Congratulations to Megan Bischoff (in Dr. Czyzyk-Krzeska’s lab at UC College of Medicine, Department of Cancer Biology) who was recently named as a University of Cincinnati Albert J. Ryan Fellow for the Academic Year 2023-24. Megan received her Bachelor of Science in Biology in 2014 from Indiana University with Highest Distinction. After graduation she worked for several years as a research assistant before joining the Cancer and Cell Biology graduate program in 2019 in the lab of Dr. Maria Czyzyk-Krzeska studying the molecular mechanisms underlying clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), the major subtype of kidney cancer. Megan’s work in the lab has focused on two areas: 1) understanding the mechanisms regulating activity of the autophagy protein MAP1LC3C and clarifying the contribution of this program to tumor suppression in renal cancer and 2) elucidating metabolic reprogramming and vulnerabilities in ccRCC. This work has led to two co-first author publications as well as an additional co-author publication. Her work revealed non-canonical regulation of MAP1LC3C specific autophagy that is dependent on the C-terminal peptide and targets the post-mitotic midbody for lysosomal degradation. Additionally, a recently published study revealed that high lysosomal exocytosis induced by loss of LC3C leads to a decrease in intracellular zinc and transcriptomic reprogramming, contributing to aggressive ccRCC tumor formation in mice. Megan’s current focus is on metabolic rewiring in ccRCC associated with the accumulation of copper as well as identifying therapeutic vulnerabilities that this metabolic adaptation confers. She recently presented this work as a poster at the 2023 CSHL Mechanisms of Metabolic Signaling Meeting. Megan was awarded the 2022 Cardell Fellowship for Excellence in Graduate Research and is supported by the Pathways to Cancer Therapeutics T32 Training Fellowship directed by Drs. Susan Waltz and Vinita Takiar. 

“The Albert J. Ryan Fellowship was established in 1967 by Alice M. Ryan of Cincinnati in memory of her father. Miss Ryan wished to recognize and encourage the development of students at Dartmouth College, Harvard University and the University of Cincinnati who show promise of becoming research scholars and who show the capacity to contribute to the advancement of medical science.” –Ryan Foundation.   

 

Mary Bedard, a M.D./Ph.D. candidate at the University of Cincinnati, is one of 110 doctoral students in the U.S. and Canada selected to receive a $20,000 Scholar Award from the P.E.O. Sisterhood.  She was sponsored by Chapter DP of Cincinnati, OH.

Mary is the daughter of Edward and Diane Bedard and eldest to her six brothers. She is a 2013 graduate in Biochemistry and Spanish from Elon University, where she was an Honors Fellow and Lumen Prize Scholar. Following graduation, she worked at GlaxoSmithKline as a Senior Scientist and received numerous recognition awards, including the prestigious GSK Exceptional Science Award. As a student in the Medical Scientist Training Program at UC, she completed her Ph.D. research in Cancer & Cell Biology working with Dr. Susanne Wells and achieved independent funding through CancerFreeKids and a NIH Fellowship (F30) grant. After medical school, Mary plans to pursue a residency in Head & Neck Surgery and, ultimately, a career as a physician scientist.

The P.E.O. Scholar Awards were established in 1991 to provide substantial merit-based awards for women of the United States and Canada who are pursuing a doctoral-level degree at 

an accredited college or university.  Scholar Awards recipients are a select group of women chosen for their high level of academic achievement and their potential for having a positive impact on society.

Congratulations to Levi Fox, 2nd year CCB graduate student in Dr. Susan Waltz’s laboratory, for being selected for a 2023 University Research Council (URC) Graduate Student Stipend Award.  URC funding is the oldest and most prestigious internal funding mechanism at UC.   The URC program provides summer stipend support to outstanding graduate students working in collaboration with a UC faculty member.  The summer studies will focus on how breast cancer cells are able to evade cell death pathways to allow for breast cancer growth and progression. 

Congratulations Levi!

We are happy to share that Laurel Romano, Cancer & Cell Biology PhD Program Graduate Assistant in Dr. Theodosia Kalfa’s Lab, has been awarded an NIH Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (F31) award titled: “Effects of Erythropoietin on Bone Marrow Stroma,” with the goal to evaluate the BM stromal cells serving as niches for erythroid precursors and progenitors and their response to erythropoietin.  Understanding the identity and interactions of BM stromal cells supporting erythropoiesis will provide insights for the pathogenesis and offer potential treatment targets for hypoproliferative anemias. Congratulations Laurel!

