Aarohi Sonputri, a high school student at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Science and the Arts was featured in an article in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. Aarohi performed her Capstone research project in the lab of Samantha Kendrick, Ph.D., under the supervision of graduate student Kennith Swafford.
Brian Koss, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UAMS, Little Rock, Arkansas. The primary focus of his research program is to develop therapies that leverage the patients’ immune system to control cancer progression.
A Mountain Home, AR native, Koss completed his undergraduate degree in biochemistry and molecular biology at Hendrix, where he got his first exposure to undergraduate research working Dr. Rick Murray. Cancer became real to Koss when he worked as a research technician at St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis after college. He returned to Arkansas in 2016 to begin graduate studies under the mentorship of Dr. Alan Tackett (‘98) at UAMS and earned a Ph.D. in 2020 supported by a prestigious fellowship from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Shortly after earning his PhD, Dr. Koss was awarded the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Early Independence Award. Part of the High-Risk, High-Reward Research program, the Early Independence Award supports outstanding junior scientists with the intellect, scientific creativity, drive and maturity to bypass the traditional postdoctoral training period to launch independent research careers. In addition to being the first Arkansan to receive the award, Koss is only the second recipient from an NIH-designated Institutional Development Award (IDeA) state, a group of 23 states plus Puerto Rico that have historically received lower research funding. He received a five-year, nearly $2 million grant to fund his highly specialized cancer research program at UAMS.
With more than 20 publications, Koss’ work has been published in many highly respectable scientific journals such as, Cancer Research, Blood, Nature Cell Biology, and Immunity. In addition to cutting edge research Koss is currently mentoring two MD/PhD students, one PhD student, and a postdoctoral fellow.
Rescue of Methionine Dependence by Cobalamin in a Human Colorectal Cancer Cell Line.
Garg S, Miousse IR.
Nutrients. 2024
Congratulations to Susie Brown, Ph.D. who successfully defended her dissertation entitled, “Discovery, Characterization, and Therapeutic Potential of G-quadruplex and i-Motif Structures in the Promoter of the MYD88 Oncogene.” She was mentored by Samantha Kendrick, Ph.D. Dr. Brown will be an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Microbiology at Henderson State University.
Congratulations to LaTambria “Bria” Hampton on the successful defense of her Master’s Thesis entitled “CD28 signaling upregulates phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase-2 (PCK2) to maintain T cell metabolic fitness.” Bria was mentored by Brian Koss, Ph.D., and Analiz Rodriguez, M.D.,Ph.D. Bria is a now a Clinical Research Coordinator at Arkansas Children’s Hospital focusing on cardiology and emergency department (trauma) studies.
Robert Eoff, Ph.D. was awarded the 2023-2024 Graduate Faculty Award for his excellent work mentoring students in his own lab and throughout the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Track. Congratulations Dr. Eoff!
Kathy Carlson was awarded the UAMS Graduate School Administrative Appreciation Award for 2023-2024 for her dedicated commitment to graduate students and faculty. Kathy is the education coordinator for the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department. Congratulations!
Congratulations to 10th grade Pulaski Academy high school students Akshara Chevireddy and Nyera Ali and their University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences mentor, Dr. Reine Protacio. Nyera and Akshara won two prestigious awards for their research project on DNA sites that help to position meiotic recombination in the genome. They earned second place in the Senior Division, Microbiology section of the 2024 Central Arkansas Regional Science Fair, which was held on March 1 at the University of Arkansas Little Rock. They subsequently earned second place at the state-wide Arkansas State Science Fair, which was held at the University of Central Arkansas on March 29 and 30. Akshara and Nyera conducted their award-winning research in the laboratory of Dr. Wayne Wahls in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UAMS. This research and training opportunity was supported in part by a research project grant (GM145834) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the National Institutes of Health.
DNA sequences and distinct mechanisms for ura4-595 and ura4-294 alleles of S. pombe.
Protacio RU, Malone EG, Wahls WP.
MicroPubl Biol. 2024
Anti-apoptotic MCL-1 promotes long-chain fatty acid oxidation through interaction with ACSL1.
Wright T, Turnis ME, Grace CR, Li X, Brakefield LA, Wang YD, Xu H, Kaminska E, Climer LK, Mukiza TO, Chang CL, Moldoveanu T, Opferman JT.
Mol Cell. 2024
One-pot method for preparing DNA, RNA, and protein for multiomics analysis.
Biedka S, Alkam D, Washam CL, Yablonska S, Storey A, Byrum SD, Minden JS.
Commun Biol. 2024
Molecular, Metabolic, and Subcellular Mapping of the Tumor Immune Microenvironment via 3D Targeted and Non-Targeted Multiplex Multi-Omics Analyses.
Ferri-Borgogno S, Burks JK, Seeley EH, McKee TD, Stolley DL, Basi AV, Gomez JA, Gamal BT, Ayyadhury S, Lawson BC, Yates MS, Birrer MJ, Lu KH, Mok SC.
Cancers (Basel). 2024
Trichloroethylene metabolite modulates DNA methylation-dependent gene expression in Th1 polarized CD4+ T cells from autoimmune-prone mice.
Choudhury SR, Byrum SD, Blossom SJ.
Toxicol Sci. 2024
By Marty Trieschmann
March 26, 2024 | The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute received a five-year, $11.48 million federal grant to create the Center for Molecular Interactions in Cancer (CMIC).
The grant was awarded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) program. COBRE grants are awarded to establish centers of research excellence around a specific scientific theme that will ultimately become self-sustaining.
The UAMS Center for Molecular Interactions in Cancer and its researchers will study the molecular features and properties of biomolecules that drive cancer using structural biology and high-resolution imaging with precise, quantitative analysis.
“The center will create a critical mass of researchers who are able to gain deep molecular-level insights into the mechanisms that govern the initiation, progression and treatment of cancer,” said Robert Eoff, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the UAMS College of Medicine. Eoff is the principal investigator and will lead the center.
“Essentially, we’re digging down to the level beneath the body’s organs to study the components of the cell — the molecules and even the atoms within them — to understand what makes a cancer cell cancerous.”
The grant will strengthen the UAMS cancer research infrastructure with the creation of two research cores, each with highly specialized equipment for cancer research. They are:
“Over the last several years, the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute has made a concerted effort to hire the best and brightest laboratory scientists,” said Michael Birrer, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Cancer Institute and UAMS vice chancellor. “This is a culmination of that effort in that we have created a successful critical mass of talented scientists focused entirely on oncology. This will greatly benefit the people of Arkansas.”
The center will offer researchers access to highly advanced technologies like cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM), which uses high speed electrons to view high resolution images from frozen samples.
“In the past, we were limited in the types of molecules we could investigate, but recent advances, especially in cryo-EM, now allow us to study a wider array of molecules,” said Eoff. “Another barrier was related to the incredibly challenging and labor-intensive nature of these types of studies. To improve the speed and capacity of our workflow, artificial intelligence and robotics will also be incorporated into the center’s processes.
“One of the goals of this center is to take advantage of the advances in structural biology and biophysics to understand the 3D shape of molecules — how they change and impact cancer progression and resistance to therapies.”
Eoff will lead the CMIC Administrative Core which will offer a pilot program for early phase researchers to help them gather preliminary data and compete for R01 federal grant support. The center will also have a formal faculty development program where seasoned UAMS researchers mentor junior investigators.
“It is exciting to bring these researchers together so they can find community and generate new ideas with other talented people doing cutting-edge science,” said Eoff.
The research grant of $11,475,000 reported is funded by NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), award number 1P20GM152281-01.
