2023 PhD Thesis Defenses
JUSTIN VERCELLINO
Thesis Title: Stimulating the Bone Marrow Endothelial and Stromal Niche Facilitates Hematopoietic Regeneration to Mitigate Acute Radiation Syndrome
Date: Tuesday, December 19, 2023
Time: 10:00am
LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Chandan Guha
PhD Candidate, Department of Pathology
MICHELLE SCHUMACHER
Thesis Title: Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Improves the Tumoricidal Effects of Radiation Therapy in Murine Breast Cancers
Date: Monday, December 18, 2023
Time: 10:00am
LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Chandan Guha
PhD Candidate, Department of Pathology
CHRISTOPHER SALAZAR
Thesis Title: A Rab-Related GTPase Restricts Excessive Branching in PVD Dendrites
Date: Thursday, November 30, 2023
Time: 3:00pm
5th Fl Lecture Hall, Forchheimer
Laboratory of Dr. Hannes Buelow
PhD Candidate, Department of Genetics
MARYAM JAFARI RASHT
Thesis Title: Activation of Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy by Caloric Restriction and Caloric Restriction Mimetics Through the Lysosomal KAT6A/p53 Regulatory Axis
Date: Monday, October 30, 2023
Time: 10:00am
LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Ana Maria Cuervo
PhD Candidate, Department of Developmental and Molecular Biology
ILARIA CARTA
Thesis Title: Hypothalamic Circuit, Cellular, and Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Adaptable Caregiving Behavior
Date: Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Time: 10:00am
Zoom, and Tishman Auditorium, Kennedy Center
Laboratories of Dr. Anita Autry-Dixon
PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience
JOSEPH SWEENEY
Thesis Title: Development of a Yeast-Based Assay to Identify Specific Inhibitors of Human and Malaria Phosphate Transporters
Date: Monday, October 23, 2023
Time: 1:00pm
Zoom, and 5th Fl Lecture Hall, Forchheimer
Laboratory of Dr. Myles Akabas
MD-PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience
MATTHEW ENGEL
Thesis Title: Deciphering the Role of Insulin and IGF-1 in Brain Aging, Alzheimer's Disease and Vascular Dementia
Date: Thursday, September 21, 2023
Time: 1:00pm
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Derek Huffman
MD-PhD Candidate, Department of Molecular Pharmacology
MERICKA MCCABE
Thesis Title: Chemical Modulation of NCoR1/RARα axis for Regulation of Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy in Disease
Date: Tuesday, September 19, 2023
Time: 1:00pm
LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratories of Drs. Evripidis Gavathiotis and Ana Maria Cuervo
PhD Candidate, Department of Biochemistry
JOSHUA AXELROD
Thesis Title: Mitofusion Modulation as a Novel Therapeutic Strategy for Limiting Infarct Size in Mouse Models of Myocardial Infarction
Date: Friday, September 15, 2023
Time: 10:00am
Zoom, and 3rd Fl Lecture Hall, Forchheimer
Laboratory of Dr. Richard Kitsis
PhD Candidate, Department of Cell Biology
KEANU SHADRON
Thesis Title: Evolutionary Adaptations to Stimulus Statistics in the Barn Owl’s Midbrain
Date: Tuesday, August 22, 2023
Time: 2:00pm
Zoom, and Tishman Auditorium, Kennedy Center
Laboratory of Dr. Jose L. Pena
PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience
CHRISTOPHER NISHIMURA
Thesis Title: TMIGD2 is a New, Safe, and Effective Costimulatory Domain in CAR-T Cells Treating Human Solid Tumors
Date: Monday, August 14, 2023
Time: 10:00am
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. XingXing Zang
MD-PhD Candidate, Department of Microbiology & Immunology
FELIX LIANG
Thesis Title: Regulation of Ferroptotic Cell Death by Mitochondrial Protein OPA1
Date: Thursday, August 10, 2023
Time: 1:00pm
Zoom, and 5th Fl Lecture Hall, Forchheimer
Laboratory of Dr. Richard Kitsis
PhD Candidate, Department of Cell Biology
KELSEY MCDERMOTT
Thesis Title: Aging and Neuroimmune Mechanisms in Hippocampal Representations of Space
Date: Thursday, August 3, 2023
Time: 2:00pm
Zoom, and Tishman Auditorium, Kennedy Center
Laboratory of Dr. J. Tiago Goncalves
PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience
MICHAEL ROGERS
Thesis Title: Coordination of Transcriptional Programs Critical to Development by the Chromatin Modifier KDM5
Date: Tuesday, August 1, 2023
Time: 12:00pm
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Julie Secombe
MD-PhD Candidate, Department of Genetics
MARIA FRECHOU SCHANDY
Thesis Title: Role of Adult-Born Neurons in Hippocampal Neural Representations of Space
Date: Thursday, July 27, 2023
Time: 1:00pm
Tishman Auditorium, Kennedy Center
Laboratory of Dr. Tiago Goncalves
PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience
HENRIETTA BAINS
Thesis Title: Characterizing the Role of LPIN1 and Micall1 in Phosphatidic Acid-driven mTORC1 Activation
Date: Tuesday, July 11, 2023
Time: 10:00am
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Myles Akabas
MD-PhD Candidate, Department of Developmental and Molecular Biology
CRISELDA DILLAGUE
Thesis Title: Characterizing Plasmodium falciparum Euilibrative Nucleotide Transporter 1 (PfENT1) and Its Inhibitors as Potential Antimalarial Drugs
Date: Thursday, June 29, 2023
Time: 12:00pm
Forchheimer 1st Fl Lecture Hall
Laboratory of Dr. Myles Akabas
PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience
JAMES LEE