Congratulations to Mary Bedard, MSTP/CCB PhD student (Dr. Susa Wells’s Lab) for receiving a F30 Award for the application "Single Cell RNAseq Guides Discovery of Viral and Cellular Drivers of RRP pathologies" from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Mary's focus is on pediatric recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP), a persistent HPV-driven disease that carries significant morbidity in the absence of FDA-approved treatment options. She will leverage single cell transcriptomics data from papillomatous  versus non-diseased laryngeal tissues from recruited patients to define and test predictive markers and key effectors of disease development. A diverse team of researchers, physicians and clinicians at CCHMC and UC supports this highly translational project.

Congratulations  to Zhiyun Yu, Cancer & Cell Biology PhD Program Graduate Assistant in Dr. Mingxia Gu’s Lab for her AHA Predoctoral Award for her project: “Elucidate the abnormal phenotypes of coronary arterial endothelial cells in Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome”

The Cancer and Cell Biology Graduate Program congratulates Stan DeVore (Khurana Hershey Lab) as the recipient of the 2021 Robert and Emma Lou Cardell Fellowship.

After successfully completing his first two years of medical school, Stan joined the Cancer and Cell Biology Graduate Program in 2019. Working in the Khurana Hershey Lab, Stan’s research project focuses on the genetic and environmental mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis (AD), a disease affecting15-30% of children globally. One hallmark of AD is a defective skin barrier and reduced levels of filaggrin (FLG), an essential skin barrier protein. To investigate the mechanisms underlying the atopic march, and to specifically identify putative FLG- regulating genetic loci, by using the first US-based early life AD cohort (MPAACH), Stan has identified rs11652075, a common variant in the Caspase Recruitment Domain Family Member 14 (CARD14) gene, being associated with epidermal FLG expression. These findings provide new understanding of the disease. To further elucidate the mechanisms connecting CARD14, rs11652075, and FLG, Stan proposed and has been testing a hypothesis that is CARD14 regulates FLG in a rs11652075-dependent manner, and that the variant induces a defective epidermal barrier that predisposes the development of AD. Over the past two years, he has already written a first-author manuscript that was recently accepted by the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI). In addition, he has published a co-first author review article in the Annals of Allergy and Asthma Immunology, and is drafting a second invited review for JACI. He has spearheaded his project using several new techniques of air-liquid interface and epidermal organoid models and successfully performing CRISPR genome editing. Stan has also presented his work in an oral abstract presentation at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting this year, and was selected for the Mechanisms of Asthma and Allergic Inflammation (MAAI) Interest Section Abstract Award-- a highly prestigious honor.  Taken all together, Stan has made extraordinary achievement in his graduate research so far. His scientific discoveries will provide important insight into the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis.

The Program sincerely thanks the late Dr. Robert Cardell, Jr. and Mrs. Cardell for their continued support of the CCB Graduate Program and for honoring excellence in cancer and cell biological research.  Dr. Cardell was the former Chair of Cell Biology and the founder of the departmental graduate program. During his tenure, he built the Department into a nationally recognized research unit and later served as Associate Dean for Graduate Education. Mrs. Emma Lou Cardell was an outstanding electron microscopist, histologist, and teacher. They established the Cardell Fellowship in 1999 through a gift to the UC Foundation that supports an annual award for the recipient. Stan will receive $2,000 to use for professional development, and will give a special departmental seminar in the Fall Semester 2021.

Many thanks also go out to the dedicated and thoughtful members of the Selection Committee: Dr. Chunying Du (Chair), Dr. Maria Czyzyk-Krzeska, Dr. Krushna Patra, Dr. Lisa Privette Vinnedge and James Bartram (student representative). In addition to reviewing the applications and selecting the recipients, the Committee has been instrumental in providing feedback on the content, form and process for the fellowship that have materially improved the Fellowship procedures.

Congratulations Stan on your hard work and impressive achievements!

The Cancer and Cell Biology Graduate Program congratulates James Bartram (Marie-Dominique Filippi’s Lab) and Brian Hunt (Susan Waltz’s Lab) as the joint-recipients of the 2020 Robert and Emma Lou Cardell Fellowship.

