From the Interim Dean

Dear faculty, staff and students,

We have accomplished much in the past month, and there is still much to be done as we prepare for the end of the semester. For the first time, the college’s Match Day ceremonies were held in both Temple and Bryan-College Station, signifying the growth of our classes and exceptional commitment of our faculty.

On March 23, Dr. Darwin J. Prockop, Director of the college’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine, traveled to College Station to receive a grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. He and Dr. Robert Chapkin of Texas A&M University netted more than $1 million for the Texas A&M System. Congratulations to Dr. Prockop and his team in Temple for continuing to pioneer the field of regenerative medicine.

The Inaugural Scholarly Day in Round Rock on March 24 was a great success. Nine of our students volunteered to present their scholarly work, while Dr. Nancy Dickey and Dr. James Rohack spoke on the importance of scientific inquiry in medical education. Again, thanks to Drs. Ogden, Shabahang, Zimmer, the Year III Committee and Bobbie Ann White for organizing what will surely be an annual event.

In the spirit of giving befitting of charter faculty member, Dr. Samuel Harold Black, the Sam H. Black Legacy Society was launched after the annual Black-Zandveld Lecture on April 8, and the donor recognition wall was summarily unveiled in the Reynolds Lobby at a ceremony with Dr. Black’s daughter. My thanks to Brenda Long and the Office of Institutional Advancement for organizing such a thoughtfully planned outreach event.

For more information on these events and all the latest College of Medicine news, visit the Latest News page and the college’s facebook page. I encourage you to keep up the great work that you are doing for your departments and for the college.

Sincerely,

Edward J. Sherwood, M.D.
Interim Dean
Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine

Dates to Remember

• 4/16 - March of Dimes Hamburger Lunch: 11:00-12:30 p.m., RMB Lobby
• 4/20 - Dean’s Bi-Weekly Staff Meeting: 9-10:30 a.m., all locations
• 4/22 - BSDC Bi-Monthly Meeting, 147E RMB and 410 MEC
• 4/27 - General Faculty Meeting: 5:30 p.m., all locations
• 5/6 - Executive Committee Meeting: 3-4 p.m., all locations
• 5/21 - Commencement Rehearsal: 2:00 p.m., Rudder Auditorium
• 5/22 - Commencement: 2:00 p.m., Rudder Auditorium

College News

Texas A&M System receives more than $1.1 million from CPRIT for cancer research

On March 23, The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) presented a check totaling more than $1.1 million to The Texas A&M University System to provide support for cancer-related research by Dr. Darwin J. Prockop of the College of Medicine and Dr. Robert Chapkin of the Texas A&M University College of Agriculture.

See the full article online.

Dr. David S. Carlson, HSC Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies, Dr. Prockop and Dr. Dickey

Medical students participate in annual Match Day, a first in B-CS

Medical students in the Class of 2010 at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine learned where they will spend their residency training after graduation as part of the nationwide “Match Day” on Thursday, March 18. For the first time, two Match Day ceremonies were held, one in Temple at the Cultural Activities Center and one in Bryan at the Brazos Center.

Read the full article online.

COM Students Present Research at Inaugural Scholarly Day

For the first time, nine Texas A&M Health Science Center (HSC) College of Medicine students presented their scholarly research on Wednesday, March 24 as part of the Inaugural Scholarly Day at the HSC’s new Round Rock campus. By providing students an opportunity to showcase scholarly research across multiple disciplines, Scholarly Day emphasizes a well-rounded approach to the science behind medicine. The event was teleconferenced to the HSC-College of Medicine campuses in College Station, Houston and Temple.

Read the full article online.

Office of Admissions Thanks Current Students for Successful Interview Season

On February 1, 2010, we completed another successful admissions cycle for the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. Much of this success is attributed to our dedicated faculty and staff.

