICINE

2009 McGovern Award Lectureship in the Art and Science of Medicine

The 2009 McGovern Award Lectureship in the Art and Science of Medicine will be on October 13, 2009 in Lecture Hall I at 1:00 p.m., and the Department of Humanities in Medicine is pleased to welcome, as our guest speaker, Janet Rose Osuch, M.D., M.S., F.A.C.A., Professor of Surgery and Epidemiology at the College of Human Medicine (CHM) at Michigan State University. The presentation title will be “To Be a Physician, To Be a Patient.” At 2:00 p.m. in the Reynolds Medical Building lobby, there will be an open reception to give students, faculty, staff and guests, an opportunity to visit with Dr. Osuch. Please join us for the day.

After completing a surgical residency and fellowship in surgical oncology at Northwestern University, Dr. Osuch devoted her clinical practice to breast surgery for 12 years prior to a medical illness in 1998 which ended her surgical career. Subsequently, she pursued a degree in Epidemiology. She currently serves as the assistant Dean of Preclinical Curriculum at CHM, author of several journal articles and book chapters on breast cancer, as well as on medical education and the patient-physician relationship.

Continuing McGovern Humanities Seminar Series

The next featured speaker in the new John P. McGovern Humanities Seminar Series will be Michael Escamilla, M.D., Professor/Mary Avis Chair in Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Escamilla will speak on “Clinical Genetics: Identifying Genes for Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder” in the Phase I Basic Science and Humanities Lectureship, on October 20, 2009, at 10:30 a.m. Later that day at 1:00 p.m. he will speak to the Phase I Humanities students concerning “Ethics in Genetics Research: Ethical Challenges in Psychiatric Genetic Research.

Dr. Escamilla is a psychiatrist and scientist with more than 20 years of experience in genetic research and research training. He has been the principal investigator of several studies focusing on the genetics of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and has led multi-site collaborations of researchers from the United States, Mexico, Central and South America. He is especially committed to improving our understanding of the biological and environmental causes of severely disabling illnesses, and to encouraging and developing the potential of persons interested in becoming researchers in the area of mental health.

Medicine and Humanities Consultation Series

The Medicine and Humanities Consultations are faculty development conferences sponsored by the Department of Humanities in Medicine and the Scott & White Hospital Ethics Committee.

Consultations engage clinicians of medicine, nurses, social workers, clergy, and academic humanists in in-depth exposure to ethical issues. Four hours of Physician Continuing Medical Education Credit, Continuing Nurses Education Credit and Social Worker Continuing Education Credit will be offered for the Consultation.

These informal discussions are led by an invited guest facilitator and are held in the Longhorn Room, Stagecoach Inn, Salado, Texas, from 1:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m. with the next on October 26, 2009. The topic will be “Bad Blood: the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment”, facilitated by James H. Jones, M.D., Dr. Jones is a noted author, historian, and bioethicist from Washington D.C.

Earlier in the day, at 12:00 Noon, he will lecture in the Sid Richardson Auditorium, Scott and White, Temple. If you are interested in more information about either one of these events or would like to be placed on the announcement list, please send e-mail to Tina Price at price@medicine.tamhsc.edu.

L. T. Jordan Institute, International Service Program

To all M1 students, please hold the date of October 29, 12:00-1:00 p.m. for an informational meeting about the International Service Program, administered through the MSC L. T. Jordan Institute for International Awareness. This past summer, five College of Medicine students participated in the program with a few weeks stay in The Dominican Republic and Honduras. Some of those students, now M2’s, will present some of their experiences. More information will be available from the Department of Humanities in Medicine.

Presentations

Barbara Gastel, M.D. and Professor in the Department of Humanities in Medicine, gave a scientific-communication workshop September 10–12 to the Faculty of Biological Sciences at Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León in Monterrey, Mexico. The workshop, primarily for graduate students and early-career faculty, focused mainly on writing and publishing scientific papers.

MICROBIAL & MOLECULAR PATHOGENESIS

Presentations

Dr. Vernon Tesh presented a seminar entitled “Shiga toxins: life and death decisions in the ER” to the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts on September 18, 2009.

Dr. Jon Skare presented an invited talk at the NIH/NIAID sponsored meeting entitled “Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases in Central and Eastern Europe” held in Sofia, Bulgaria from September 20-24, 2009.

Service

Dr. Vernon Tesh was invited to serve a three year term on the Editorial Board of the journal Toxins.

