Congratulations to Jessica Kelliher who won the award for the best student poster at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute retreat for her poster entitled, “Induction of an intrinsic DNA damage response during T cell exhaustion.” Jessica is a student in the lab of Brian Koss, Ph.D.
Reham Sewilam, second year student in the lab of Robert Eoff, Ph.D. presented a poster entitled “The Role of DNA Polymerase Kappa (pol κ) as a Sensor of Redox Imbalance in Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM)”.
Matthew Thompson, a third year student in the lab of Alicia Byrd, Ph.D., presented a poster entitled “HELB Maintains Genomic Stability in Response to Replication Stress”.
Every year, students in each of the four medical classes vote for the faculty member they consider to be their best teacher of the year. Congratulations to Alan Diekman, Ph.D., for winning his 11th Golden Apple from freshmen medical students who rave about his teaching and support as Course Director for the Molecules to Cells module. He also is Course Director for the M2 Endocrine/Reproduction course.
Congratulations to Lauren “Clai” Morehead who successfully defended her dissertation entitled “Dietary restriction increases susceptibility of melanoma to immune attack.” Clai is an M.D./Ph.D. student in the labs of Isabelle Miousse, Ph.D., and Alan Tackett, Ph.D. She will be returning to medical school to complete the final two years of her medical training.
CRISPR/dCas9-KRAB-Mediated Suppression of S100b Restores p53-Mediated Apoptosis in Melanoma Cells.
Roy Choudhury S, Heflin B, Taylor E, Koss B, Avaritt NL, Tackett AJ.
Cells. 2023
Final survival analysis of topotecan and paclitaxel for first-line treatment of advanced cervical cancer: An NRG oncology randomized study.
Tewari KS, Sill MW, Birrer MJ, Penson RT, Huang H, Moore DH, Ramondetta LM, Landrum LM, Oaknin A, Reid TJ, Leitao MM, Michael HE, Monk BJ.
Gynecol Oncol. 2023
Congratulations to Mason McCrury, a Ph.D. student in the lab of Dr. Samantha Kendrick, for receiving a NSF-GRFP. The Graduate Research Fellowship Program supports outstanding graduate students who have demonstrated the potential to be high achieving scientists and engineers. Mason’s project is entitled “Investigating DNA Secondary Structure Formation and Mutagenesis.”
By Marty Trieschmann
Feb. 17, 2023 | The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ (UAMS) Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute welcomed proteomics directors and staff from across the country Feb. 8 and 9 for a continuing education symposium.
Sponsored by the IDeA National Resource for Quantitative Proteomics located within the Cancer Institute, the symposium facilitated two days of collaboration and best practice sharing among proteomics experts from 11 different states.
Proteomics is the high throughput study of the abundance and activity of proteins. Most diseases, including cancer, are manifested at the level of protein activity.
The IDeA National Resource for Quantitative Proteomics at UAMS is the only one of its kind to be designated as a national resource by the National Institutes of Health. Alan Tackett, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, serves as director.
“We were thrilled to convene proteomics experts from across the country at our Cancer Institute, as our group serves as an NIH hub for disseminating training and education in this discipline of biomedical research,” said Tackett, who also serves as deputy director of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute and is the Scharlau Family Endowed Chair in Cancer Research at UAMS.
The symposium included poster sessions and a keynote address by John Koomen, Ph.D., scientific director of the Proteomics and Metabolomics Core at Moffitt Cancer Center. His talk was titled “Evolving a Proteomics and Metabolomics Core to Support Cancer Research.”
Breakout sessions covered topics such as quality control, sample preparation and workflows, bioinformatics and administration.
“Prior to this symposium, very little was known about other proteomic cores in IDeA states, including staff and capabilities,” said David Quilici, Ph,D., director of the Nevada Proteomics Center who has been attending the symposium for seven years.
The IDeA program works to build research capacity in states with historically lower levels of NIH funding. The program is open to 23 states, including Arkansas, and Puerto Rico.
“The UAMS staff and attending proteomic directors have provided insights which have allowed our core to enhance our services to our researchers,” said Quilici. “I have established relationships and contacts across the country ensuring that researchers are able to achieve their desired proteomic goals, whether it be by our current enhanced services or by directing them to a core that can address their needs.”
Directors from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, LSU Health, Tulane, the University of Rhode Island and Puerto Rico attended the event.
Proteomics has identified proteins that offer promise as diagnostic or prognostic markers, or as therapeutic targets in a range of illnesses, including cancer. The IDeA National Resource for Quantitative Proteomics at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute provides these resources to not only investigators at UAMS, but also has enabled research for hundreds of investigators covering every state in the United States.
Congratulations to these Biochemistry trainees for their excellent performance at UAMS Student Research Day.
Congratulations to the winners of the Bhuvan Award for Excellence in Biochemistry Research at Student Research Day 2023.
1st place – Jessica Kelliher – Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
2nd place – Farhana Sumya – Department of Physiology and Cell Biology
3rd place – Matthew Thompson – Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
The Bhuvan Award for Excellence in Biochemistry Graduate Research was established by colleagues in the Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy in memory of Dr. Bhuvaneswaran who was a member of the faculty in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Dr. Bhuvan, as students and colleagues alike affectionately knew him, was a superb experimentalist and the laboratory provided the stimulation for continued learning throughout his life. Because his culture revered the teacher/mentor most of all, his highest aspiration was to gain respect as a teacher. In addition to his formal contributions to graduate and medical student education, fostering an interest and love of science in young scientists was an important aspect of Dr. Bhuvan’s life. All graduate students that use some aspect of Biochemistry in their research are eligible for the award.
Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay as a Mediator of Tumorigenesis.
Nagar P, Islam MR, Rahman MA.
Genes (Basel).
The mycelium of the Trametes versicolor synn. Coriolus versicolor (Turkey tail mushroom) exhibit anti-melanoma activity in vitro.
Lowenthal R, Taylor M, Gidden JA, Heflin B, Lay JO Jr, Avaritt N, Tackett AJ, Urbaniak A.
Biomed Pharmacother.