Additionally, our College of Medicine students are a huge help in making each interview day successful. They volunteer their time in between classes or clinic to talk to the applicants, answer their questions, and represent the COM with honor and pride. We would like to take the time to wholeheartedly thank our students for their continued enthusiasm and willingness to volunteer their time to help make our interview days a success!

A complete list of volunteers is available for download.

 

Lux Receives First Humanitarian Award

Louis Lux, M.D., a Clinical Assistant Professor in Internal Medicine, received “The First Humanitarian Award” at Round Rock Medical Center on Wednesday, March 10, 2010. He works with College of Medicine third-year Internal and Family Medicine students, as well as fourth-year medical students doing inpatient and palliative care electives.

This award is given in recognition of the humanitarian efforts and achievements of the late Dr. Thomas F. Frist, Sr., founder of the Hospital Corporation of America. A nominee is someone who demonstrates remarkable concern for the welfare and happiness of patients and has performed extraordinary acts of kindness; who demonstrates a level of commitment to community service beyond the daily operation of the facility that parallels their involvement to quality patient care; whose contributions may be overshadowed due to personal modesty and genuine humility.

 

Faculty

2009 Excellence in Research Award Winner Kapler Presents Work

As the College of Medicine’s 2009 Excellence in Research award winner, Geoffrey Kapler, Ph.D., Professor and Interim Chair of Molecular and Cellular Medicine, gave a presentation on his work entitled “New Paradigms in Eukaryotic DNA Replication” on Tuesday, March 2, 2010. His presentation in College Station was also teleconferenced to the MEC in Temple.

 

Students

M1 Savjani Accepted for M-STREAM Program

M1 Ricky Savjani was accepted into the M-STREAM program organized by the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine in March.

Designed for medical students interested in researching geriatric neuropsychiatry, UCSD has created the Medial Students’ Sustained Training and Research Experience in Aging and Mental health (M-STREAM) program. This NIMH-funded program is unique in offering financial support to qualified medical students for research training in geriatric mental health/neuroscience during any and all of the four years of their medical school training.

First-year medical students will receive an intense, mentored summer research training experience in geriatric neuropsychiatry. The students will be paired with mentors (MDs and/or PhDs) either at their own institution or at another appropriate one. Each trainee will conduct a research project for approximately 10 weeks of summer between the first and second years of medical school. The trainees will then attend a three-day workshop at UCSD, where they will present their summer research projects. They will also prepare manuscripts with the help of their mentors.

Second-year medical students will participate in an NIMH Day where they will meet with NIMH leaders and program officers, and have an opportunity to present their research. Third-year students will present their work at a relevant professional conference such as the AAP, AAGP or Society for Neuroscience, etc. Fourth-year students will work on a research project in geriatric neuropsychiatry during their elective rotation.

Financial support will be provided to the trainees for all these activities. More information on M-STREAM is available on the program website.

Cadaver Ball 2010 Recap

M1 and M2 students had a chance to relax and fellowship on Friday, March 26 at Cadaver Ball, the annual spring formal, at the College Station Hilton. Faculty awards included:

• Dr. Sanders was selected as “Most Memorable.”
• Dr. Brandt was selected as “Class Friend.”
• Dr. Wells was noted as “Most Likely to Write a Thesis in Response to a Student’s Question.”
• Dr. McMurray was noted as “Most Likely to Cure Global TB While Wearing a Funny T-shirt.”
• Dr. Lindner was noted as having the “Best Sigh.”
• Dr. Sicilio was noted for having the “Most Aggie Pride.”

See the 2010 Cadaver Ball photo album on the College of Medicine facebook page.

 

Administration

Harper Joins VA as Chief of Staff

It gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of Dr. William Harper as Chief of Staff at the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System (CTVHCS). In his new role, he will also serve as the Associate Dean for Veterans Affairs.

Dr. Harper previously served as Associate Chief of Staff for Medicine at CTVHCS. In that capacity, he strengthened partnerships with our College of Medicine and with the Scott & White Health Care System. He also provided leadership to system redesign within CTVHCS resulting in substantial improvements in patient care quality and access.