Brian’s thesis work aims to understand breast cancer prognosis and recurrence. While significant strides in the treatment of breast cancer have been made, a roadblock remains in that 8-20% of breast cancer patients show recurrence within 10 years of diagnosis. Brian’s published work has demonstrated that in breast cancer patients, RON is an independent prognostic biomarker for metastatic progression as RON protein expression is associated with poorer survival and is a predictor of early death and metastatic progression. His thesis work from this awarded project found that RON expression supports breast cancer recurrence through upregulation of glycolysis and cholesterol biosynthesis. Notably, he uses a RON-overexpressing murine model with in vivo imaging to monitor recurrence in real time. To investigate the mechanisms underlying breast cancer recurrence, he maps RON-dependent metabolically reprogrammed pathways using novel multiplexed stable isotope resolved metabolomics to identify metabolic predictors of breast cancer recurrence. In addition, he investigates the consequences of cholesterol biosynthesis and glycolysis inhibition in RON-overexpressing breast cancer on recurrence. Breast cancer recurrence contributes largely to the >40,000 expected deaths of breast cancer patients this year. Understanding the mechanism underlying RON mediated breast cancer recurrence will allow us to exploit novel targets for therapeutic intervention.

James’s thesis work is centered on determination the underlying mechanism which dictates the functional decline of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) during normal hematopoiesis. While the regenerative potential (ability to produce blood cells) of HSCs is high, it is not unlimited. After HSC have divided several times in vivo, at steady state or after bone marrow transplantation, HSC regenerative potential decreases. The clinical implications of HSC functional decline include increased risk of developing myeloid proliferative diseases, myelodysplastic syndromes, and hematopoietic neoplasms. James together with his colleagues have published an important discovery that HSCs fail to remove abnormal mitochondria after replicative injury, which causes HSC attrition. James current project is aimed to further understand the mechanistic link between mitochondrial metabolism, in vivo replication, and HSC functions. To achieve this goal, he uses conditional and inducible GFP label-Histone 2B (GFP-H2B) mouse model to track HSC division based on GFP-H2B dilution. He has discovered multiple distinct groups of cells that differ in mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and HSC division. He found that following replicative stress, HSCs are different in functions and in their metabolic status, indicating that HSC sustain metabolic injury during cell division that may contribute to their functional decline. These findings provide valuable insight into possible mechanisms for the decrease in functionality of the hematopoietic system during aging. It will provide important and novel information on the metabolism of HSC that is largely unknown, and help developing new methods to protect HSC from replicative stress.

The Program sincerely thanks the late Dr. Robert Cardell, Jr. and Mrs. Cardell for their continued support of the CCB Graduate Program and for honoring excellence in cancer and cell biological research. Dr. Cardell was the former Chair of Cell Biology and the founder of the departmental graduate program. During his tenure, he built the Department into a nationally recognized research unit and later served as Associate Dean for Graduate Education. Mrs. Emma Lou Cardell was an outstanding electron microscopist, histologist, and teacher. They established the Cardell Fellowship in 1999 through a gift to the UC Foundation that supports an annual award for the recipient. This year, each of the recipients will receive $1,500 to use for professional development, and will give a special departmental seminar during the Spring Semester 2021.

Many thanks also go out to the dedicated and thoughtful members of the Selection Committee: Dr. Chunying Du (Chair), Dr. Daniel Starczynowski, Dr. Krushna Patra and Vivienne Woo (student representative). In addition to reviewing the applications and selecting the recipients, the Committee has been instrumental in providing feedback on the content, form and process for the fellowship that have materially improved the Fellowship procedures.

Brian and James, congratulations on your hard work and impressive achievements!

8/14/20: Congratulations Cancer & Cell Biology PhD program graduates from Academic Year 2019-2020 and best wishes in your future careers!