Dr. David McMurray was invited to serve another three year term (2009-2012) on the Editorial Board of Infection and Immunity. He has been a member of the Board since 1994.

Publications

Chapkin RS, Kim W, Lupton JR, McMurray DN. (2009) Dietary docosahexaenoic and eicosapentaenoic acid: Emerging mediators of inflammation. Prost Leuk Essent Fatty Acids.

Grants

Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis received a notice of award on an NIH R56 grant entitled “Identification of Salmonella Genes Involved in Persistence in the Murine Intestine.”

Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis received a notice of award on an NIH R01 grant entitled “Identification of Salmonella Genes Important for Systemic Colonization.”

MOLECULAR & CELLULAR MEDICINE

Faculty

Dr. Geoffrey Kapler attended the Cold Spring Harbor Meeting entitled "Eukaryotic DNA Replication and Genome Maintenance" in Cold Spring Harbor, NY from Sept. 1-5, 2009. He presented a talk entitled “Differential targeting of ORC ribonucleoprotein complexes to Tetrahymena ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and non-rDNA origins.” It was co-authored by T.R. Donti, S. Datta, and P.Y. Sandoval.

Dr. Gregory Bix attended International Signalling at the Blood-Brain and Blood-Retina Barrier Meeting, in London from September 9-11, 2009. He presented an oral presentation on September 10, 2009 entitled “Matrix Revolutions: Perlecan Domain V as a Novel Stroke Therapy.”

Dr. Gregory Bix gave an invited seminar entitled “Matrix Revolutions: Perlecan Domain V in Angiogenesis, Cancer and Stroke” at the Cancer Research Center in Aviano, Italy on September 15, 2009.

Grants

Dr. Kayla Bayless recently received a Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service Award from the United States Department of Agriculture for $283,500 for three years for a project entitled “Sphingosine-1-phosphate Mediates Uterine Angiogenesis.” The Co-Project Director is Greg Johnson of the Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences at the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine.

Dr. Gregory Bix has received an Innovation Research Award from Elan Pharmaceuticals. The award provides research $90,000 to investigate novel pathological mechanisms of Alzheimer's Disease from September 2009 through September 2010.

Dr. Raquel Sitcheran has received Award Notice from NIH National Cancer Institute, Diversity Training Branch for $154,783 a year for a grant entitled “Investigating the role of NF-κB and N-myc in Oncogenic Pathways of the CNS” from August 2009 through July 2011.

Dr. Raquel Sitcheran recently received an Award Notice of a Grant-Recovery Act Administrative Supplement from the NIH National Cancer Institute, Diversity Training Branch for $99,664 a year for a grant entitled “Investigating the role of NF-κB and N-myc in ncogenic Pathways of the CNS” from 2009-2011.

Recent Publications

Fu, H., Grimsley, G.R., Razvi, A., Scholtz, J.M., and Pace, .CN. (2009) Increasing protein stability by improving beta-turns. Proteins.

NEUROSCIENCE & EXPERIMENTAL THERAPEUTICS

Service

D. Samba Reddy, Ph.D. RPh is serving as a Chartered Member for the NIH Study section, ANIE (acute neuronal injury and epilepsy) and is presently reviewing several grants for October 1-2, 2009 meeting.

Reddy is also serving as a review editor for the neuroscience journal Frontiers in Aging; a member of the Scientific Review Committee for the 61st Indian Pharmaceutical Congress meeting 2009; and an editorial advisory member for the Indian Journal of Pharmacology.

Farida Sohrabji, Ph.D. organized the Women’s Health in Neuroscience presentation “Stroke Performance Indicators and Patient Care Perspective.”

Sohrabji reviewed eight grants and attended a September meeting in Bethesda, Maryland for the Neuroimmunology, Neuroendocrinology and Behavior Study section. She is also serving on the research committee of the Texas Alzheimer’s Disease State Plan. This committee is charged with developing the research goals of the first coordinated Texas state plan on AD.

Presentations

William H. Griffith, Ph.D. presented the 10th Annual Lecture for the George C.Y. Chiou Lectureship in Pharmacology on September 17, 2009 entitled “Pharmacology of rain Aging.”