We are especially grateful for his strong commitment to medical education. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Harper in his new role at the CTVHCS and the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine.

Sincerely,
Edward J. Sherwood, M.D., F.A.C.P.

Latest News from the Center for Excellence

Grants and Awards

Sandra Morissette, PhD (PI), Department of Veterans Affairs/Research Rehabilitation and Development Merit Review Award, “Functional Outcomes in OEF/OIF Veterans with PTSD and Alcohol Misuse” Funding Period: 2010-2013. Total Direct Costs: $821,397

Nathan Kimbrel, PhD, Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Integrated Service Network 17 New Investigator Award, “Gene x Environment Effects on PTSD, Depression, and Alcohol Misuse” Funding Period: 2010-2012. Total Direct Costs: $90,000

Lectures and Presentations

Suzy B. Gulliver, PhD, Director for the Center of Excellence, has served on the National Institutes of Health as an Invited Reviewer for the NIH BBBP-T (10) SBIR/STTR Review Panel from March 8-Septmber, 2010. She was also an invited Panelist for the VACO Homeless Research meeting from January 31-February 1 and was the Panel Chair for the CDMRP PH-TBI Concepts 3 in January.

Conferences

Suzy B. Gulliver, PhD was a guest speaker at the Family Life Chaplain Sustainment Training Conference at the Department of Defense, Chaplains Training in Orlando Florida.

Evidenced-based Programs and Practices

Dena Davidson, PhD and Suzy B. Gulliver, PhD’s Broad Spectrum Treatment (BST) and Naltrexone study was peer-reviewed and accepted to the SAMHSA’s National Registry of Evidenced-based Programs and Practices. The BST and NTX treatment is a 3- to 6-month program that uses manual-guided cognitive behavioral therapy in combination with naltrexone pharmacotherapy (50 mg daily) to treat adults with alcohol dependence. BST therapists deliver 8-14 individual sessions incorporating components of motivational enhancement therapy (MET), community reinforcement, and 12-step approaches. Descriptive information, Ratings, Study Populations, Studies and Materials Reviewed as well as contact information can be viewed at: http://www.nrepp.samhsa.gov/programfulldetails.asp?PROGRAM_ID=293

Basic Science

HUMANITIES IN MEDICINE

Thank you to all the special guests, faculty, staff and students who participated in the April 8 Sam H. Black Legacy Society unveiling. Look for photos and more about the Sam H. Black Legacy Society unveiling and other Department of Humanities activities in next month’s newsletter. Thank you!

MICROBIAL & MOLECULAR PATHOGENESIS

Workshops and Presentations

Dr. Margie Martinez-Moczygemba attended a workshop entitled “Collaborative Research Alliances for the Cure of Lung Diseases” on March 26 in Houston, TX, sponsored by the Gulf Coast Consortia Collaborative Activity Award Program. She presented a talk entitled “Cytokine receptor signaling in lung inflammation.”

Dr. Jon Skare received a non-competitive renewal for an R01 application (AI042345) entitled “Genetic Mechanisms in Borrelia burgdorferi Pathogenesis” for April 1, 2010 – March 31, 2011.

Dr. David McMurray traveled to Rockville, Maryland, from March 1-2 for a quarterly meeting of the Board of Directors of the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation.

Dr. James Samuel traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah, to present an invited seminar at Idaho Technology on March 31.

Dr. James Samuel participated in a NIH Study Section in Alexandria, Virginia, from March 7-9.

Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis participated in a NIH Study Section in Washington, DC, from March 16-19.

Dr. Jeffrey Cirillo and several members of his laboratory group attended the 2010 Molecular Basis of Infectious Diseases Retreat held at the UTHSC at Houston on March 26. The following posters were presented:

Mi Hee Chang, Suat L. G. Cirillo, Kevin P. Francis and Jeffrey D. Cirillo. MMP, TAMHSC.
Real-time imaging of mycobacterial infections in living animals using luciferase.