Fall 2019:

Nicole Oatman
Defense of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation held: Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Title: “Mechanisms regulating cancer cell sensitivity and acquired resistance to inhibition of Stearoyl-CoA  Desaturase”

 

Marissa Leonard
Defense of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation held: Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Title: “Overcoming Breast Cancer Metastasis with Novel RNA Aptamers”

 

 

Sonya Ruiz-Torres
Defense of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation held: Tuesday, November 5, 2019 
Title: “Modeling Fanconi Anemia in Squamous Epithelium using Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Organoids”

 

Spring 2020:

Yanan Yu
Defense of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation held: Wednesday, November 20, 2019 
Title: “NF1 Patient Missense Variants Predict a Role for ATM in Modifying Neurofibroma Initiation”

 

Mark Jordan Althoff 
Defense of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation held: Tuesday, February 25th, 2020.
Title: “Cell polarity in hematopoietic stem cell quiescence, signaling and fate determination”

Summer 2020:

Chinmayee Goda
Defense of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation held: Monday, April 20, 2020 
Title: “Transcriptional regulation of lung diseases by Fox proteins”

 

 

Maddie Niederkorn
Defense of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation held: Wednesday, April 29th, 2020 
Title: "TIFAB Links Innate Immune Signaling to the Cellular Stress Response in Myeloid Malignancies"

 

Camille Sullivan
Defense of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation held: Thursday, June 4th, 2020
Title: “The RON receptor tyrosine kinase drives immunosuppression in prostate cancer"

Ritama Paul
Defense of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation held: Thursday, June 11th, 2020
Title: “Regulation of tumor growth and progression by Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) in a murine model of basal-like Breast Cancer”

5/15/2020: Congratulations to our incoming 2020 Cancer and Cell Biology Graduate Program students Angelle Jones and Timothy Nixon. Both students were selected from a highly competitive pool of nominees to join the Albert C. Yates Fellowship Program. The mission of the Yates Fellowship Program at the University of Cincinnati is to enrich the education and environment for all graduate students by supporting the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority groups with high potential for academic success in graduate programs at UC. The Yates Fellowship Program will provide Angelle and Timothy additional stipend funding disbursed over 5 years.

   

3/4/20: Both graduate students in the Cancer & Cell Biology Graduate Program, Ayusman and Laurel were awarded the Graduate Student Government Research Fellowship award, which provides a monetary prize towards their research expenses.

11/26/19. CCB Alumni, faculty, students, staff, friends and family gather to honor the memory of Dr. Robert Cardell on Thursday, November 21, 2019 at the Vontz Center for Molecular Studies.

Dr Cardell was a former Chair of the Department and a strong supporter of graduate education.  In addition, he was a mentor and friend of many.  Dr Cardell will be dearly miss by our faculty, staff and students although his legacy will live on.  We not only celebrate Dr Cardell and his scientific accomplishments, but the lasting impact that he has had in all of our lives.  The Cardell Fellowship presented today marks the 20th year of this award, with the first Cardell Fellowship recipient being named in 1999.  Dr Cardell established this fellowship to provide support for graduate students so they could advance their research careers.  In addition to providing funds to the student, Dr. and Mrs. Cardell would have lunch with the Fellowship recipient, their mentor, and the fellowship selection committee to celebrate.  While the lunches may not continue, the excellence of the Cardell Fellowship Program will.  Having met the Cardell’s as part of this Fellowship program and as the current Director of the Cancer and Cell Biology Graduate Program, I can attest to the large number of outstanding Cardell Fellows that have been supported though his generosity.  These fellows, along with those to come, will continue to serve as a small part of Dr Cardell’s legacy.

On a personal note, I had the pleasure of getting to know Bob well as a few of my graduate students received the Cardell Fellowship.  Through the years, he became a mentor and friend.  I will dearly miss our talks, lunches, and seeing him at our seminars and events.  I thank him for his support and for fueling my passion for graduate education.  He had an infectious love for science and education which will live on in the hearts and lives of the many people he has touch.

We honor Dr. Cardell for being an inspiration for many and thank him for being a wonderful friend, teacher and mentor.

Sincerely,

Susan E. Waltz, Ph.D.
Professor 
Department of Cancer Biology
Director, Cancer & Cell Biology Graduate Program
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine 
Vontz Center for Molecular Studie

Susan Waltz, PhD, professor of cancer biology, has been asked to serve on the Cancer Molecular Pathology Study Section for the National Institutes of Health, for the term beginning July 1, 2014 and ending June 30, 2020.