Publications

Farnell, Y.Z., Allen, G.C., Nahm, S.-S., Neuendorff, N., West, J.R., Chen, W.-J. and Earnest, D.J. (2009) Effects of neonatal alcohol exposure on vasoactive intestinal polypeptide neurons in the rat suprachiasmatic nucleus. Alcohol

Womac, A.D., Burkeen, J.F., Neuendorff, N., Earnest, D.J. and Zoran, M.J. (2009) Circadian Rhythms in Extracellular ATP Accumulation in SCN Cells and Cultured Astrocytes. European Journal of Neuroscience

Mendell Rimer, Ph.D. presented the abstract “Testing the role of CUGBP1 in skeletal muscle wasting in DM1” at the 7th International Myotonic Dystrophy Consortium Meeting from September 9-12 in Würzburg, Germany.

SYSTEMS BIOLOGY & TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE

Awards and Appointments

Dr. Anatoliy Gashev was appointed Associate Professor of Systems Biology and Translational Medicine in February 2009. Dr. Gashev earned the M.D. degree in 1986 and a Ph.D. in physiology in 1989 from the State Medical Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia. He then earned the Doctor of Medical Sciences degree in 2000 from the State Medical Academy, the Pavlov Institute of Physiology and the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Physiology, College of Medicine, Texas A&M University from 1998 to 1999. His scientific training at the State Medical Academy focused on the physiology of lymphatic function.

Dr. Gashev’s research program is funded through his own NIH R01, as well as significant Co-Investigator roles on three other NIH R01 grants. His research program focuses on the investigation of the regulation of lymphatic transport and its inhibition by aging in both lab animal and human models. Visit Dr. Gashev’s website for more information about his research.

Eric Bridenbaugh, Ph.D. recently received an award from the Microcirculatory Society to attend and present his work entitled "Natriuretic Peptides Elicit an Increase in Phasic Contractile Frequency and Diastolic Tone in Rat Mesenteric Collecting Lymphatics" at their Fall 2009 meeting, Frontiers in Microcirculation: Control Processes and Clinical Applications. Dr. Bridenbaugh's work was selected from many applications for the award and was one of four chosen to be presented orally at the symposium. As an award winner, Dr. Bridenbaugh will receive a travel stipend to attend the meeting and be presented with his award at the Society banquet.

Warren E. Zimmer was selected to chair the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine Publications Committee.

Grants

James E. Moore, Jr., David C. Zawieja and Anatoliy A. Gashev received a $1,192,240 National Institutes of Health grant entitled “Lymphatic fluid flow modeling with active network components” for July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2013.

David C. Zawieja and Mariappan Muthuchamy received a $2,106,398 National Institutes of Health grant entitled “Ionic mechanisms of stretch-activation in muscular lymphatics” for July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2014.

Presentations

Andreea Trache presented “Light meets force: Integrated imaging techniques applied to live cell mechanics” at the Center for Biophotonics, Science and Technology at the University of California-Davis in August 2009.

David C. Zawieja presented “Lymphedema: The Other Vascular Disease. Pathophysiology of Lymphatic Transport” at the Texas A&M MD/PhD Summer Lecture Series in July 2009.

David C. Zawieja, Patrick J. Dougherty, Wei Wang and Mariappan Muthuchamy presented “Protein kinase C - dependent Ca2+ sensitization of permeabilized rat lymphatic muscle” at the FASEB 2009 Summer Research Conference on Smooth Muscle in Lucca, Tuscany, Italy in August 2009.

Publications

Sun Q, Taurin S, Sethakorn N, Long X, Imamura M, Wang D-Z, Zimmer WE, Dulin NO, Miano JM. Myocardin-dependent activation of the carg box-rich smooth muscle gamma actin gene: Preferential utilization of a single CArG element through functional association with the NKX3.1 homeodomain protein J Biol Chem; First Published on September 21, 2009.

Professional Service

David C. Zawieja served on the NIH NIDDK Lymphatics and Digestive System Workshop Planning Committee from June-August 2009.

Clinical Science

INTERNAL MEDICINE

Publications

Heather Francis published H3 Histamine Receptor–Mediated Activation of Protein Kinase C-alpha Inhibits the Growth of Cholangiocarcinoma In vitro and In vivo in Molecular Cancer Research with the team of Paolo Onori, Eugenio Gaudio, Antonio Franchitto, Sharon DeMorrow, Julie Venter, Shelley Kopriva, Guido Carpino, Romina Mancinelli, Mellanie White, Fanyin Meng, Antonella Vetuschi, Roberta Sferra and Gianfranco Alpini.