Yanlin Shi, Suat L. G. Cirillo, Ying Kong, Me Hee Chang, Kevin P. Francis, and Jeffrey D. Cirillo. Microbial & Molecular Pathogenesis, TAMHSC.

Detection of Mycobacterium with beta-galactosidase in vitro and in vivo.

MOLECULAR & CELLULAR MEDICINE

Faculty

Dr. Siegfried Musser attended the "Protein Transport across Cell Membranes" Gordon Conference in Galveston, Texas from March 7-12, 2010. He presented a talk titled "Single Molecule Measurements of Transport Complex Assembly and Disassembly during Nucleocytoplasmic Transport". Dr. Changxia Sun was a co-author on the paper.

Dr. Wallace McKeehan was invited by the Gordon Conference on "Fibroblast Growth Factors in Development and Disease" to present a lecture entitled "Beta-Klotho Directs FGFR4 and FGFR1 Signaling to Metabolism and Tumor Suppression" in Ventura, California, March 14-19, 2010.

Dr. Fen Wang was invited by the Gordon Conference on "Fibroblast Growth Factors in Development and Disease" to present a lecture entitled "The FGF Signaling Axis in Prostate Development and Tumorigenesis" in Ventura, California, March 14-19, 2010.

Dr. Gregory Bix attended the 2010 Spring Brain Conference in Tucson, Arizona from March 17-20. Dr. Bix chaired the session entitled "Matrix and Neurovascular Biology of the Stressed Brain" on Thursday, March 18th. He also gave an oral presentation entitled "Perlecan Domain V Generation and Therapeutic Potential in Focal Cerebral Ischemia" as part of this session. Dr. Bix was also nominated and elected to the Spring Brain Council which is responsible for planning and organizing the yearly international meeting.

Dr. Gregory Bix gave an invited seminar hosted by the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Rice University in Houston, Texas entitled "Matrix Revolutions Perlecan Domain V as a Novel Stroke Therapy" on Monday, March 22, 2010.

Poster Presentations

Julia YF Chang of Dr. Fen Wang’s lab presented a poster entitled "Development of an Odontogenic Epithelial Stem Cell Culture System" at the annual American Association for Dental Research meeting in Washington, DC, March 3-6, 2010.

Fu-Cheng Liang in the Musser lab presented a posted entitled "Bacterial Sec Protein Transport is Rate-limited by Precursor Length: A Single Turnover Study" at the "Protein Transport across Cell Membranes" Gordon Conference in Galveston, Texas from March 7-12, 2010. It was co-authored by Umesh Bageshwar and Siegfried Musser.

Dr. Umesh Bageshwar in the Musser lab presented a posted entitled "Interconvertibility of Lipid- and Translocon-bound Forms of the Bacterial Tat Precursor pre-SufI" at the "Protein Transport across Cell Membranes" Gordon Conference in Galveston, Texas from March 7-12, 2010. Neal Whitaker, Fu-Cheng Liang, and Siegfried Musser were co-authors.

Members from Dr. McKeehan’s group also presented posters entitled "FGFR1 Deficiency in Adipocytes Enhances Starvation-induced Fatty Live"r and "Betaklotho converts FGFR4 and FGFR1 into Proapoptotic Growth and Tumor Suppressors" at the Gordon Conference on "Fibroblast Growth Factors in Development and Disease" in Ventura, California, March 14-19, 2010.

Dr. Sheila Dobin presented a poster entitled "Use of Tumor Registry to Obtain Family History Information" at the HMO Research Network 2010 Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas on March 22, 2010. It was co-authored by Pandora Ashley.