The Cancer Molecular Pathobiology [CAMP] Study Section reviews applications involving the pathology of the malignant cell with the emphasis on mechanisms controlling cell growth and death, and the molecular events in gene regulation. Emphasis is on pathological approaches to oncogenesis and the basic cellular events involving growth of transformed cells in animal models, with more translational studies in human cells.

Cancer & Cell Biology Graduate Students Stand Out at 2015 GSRF Poster Forum

The Office of Graduate Education hosted its 35th annual Graduate Student Research Forum on Friday, March 6, 2015. The forum brings together graduate students, postdoctoral students and faculty for a poster session, speaker and awards ceremony. This year’s event drew 55 student poster presenters, as well as 30 faculty and postdoctoral judges, to the CARE/Crawley Atrium for lively scientific discussions.

Each graduate student poster was scored by two different non-affiliated judges, and the scores were combined to determine the top presenters. First-place award went to Rahul D’Mello, in the Medical Scientist Training Program Division of Immunology, Allergy and Rheumatology, while second-place prizes were awarded to Marie Matrka in the graduate program of Cancer and Cell Biology and Carolyn Rydyznski in the Division of Immunology, Allergy and Rheumatology. Third- place honors were awarded to Alexander Ross in the Department of Pharmacology and Cell Biophysics and Jennifer Schwanekamp in the Department of Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry and Microbiology.

Honorable mentions include: Mark Althoff and Nicholas Brown, both in the graduate program in Cancer Biology; Catherine Chaton, Swati Tiwari and Cameron McDaniel, all in the Department of Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry and Microbiology; George Gardner in the Department of Pharmacology and Cell Biophysics; and Jared Klarquist in the Division of Immunology, Allergy and Rheumatology.

Great kudos to G3 student Eric Smith (in Susa Well’s lab), this year’s recipient of the Robert and Emma Lou Cardell Fellowship, which honors excellence in cancer and cell biological research.

Eric’s thesis work aims to determine a mechanistic function of the DEK oncogene in DNA repair. DEK is highly overexpressed in most tumor types, and the degree of overexpression is associated with advance stage disease, poor clinical outcomes, and chemotherapy resistance. Conversely, loss of DEK restores sensitivity to DNA-damaging chemotherapeutics. However, the mechanism linking the biochemistry of the DNA-binding and chromatin modifying DEK protein to chemoresistance remains unknown. Eric’s work demonstrated that DEK loss severely cripples the homologous recombination repair pathway. Eric pinpointed the site of DEK action by determining that DEK interacts with RPA and RAD51, opening a clear avenue towards the development of therapeutic small molecule inhibitors. The Selection Committee was particularly impressed with the potential impact of these findings.

Dr. and Mrs. Cardell established the Fellowship in 1999 and it is awarded each year to an advanced student in the Cancer and Cell Biology Graduate Program. Bob Cardell was Chair of Cell Biology for many years, building the Department into a nationally-recognized research unit, and was later Associate Dean for Graduate Education. Emma Lou Cardell was an outstanding electron microscopist, histologist and teacher. The Cardell Fellowship includes a $2,500 cash award that the recipient can use to further his/her professional development. In addition, the Fellow gives a special Departmental seminar attended by the Cardells.

Eric, congratulations and thanks for your hard work and impressive achievements!

The Office of Graduate Education in the College of Medicine hosted the 36th annual Graduate Student Research Forum Oct. 27, 2015. The forum brings together graduate students, postdoctoral students and faculty for a poster session, speaker and awards ceremony.

This year’s event drew 81 student poster presenters, as well as 56 faculty and postdoctoral judges to the CARE/Crawley Atrium for scientific discourse. Each student poster was scored by two different non-affiliated judges, and the scores were combined to determine the top presenters.

After the morning poster session, students and faculty enjoyed the event’s keynote speaker, Bruce McEwen, PhD, Alfred E. Mirsky Professor, the Rockefeller University.  He presented the talk "Sex, Stress and the Brain: Hormone Actions over the Life Course via Novel Mechanisms.”

Graduate students in UC programs also received awards for their poster presentations.