Thesis Title: Roles of CMPK2 and Viperin in Mediating Viral Restriction and Inflammation
Date: Monday, June 26, 2023
Time: 12:00pm
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratories of Drs. Steven Almo and Tyler Grove
MD-PhD Candidate, Department of Biochemistry
XIZHE WANG
Thesis Title: Identification and Characterization of Candidate Circulating Anti-Geronic Factors
Date: Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Time: 10:00am
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratories of Dr. Yousin Suh and Jan Vijg
PhD Candidate, Department of Genetics
BRENDA ABDELMESIH
Thesis Title: Perifornical Urocortin-3 Neurons in Regulating Female Parenting Behaviors Under Stress
Date: Thursday, June 8, 2023
Time: 2:00pm
Zoom, and Tishman Auditorium, Kennedy Center
Laboratory of Dr. Anita Autry-Dixon
PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience
SEYDANUR REISLI
Thesis Title: Predictive Processing in Autism: Examining Prediction Certainty Using Electroencephalography (EEG)
Date: Friday, June 2, 2023
Time: 9:00am
Zoom, and Tishman Auditorium, Kennedy Center
Laboratory of Dr. Sophie Molholm
PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience
JULIO FLORES
Thesis Title: Epigenetic Regulation of Embryonic and Hemtopoietic Stem Cells by the DNA dioxygenase Tet2
Date: Thursday, June 1, 2023
Time: 1:00pm
LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Meelad Dawlaty
MD-PhD Candidate, Department of Genetics
BLAIR SCHNEIDER
Thesis Title: Expression of Retrotransposons Contributes to Aging in Drosophila
Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Time: 12:30pm
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Julie Secombe
PhD Candidate, Department of Genetics
MICHELLE GULFO
Thesis Title: Cellular Mechanisms of Neuromodulation in the Dentate Gyrus
Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Time: 12:30pm
Zoom, and Tishman Auditorium, Kennedy Center
Laboratory of Dr. Pablo Castillo
MD-PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience
ANNA MAEKINIEMI
Thesis Title: Shining Light on mRNA Localization in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Date: Thursday, May 25, 2023
Time: Pending
Location: Pending
Laboratory of Dr. Robert H. Singer
PhD Candidate, Department of Cell Biology
RAYNA BIRNBAUM
Thesis Title: Investigating the Regulation Mechanisms of the Microtubule Severing Enzyme, Fidgetin-like 2
Date: Wednesday, May 24, 2023
Time: 11:00am
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. David Sharp
PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience
KEMI AKINNOLA
Thesis Title: Periosteal Skeletal Stem Cells Can Migrate into the Bone Marrow and Support Hematopoiesis After Injury
Date: Monday, May 22, 2023
Time: 10:00am
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Kira Gritsman
MD-PhD Candidate, Department of Cell Biology
YANYAN LIU
Thesis Title: Features and Protective Efficacy of Human Monoclonal Antibodies Targeting Mycobacterium tuberculosis Arabinomannan
Date: Wednesday, April 5, 2023
Time: 10:00am
Zoom, and Forchheimer 3rd Floor Lecture Hall
Laboratory of Dr. Jacqueline M. Achkar
PhD Candidate, Department of Microbiology & Immunology
XIAOTONG JIA
Thesis Title: A Novel Role for Caspase-9 in Mitochondrial-dependent Necrosis
Date: Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Time: 10:00am
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Richard Kitsis
PhD Candidate, Department of Cell Biology
AAKASH MAHANT MAHANT
Thesis Title: Humoral Immune Responses to HSV Infections and Placental Transfer of Protective Antibodies; Implications for Vaccine and Monoclonal Antibody Development
Date: Monday, March 27, 2023
Time: 9:00am
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Drs. Betsy Herold and Johanna Daily
PhD Candidate, Department of Microbiology & Immunology
KARISHMA SMART
Thesis Title: Fidgetin-like 2: Cutting Back on Cell Migration
Date: Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Time: 1:30pm
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. David Sharp
PhD Candidate, Department of Molecular Pharmacology
NATALIA HERRERA
Thesis Title: Development of Antigen-Selective Immunotherapeutic Approaches and Discovery of Novel Immune Pathways
Date: Thursday, March 16, 2023
Time: 1:00pm
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Steven Almo
PhD Candidate, Department of Biochemistry
HANSOO SONG
Thesis Title: The Roles of Tbx2 and Tbx3 in Murine Inner Ear and Craniofacial Development
Date: Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Time: 10:00am
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Bernice Morrow
PhD Candidate, Department of Genetics
HUIZHI LIANG
Thesis Title: TCF1 Orchestrates the Epithelial/Mesenchymal Hybrid Phenotype in Basal Breast Cancer via a FOXC2-p63 Axis Leading to Stemness and Metastasis
Date: Friday, March 3, 2023
Time: 10:00am
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Rachel Hazan
PhD Candidate, Department of Pathology
NADEGE GITEGO
Thesis Title: Modulation of Cytosolic Autoinhibited BAX Dimer as a Novel Strategy to Potentiate Apoptosis in Cancer
Date: Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Time: 1:30pm
Online via Zoom and 1st Fl. Lecture Hall, Forchheimer
Laboratory of Dr. Evripidis Gavathiotis
PhD Candidate, Department of Biochemistry
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