A poster entitled "Genetic Characterization and Counseling for a Child with Molecularly Confirmed Marfan Syndrome and Retinoblastoma" was presented at the American College of Medical Genetics in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The poster was co-authored by Maria Blazo, Laura Amendola, LaDonna Immken, Tomas Tredici, Sheila Dobin, John Pliska, Guy Grayson, and Arlynn F. Mulne on March 25-29, 2010.

Recent Publications

Krause, U., Harris, S., Green, A., Ylostalo, J., Zeitouni, S., Lee, N., and Gregory, C.A. (2010) Pharmaceutical Modulation of Canonical Wnt Signaling in Multipotent Stromal Cells for Improved Osteoinductive Therapy. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 107(9):4147-4152. Epub 2010 Feb 11.

Farrand, A.J., Lachapelle, S., Hotze, E.M., Johnson, A.E., Tweten, R.K. (2010) Only Two Amino Acids are Essential for Cytolytic Toxin Recognition of Cholesterol at the Membrane surface. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 107(9):4341-4346. Epub 2010 Feb 9.

Pang, X., Yi, Z.F., Zhang, J., Lu, B., Sung, B., Qu, W., Aggarwal, B.B., and Liu, M. (2010) Celastrol Suppresses Angiogenesis-Mediated Tumor Growth through Inhibition of AKT/Mammalian Target of Rapamycin Pathway. Cancer Res. 70(5):1951-1959. Epub 2010 Feb 16.

Humtsoe, J.O., Liu, M., Malik, A.B., and Wary. K. K. (2010) Lipid Phosphate Phosphatase-3 (LPP3) Stabilization of {beta}-catenin Induces Endothelial Cell Migration and Formation of Branching Point Structures. Mol. Cell Biol. 30(7):1593-1606. Epub 2010 Feb 1.

Grants

Gregory Bix, M.D., Ph.D. received a notice of award from the NIH for funding of his grant # R01NS065842-01A01 entitled "Perlecan Domain V is a Novel Promoter of Brain Repair after Stroke". The grant received a 3.0 percentile score and 11 impact/priority score from the NINDS. The award provides a total of $317,217/annually ($218,750 direct costs and $98,467 indirect costs) from 4/01/2010 to 3/31/2015.

Dr. Mingyao Liu was awarded a four year NIH R01 grant entitled "Targeting the Prostate-Specific G-Protein Coupled Receptors in Prostate Tumor".

NEUROSCIENCE & EXPERIMENTAL THERAPEUTICS

Presentations

Dr. Agunanne was invited to present his abstract entitled “Resibufogenin Prevents Angiogenic Imbalance in a Rat Model of Preeclampsia,” Enoch Agunanne, Mohammad Nasir Uddin, Darijana Horvat, and Jules Puschett, at the 5th Annual Young Investigator National Forum, 2010 National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings to be held April 13-17 in Orlando, Florida.

Farida Sohrabji, Ph.D., gave a presentation entitled, “Sex, Sex Steroids and Stroke” at the Spring Brain Conference in Tucson, Arizona on March 19, 2010.

Book Chapters, Manuscripts and Abstracts

Hundahl, C.A., Allen, G.C., Hannibal, J., Kjaer, K., Rehfeld, J.F., Dewilde, S., Nyengaard, J.R., Kelsen, J., Hay-Schmidt, A. (2010) Anatomical characterization of Cytoglobin and Neuroglobin mRNA and protein expression in the mouse brain. Brain Research (in press).

Qu, X., Metz, R.P., Porter, W.W., Neuendorff, N., Earnest, B.J., and Earnest, D.J. The Clock Genes Period 1 and Period 2 Mediate Diurnal rhythms in Dioxin-Induced CYP1A1 Expression, In: The Mouse Mammary Gland And Liver. Tox. Letters, accepted.

Shende, V., Goldrick, M., Ramani, S., and Earnest, D. Functional implications for microRNAs in the intracellular and extracellular regulation of the mammalian circadian clockworks. Soc. for Res. Biol. Rhythms Abstr. 12, 2010.