Two first-place awards were given to Carolyn Rydyznski, immunology and Eric Smith, Cancer and Cell Biology and the MSTP Program. Second place was awarded to Nina Bertaux-Skeirik, systems biology and physiology, and third-place honors went to Marie Matrka, Cancer and Cell Biology. Four students were received honorable mentions: Vicky Gomez, molecular and developmental biology; Brittany Kopp, neuroscience; Amanda Stover, MPH in biostatistics, and Raghav Pandey, Cancer and Cell Biology.

Mark Baccei, PhD, associate professor in the Neuroscience Graduate Program, was awarded the Richard Akeson Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award.

Congratulations to Nick Brown, (Waltz lab) and Raghav Pandey, (Habeebahmed Lab) Cancer & Cell Biology Graduate Students, on receiving this year's University Research Council (URC) Graduate Student Research Fellowship. There were 109 applicants to this year's fellowship with only 22% of the proposals reviewed were funded.  Great job Nick and Raghav for a great job in receiving this Fellowship!

Congratulations to Sasha Ruiz-Torres, CCB Graduate Student in Dr. Susan Waltz's lab, who has been name this year's Cardell Fellow. The Cardell Fellowship honors excellence in Cancer & Cell biological Research. Bob Cardell was Chair of Cell Biology for many years, building the Department into a nationally-recognized research unit, was the founder of the graduate program and was later Associate Dean for Graduate Education. Emma Lou Cardell was an outstanding electron microscopist, histologist and teacher. The Cardell Fellowship includes a $2,500 cash award that the recipient can use to further his/her professional development. In addition, the Fellow give a special Departmental seminar attended by the Cardell's.

Jordan Althoff (in Dr. Jose Cancelas' lab at CCHMC) who was recently named as a University of Cincinnati Albert J. Ryan Fellow. Jordan received a Bachelor degree in Biomedical Sciences from Murray State University in 2013. As an undergraduate, Jordan successfully competed to obtain funding to study a functionally redundant aminopeptidase family and its necessity for the reproductive success of Caenorhabditis elegans under the mentorship of Dr. Chris Trzepacz (University of Cincinnati College of Medicine PhD graduate and former Ryan Fellow) which culminated in a first author publication. He gained additional research experience working on molecular mechanisms that drive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia with Dr. Charles Mullighan at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (Pediatric Oncology Education Program).

In the summer of 2013, Jordan joined the UC Graduate Program in Cancer and Cell Biology and is currently pursuing his PhD under the mentorship of Dr. Jose A. Cancelas at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC). Dr. Cancelas' research focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of hematopoietic stem cell homing, migration and differentiation through Rac GTPase signaling in both health and leukemia. The laboratory is also actively investigating the physiological cell-autonomous and microenvironment/cytokine dependent mechanisms that control hematopoiesis with the hope that they can identify novel targets that can be used clinically to improve stem cell transplantation efficacy and ameliorate HSC diseases. Jordan's thesis work investigates how the bone marrow microenvironment affects various cell polarity regulators that define quiescent HSC polarization and self-renewal ability. Cell polarity is one of the most basic properties of all living cells and plays a pivotal role in HSC biology, regulating its quiescence, fate determination and function. Preliminary work from his project has secured him an NIH fellowship (F-31) from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for the remainder or his training and development.

“The Albert J. Ryan Fellowship was established in 1967 by Alice M. Ryan of Cincinnati in memory of her father. Miss Ryan wished to recognize and encourage the development of students at Dartmouth College, Harvard University and the University of Cincinnati who show promise of becoming research scholars and who show the capacity to contribute to the advancement of medical science.” −Ryan Foundation.

We would like to welcome this year's Cancer & Cell Biology Graduate Students.  Camille Sullivan, Ayusman Dash, Brian Hunt, Ying Qing and James Bartram joined the program on Monday, July 11th. We are very excited for this group to start their research rotations immediately and course work in August.

Congratulations to Kris Alavattam, who was recently named an Albert J. Ryan Fellow for 2017-2018

Kris graduated from Kettering College in 2013 with a B.Sc. in Human Biology. During his undergraduate studies. he completed a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship at Cincinnati Children's with Dr. Satoshi Namekawa. He then joined the Namekawa laboratory as a full time research assistant in 2013. At that time, Kris' studies focused on the mechanisms of DNA damage response and epigenetic events during mammalian reproduction. These studies resulted in a co-first author publication in the Journal of Cell Biology (Broering & Alavattam et al., 2014). In that work, Kris and colleagues revealed important functions for the protein BRCA1 in male germ cell development.