Reddy DS and Rogawski MA. Ganaxolone suppression of behavioral and electrographic seizures in the mouse amygdala kindling model. Epilepsy Res 2010 Feb 19. [Epub ahead of print]

Reddy DS. Clinical pharmacokinetic interactions between antiepileptic drugs and hormonal contraceptives. Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol 2010, 3(2):183-192.

Reddy DS and Rogawski MA. Neurosteroid replacement therapy for catamenial epilepsy. Book chapter In: Epilepsy: Mechanisms, Models, and Translational Perspectives" (Eds: Rho JM, Sankar R, and Stafstrom CE), CRC Press, 2009 (in press).

Workshops and Meetings

Diane E. Chico Ph.D., attended two MERC workshops: Data management and preparing for statistical consultation and Formulating research questions and designing studies at the University of Connecticut Health Science Center on March 11-12, 2010.

William H. Griffith, Ph.D., attended the annual meeting of the Association of Medical School Neuroscience Department Chairs in Key West, Florida on March 3-7, 2010.

Gary C. McCord, M.D., attended the Texas Radiological Society Annual Meeting in The Woodlands on March 26-28, 2010.

Rajesh C. Miranda, Ph.D., gave invited presentations at the following:

• Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Winter Symposium, Chapel Hill, NC, talk titled, “Circulating microRNA biomarkers of Fetal Alcohol Exposure” on January 6 2010.
• Institute for Biosciences & Technology, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Houston, TX, talk titled, “Epigenetic control of microRNA function in fetal neural stem cells: Uncovering novel mechanisms of ethanol teratology” on February 4, 2010.
• Department of Neuroscience, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT. Seminar titled, “Epigenetic control of microRNA function in fetal neural stem cells: Uncovering novel mechanisms of ethanol teratology” on February 16, 2010.
• Texas Research Society on Alcoholism 20th annual meeting, invited talk titled, “MicroRNAs as epigenetic mediators of ethanol teratology” on February 26, 2010.

Farida Sohrabji, Ph.D., attended a workshop on “Public policy implications of the new NIH women’s health research agenda,” at Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC on March 22, 2010.

Farida Sohrabji, Ph.D. served on the Advisory Committee on Research on Women’s Health, NIH Campus in Bethesda, Maryland on March 23, 2010.

Service

Diane E. Chico Ph.D. was accepted into the Leadership in Education and Development (LEAD) Program of the AAMC-SGEA on March 13, 2010.

George C.Y. Chiou, Ph.D. is currently serving as Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Ophthalmology.

Rajesh C. Miranda, Ph.D.:

• Science Café, Bryan TX. Public seminar titled, “Finding gems among junk in our genomes”. This was a talk targeted towards a lay audience on our emerging understanding of the importance of “Junk DNA” to human disease and therapeutics on Jan 19, 2010.
• Served on a NIH Special Emphasis grant review panel “Epigenetic Processes in Development,” in Bethesda, Maryland on February 25, 2010.
• Served as a chartered member, AA-4 NIH Grant Review Panel on March 2-3, 2010.

Farida Sohrabji, Ph.D., served on the Neuroendocrinology, Neuroimmunology and Behavior (NNB) Study Section in Bethesda, Maryland on Feb 2-3 and reviewed six grants.

Farida Sohrabji, Ph.D., reviewed the Texas State Plan on Alzheimer's Disease as a Member of the Science Goal Group.

SYSTEMS BIOLOGY & TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE

Publications

Flister MF, Wilber AC, Hall KL, Iwata C, Miyazono C, Nisato RE, Pepper MS, Zawieja DC, Ran S. Inflammation induces lymphangiogenesis through upregulation of VEGFR-3 by NF-κB and Prox1. Blood 2010 115(2), pp. 418-429.