Encouraged by his success, and with a growing passion for research, Kris entered the CCB Graduate Program to pursue a Ph.D.in 2014.Continuing under the mentorship of Dr. Namekawa, Kris expanded his focus to the functions of the Fanconi anemia/BRCA pathway in male germ cell development. This research led to a coauthor article that characterizes the function of FANCB in the male germline (Human Molecular Genetics; Kato et al., 2015) as well as a lead author study in Cell Reports (Alavattam et al., 2016).This work provided several mechanistic insights into the function and regulation of the Fanconi anemia/BRCA pathway, revealing new links between DNA damage response and epigenetic programming, and establishing the sex chromosomes in male germ cells as a model to dissect DNA damage response pathways. Kris has also begun to have an impact on a separate project targeted at understanding the regulation of gene expression during germ cell development. Kris seeks to define the molecular mechanisms that coordinate nuclear organization and large-scale gene expression changes in male germ cell development. This line of research has already resulted in a coauthor manuscript (Developmental Cell; Hasegawa et al., 2015) and will continue to be developed as the basis for Kris' dissertation research.

"The Albert J. Ryan Fellowship was established in 1967 by Alice M. Ryan of Cincinnati in memory of her father. Ms. Ryan wished to recognize and encourage the development of students at Dartmouth College, Harvard University. and the University of Cincinnati who show promise of becoming research scholars and who show the capacity to contribute to the advancement of medical science." - Albert J. Ryan Foundation

Congratulations Madeline Niederkorn and Sonya Ruiz-Torres as the joint-recipients of the 2017 Robert and Emma Lou Cardell Fellowship.

Madeline’s (Daniel Starczynowski’s Lab) thesis work aims to uncover biological and molecular functions of TIFAB and to understand how its loss contributes to the pathogenesis of del(5q) myeloid malignancies. TIFAB is normally expressed in healthy hematopoietic cells, but is deleted by loss of chromosome 5q in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Madeline’s work investigates TIFAB interactions with USP15 and p53. p53 expression and function are aberrantly active in TIFAB-deficient mice, rendering hematopoietic cells sensitive to cellular stress, and impairing hematopoietic function. Madeline’s work provides a novel molecular basis for therapeutic opportunities in del(5q) MDS and AML.

Sonya’s (Susa Wells’ Lab) work aims to determine the effect of loss of function of the Fanconi Anemia (FA) DNA repair pathway  on human  squamous epithelial development and carcinogenesis. Inherited mutations in FA pathway genes cause the genome instability disorder FA, wherein affected individuals have a unique susceptibility to the development of squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) of the skin, head and neck, and anogenital tissues. Sonya established a patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell system with conditional functionality of the FA pathway as a source of epidermal stem and progenitor cells (ESPCs) to model FA pathway loss on mucosa and skin development. Results reveal proliferation and novel cell adhesion defects leading to impaired tissue integrity in the FA pathway- deficient epidermis. Moreover, her studies suggest a role for the AKT/GSK-3β/β-catenin  signaling  axis in  driving  these  aberrant phenotypes, opening a door for the design of treatments for solid tumors in these patients.

The Program sincerely thanks Dr. and Mrs. Cardell for their continued support of the CCB Graduate Program and for honoring excellence in cancer and cell biological research. Bob Cardell was the former Chair of Cell Biology and the founder of the departmental graduate program. During his tenure, he built the Department into a nationally recognized research unit and later served as Associate Dean for Graduate Education. Emma Lou Cardell was an outstanding electron microscopist, histologist, and teacher. They established the Cardell Fellowship in 1999 through a gift to the UC Foundation that supports an annual cash prize for the recipient. This year each recipient will receive $1,500 to use for professional development, and will give a special Departmental seminar during the Fall semester.

Many thanks also go out to the dedicated and thoughtful members of the Selection Committee: Drs. Dave Plas (Chair), Zalfa Abdel-Malek, Chunying Du, David Hildeman, and Marie Matrka. In addition to reviewing the applications and selecting the recipients, the Committee has been instrumental in providing feedback on the content, form and process for the fellowship that have materially improved the Fellowship procedures.

Sonya and Maddie, congratulations on your hard work and impressive achievements!

Jordan’s thesis work aims to understand how cellular polarity regulates hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) self-renewal. Work from this project reveals that the spatial restriction or polarization of Scribble (a multi-modular scaffolding protein) coordinates the organization and activation of the Hippo Signaling Pathway within HSC. Notably, Scribble deficient HSC lose upstream activation of the pathway and display nuclear YAP1 localization along with increased self-renewal in vitro and in vivo. The Hippo-YAP1/TAZ pathway has been argued to be dispensable in HSC, but our most recent data suggests this pathway, in conjunction with Scribble polarization, may play an essential role in regulating HSC self-renewal. Understanding this connection will allow us to exploit novel targets such as these during ex vivo HSC-based gene-therapy for successful treatment of cancers and hematologic diseases.

Molly’s thesis work is centered on oncogenic drivers of innate immune signaling in the pathogenesis of Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) and Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Overexpression of immune-related genes is widely reported in MDS and AML and chronic innate immune pathway activation increases the risk of developing myeloid malignancies. However, the genetic and mutational alterations that drive innate immune signaling in MDS and AML hematopoietic stem cells remain largely unknown. Molly’s findings have identified mutations in splicing factor U2AF1 that lead to alternative splicing of an innate immune signaling protein, IRAK4. Overexpression of a hyper-active isoform of IRAK4 contributes to leukemogenesis and demonstrate the first genetic link of RNA splicing factor mutations to activation of chronic innate immune signaling in leukemia. These findings have transformative implications in understanding how differential RNA isoform expression and splicing gene mutations contribute to human cancer.

The Program sincerely thanks Dr. and Mrs. Cardell for their continued support of the CCB Graduate Program and for honoring excellence in cancer and cell biological research.  Bob Cardell was the former Chair of Cell Biology and the founder of the departmental graduate program. During his tenure, he built the Department into a nationally recognized research unit and later served as Associate Dean for Graduate Education. Emma Lou Cardell was an outstanding electron microscopist, histologist, and teacher. They established the Cardell Fellowship in 1999 through a gift to the UC Foundation that supports an annual award for the recipient. This year each recipient will receive $1,500 to use for professional development, and will give a special departmental seminar during the Fall semester.

Many thanks also go out to the dedicated and thoughtful members of the Selection Committee: Drs. Dave Plas (Chair), Zalfa Abdel-Malek, Chunying Du, Daniel Starczynowski, and Sonya Ruiz-Torres (student representative). In addition to reviewing the applications and selecting the recipients, the Committee has been instrumental in providing feedback on the content, form and process for the fellowship that have materially improved the Fellowship procedures.

Congratulations Vivienne Woo (Theresa Alenghat’s Lab)

Vivienne’s thesis work aims to determine how commensal bacteria in the intestine promote host defense against pathogenic infections. Interactions between the intestinal microbiota and the mammalian host are essential for effective defense against pathogenic infection. However, the underlying mechanisms by which protective microbial cues are integrated by host cells remain unclear. Vivienne’s work demonstrates that commensal bacteria epigenetically regulate intestinal epithelial cells to decrease infection in mice. Importantly, Vivienne uncovered that commensal bacteria may provide a direct source of metabolites in the intestine that allow commensal bacteria to calibrate epithelial defenses in the intestine.

The Program sincerely thanks Dr. and Mrs. Cardell for their continued support of the CCB Graduate Program and for honoring excellence in cancer and cell biological research. Dr. Cardell was the former Chair of Cell Biology and the founder of the departmental graduate program. During his tenure, he built the Department into a nationally recognized research unit and later served as Associate Dean for Graduate Education. Emma Lou Cardell was an outstanding electron microscopist, histologist, and teacher. They established the Cardell Fellowship in 1999 through a gift to the UC Foundation that supports an annual award for the recipient. This year recipient will receive $2,000 to use for professional development, and will give a special departmental seminar during the Fall semester.

Many thanks also go out to the dedicated and thoughtful members of the Selection Committee: Dave Plas (Chair), Zalfa Abdel-Malek, Chunying Du, Daniel Starczynowski, and Jordan Althoff (student representative). In addition to reviewing the applications and selecting the recipients, the Committee has been instrumental in providing feedback on the content, form and process for the fellowship that have materially improved the Fellowship procedures.