Gashev AA, Zawieja DC. Hydrodynamic regulation of lymphatic transport and the impact of aging. Pathophysiology 2010 Mar 10 [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 20226639

Gashev A, Zawieja DC. Pressure & flow dependent modulation of lymphatic function and its age-related impairment. Pathophysiology, September 2009.

Trache Andreea, Trzeciakowski JP, Meininger GA. Mg(2+) modulates integrin-extracellular matrix interaction in vascular smooth muscle cells studied by atomic force microscopy. J Mol Recognit 2010 23(3), E-Pub ahead of print. PMID: 20049771

Presentations

Dr. David Zawieja presented a talk entitled “Tools, models and imaging” at the NIH NIDDK Workshop, Lymphatics in the Digestive System; Physiology, Health and Disease in Bethesda, Maryland, November 2009. He also presented a talk entitled “The role of NO/eNOS in lymphatic form and function” at the University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, in November 2009.

Dr. Wei Wang, Dr. Mariappan Muthuchamy and Dr. David Zawieja presented an abstract entitled “Low density lipoprotein modulates rat mesenteric lymphatic pumping” at the Microcirculatory Society meeting, Fall 2009.

Dr. Olga Gasheva, Dr. Anatoliy Gashev, and Dr. David Zawieja presented an abstract entitled “cGMP/PKG-mediated regulation of lymphatic contractility” at the Microcirculatory Society meeting, Fall 2009.

Dr. T. Akl, Ellie Rahbar, Dr. David Zawieja, Dr. Anatoliy Gashev, Dr. James E. Moore Jr., and Dr. Gerard Coté presented an abstract entitled “Fast imaging system and algorithm for monitoring microlymphatics” at the Photonics West Conference, 2010.

Professional Service

Dr. Lih Kuo participated in grant reviews for the Cardiovascular Disease Study Section, Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, California in San Francisco, California, March 2010.

Dr. David Zawieja served as Co-Organizer/Chair for the NIH NIDDK Workshop “Lymphatics in the Digestive System: Physiology, Health and Disease” in Bethesda, Maryland, November 2009.

Clinical Science

Internal Medicine

A monthly report for Internal Medicine's Activities is available for download.

Internal Medicine Reseaerch

Manuscripts

Gabriel Frampton, Monique Coufal, Huang Li, Jonathan Ramirez, Sharon DeMorrow. Opposing actions of endocannabinoids on cholangiocarcinoma growth is via the differential activation of Notch signaling.
Experimental Cell Research, In press

Gabriel A Frampton, Huang Li, Jonathan Ramirez, Akimuddin Mohamad, Sharon DeMorrow. The biogenic amines serotonin and dopamine regulate cholangiocyte hyperplastic and neoplastic growth
World Journal of Gastrointestinal physiology, in press

Grants

American Cancer Society Research Scholar award to Dr. DeMorrow for “Biogenic Amines Regulate Cholangiocarcinoma Cell Growth” awarded from 07/01/10-06/30/13.

Shannon Glaser PhD./Gianfranco Alpini PhD. Taurocholic acid prevents biliary damage induced by hepatic artery ligation in cholestatic rats. Glaser S, Onori P, Gaudio E, Ueno Y, Pannarale L, Franchitto A, Francis H, Mancinelli R, Carpino G, Venter J, White M, Kopriva S, Vetuschi A, Sferra R, Alpini G. Dig Liver Dis. 2010 Mar 18. [Epub ahead of print]

Gianfranco Alpini PhD. After Damage of Large Bile Ducts by Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid, Small Ducts Replenish the Biliary Tree by Amplification of Calcium-Dependent Signaling and de Novo Acquisition of Large Cholangiocyte Phenotypes. Mancinelli R, Franchitto A, Gaudio E, Onori P, Glaser S, Francis H, Venter J, Demorrow S, Carpino G, Kopriva S, White M, Fava G, Alvaro D, Alpini G. Am J Pathol. 2010 Feb 25. [Epub ahead of print]PMID: 20185575 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Presentations

Gianfranco Alpini, Ph.D presented the following at Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) Limin, Guangzhou, China:

• Functional heterogeneity of the intrahepatic biliary tree.
• How to publish a manuscript in a leading journal: From the Editor’s point-of-view

Gianfranco Alpini PhD presented “How to publish a manuscript in a leading journal: From the Editor’s point-of-view” at the China Medical University in Shenyang, China.

SURGERY

Ronald B. Kuppersmith, MD, FACS, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Surgery, is currently serving as the President of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (2009-2010). He also has developed the largest experience with Robot-assisted Thyroid Surgery outside of South Korea.

He has been invited to share his experience recently as a speaker at the Combined Section Meeting of the Triological Society in Orlando, Florida in February; at the Pan American Robotic Oncology Symposium at MD Anderson in February; as an Instructor at the Advanced Robotic Thyroidectomy Training Course at the Methodist Hospital in Houston in February; as a Visiting Professor at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York in March; at the World Robotic Symposium in Orlando in April; as the visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in April; at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Robotic Head and Neck Surgery Course in June; and as the Distinguished Guest Faculty at the 8th Annual Porubsky Symposium at the Medical College of Georgia in June.

He has developed new instrumentation related to the procedure and has been involved in training surgeons from around the country on this new technique.

Division of Molecular Cardiology

Publications

“The pseudokinase site of ILK is essential for its binding to alpha-parvin and localization to focal adhesions”. Koichi Fukuda, Sudhiranjan Gupta, Ka Chen, Chuanyue Wu, Jun Qin (Molecular Cell, 36: 819-830, 2009. Selected for Faculty of 1000 Biology)

“Influence of p53 in the transition of myotrophin-induced cardiac hypertrophy to heart failure”. Biswajit Das, David Young, Amit Vasanji, Sudhiranjan Gupta, Sagartirtha Sarkar, Subha Sen (Cardiovascular Res, 2010, in press)

“Ultrastructural changes during progression of hypertrophy to heart failure in myotrophin overexpressed transgenic mice”. Anasuya Gupta, Sudhiranjan Gupta, Dave Young, James McMahon and Subha Sen (Lab Investigation, 2010, in press)

Grants/Awards

Dr. Sudhiranjan Gupta received award notice for a Scott & White Research Grant Proposal (RGP), entitled “Role of thymosin b4 in regulating ILK-PINCH complex in cardiac hypertrophy”

Dr. David Dostal received an Award Notice for a VA Merit Award entitled “Anthrax Lethal Toxin-Induced Heart Failure: Role of PP2A and MAP Kinases”. The award is from January 2010 to December, 2012, for total direct costs of $500,000.

Professional Service

Dr. Kenneth Baker chaired the Session on “Reflections and Predictions” at the 2010 Angiotensin Gordon Research Conference in Ventura, CA, February 21-26, 2010.

Abstracts/Posters

Rakeshwar S. Guleria

“Retinoic Acid Receptor-Mediated Signaling Protects Cardiomyocytes from Hyperglycemia Induced Apoptosis: Role of the Renin-Angiotensin System”. Abstract submitted to and Poster presented at the Angiotensin Gordon Research Conference in Ventura, CA, February 21-26, 2010.

Rajesh Kumar

“Enhanced Cardiac Expression of the Renin-Angiotensin System in Diabetes: Clinical Implications of the Local System” (Singh, Naik, Baker, Kumar). Abstract submitted to and Poster presented at the Angiotensin Gordon Research Conference in Ventura, CA, February 21-26, 2010.

“Molecular Mechanisms of Hyperglycemia-Induced Expression of Renin-Angiotensin System Genes in Cardiac Myocytes” (Singh, Colato, Baker, Kumar). Abstract submitted to and Poster presented at the Angiotensin Gordon Research Conference in Ventura, CA, February 21-26, 2010.