Ph.D. Thesis Defenses in 2022
Kristin Mayoral-Palarz - Cerebellar Purkinje Cells as a Driver and Therapeutic Target in Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 3 (Kamran Khodakhah, mentor, Neuroscience) https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/98341253382
)
Tonya Aaron - Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha-mediated inflammation regulates normal and malignant plasma cell retention in the bone marrow (David Fooksman, mentor, Pathology)
Or Join via Zoom Meeting
https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/2625227126?pwd=YnhFVjh6YzY5TkRRbXZXRTZ0RFNVUT09
)
Bianca Ulloa - Deciphering the development of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell self-renewal and differentiation (Teresa Bowman, mentor, Developmental & Molecular Biology) https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/96780827880)
Saad Khan - Signatures of Health and Disease in the Human Microbiome (Libusha Kelly, mentor, Systems & Computational Biology) )
Hayden Hatch - Regulation of neuronal development and function by the intellectual disability-associated transcriptional regulator, KDM5 (Julie Secombe, mentor, Neuroscience) Hybrid, also via Zoom
https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/98800967338 )
Erica Moore - Uncovering the contribution and therapeutic promise of T cells in neuropsychiatric lupus (Chaim Putterman, mentor, Microbiology & Immunology) https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/98768942797)
Charles Jakubik - Regulation of Invadopodia Signaling and Macrophage-Tumor Cell Interactions by PI3Kß (Jon Backer & Anne Bresnick, co-mentors, Molecular Pharmacology) Join Zoom Meeting: https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/98072771611)
John (Jack) Barbaro - The Impact of Methamphetamine, Opioids, and Antiviral Compounds on HIV Pathogenesis in Human Macrophages (Joan Berman, mentor, Pathology) Hybrid Zoom link: https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/97934879323)
Taylor Thompson - Identification of transcriptional regulatory mechanisms of an obesogenic endocrine disrupting chemical (John Greally, mentor, Genetics) )
Reanna Dona-Termine - Understanding extrinsic influences on transcriptional regulatory mechanisms using cellular models (John Greally, mentor, Genetics) Hybrid Zoom link: https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/99556268700?pwd=QVJxdnNqMTZCZ2NtMGFnelJ4YUJtdz09
)
Gregory Krause - Characterization and Modulation of Selective Forms of Autophagy in Aging (Ana Maria Cuervo, mentor, Developmental and Molecular Biology) https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/96560989359)
Carl Pierce - Mucosal viruses and where to find them: Novel interactions of HSV-2 and SARS-CoV-2 with the host immune system (Betsy Herold, mentor, Microbiology & Immunology) Zoom Link:
https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/95172760200)
Leti Nunez - Regulation of beta-actin mRNA by insulin-like growth factor II mRNA binding protein (IGF2BP1/ZBP1/IMP1) (Robert Singer, mentor, Anatomy & Structural Biology) Join Zoom Meeting
https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/95357066187?pwd=ek5MVWpDZEQwODY5YnJ5T08xMWdKdz09
Meeting ID: 953 5706 6187
Passcode: 222083)
Andre Wittig - Functions of the mitochondrial ATP Synthase in vivo (Richard Kitsis, mentor, Cell Biology)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/96778507531?pwd=THM2WHVGOEk4VHVldXBvYzNxRlNqUT09
Meeting ID: 967 7850 7531
Passcode: 205112)
Hui Yang - Bridging molecular and systems neuroscience to understand hypothalamic representation of ingestive behaviors (Robert Singer and Scott Sternson (HHMI Janellia), co-mentors, Neuroscience) Zoom: https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/96892613459
)
Ph.D. Thesis Defenses in 2021
Hayden Hatch - Regulation of neuronal development by the intellectual disability-associated transcriptional regulator, KDM5 (Julie Secombe, mentor, Neuroscience) )
Ryan Malonis - Investigating antibody responses to emerging alphaviruses and flaviviruses (Jon Lai, mentor, Biochemistry)
https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/96309032272 )
Robert Bortz III - Antiviral therapeutics exploit structural changes in the Ebola virus glycoprotein during viral entry (Kartik Chandran, mentor, Microbiology & Immunology) )
Maxim Maron - Transcriptomic and Proteomic Regulation by Protein Arginine Methyltransferases (David Shechter, mentor, Biochemistry) )
Katherine Kaugers - Using a Herpes Simplex viral vector to generate protective vaccines against viral pathogens (William Jacobs, Jr., mentor, Microbiology & Immunology) )
Ph.D. Thesis Defenses in 2020
Richard Piszczatowski - An Orthogonal Approach to Cell Identification and Isolation (Uli Steidl, mentor, Cell Biology) https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/4249490332 )
Adam Spitz - Identification and Characterization of an FDA-Approved Small Molecule Inhibitor of Pro-Apoptotic BAX (Evris Gavathiotis, mentor, Biochemistry) https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/96260486462)
Justin Wheat - Single Molecule Studies of PU.1-Gata1/2 Network in Hematopoiesis (Ulrich Steidl and Robert Singer, comentors, Cell Biology) )
Joshua Weinreb - Uncovering the roles of DDX41 in hematopoiesis (Teresa Bowman, mentor, Developmental & Molecular Biology) )
Joshua Mayoral - A diverse toolkit: Studies on secreted proteins from the parasite Toxoplasma gondii (Louis Weiss, mentor, Pathology) https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/98169453290)
Jamie Moore - Dissecting the mechanisms governing functional dynamics of plasmacytoid dendritic cell activation in malaria infected mice using intravital microscopy (Gregoire Lauvau, mentor, Microbiology & Immunology) https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/92444550505 )
Rosiris Leon Rivera - Mechanism of CNS viral reservoir formation and reseeding by HIV+ monocytes: Potential therapies for NeuroAIDS in the ART-era (Joan Berman, mentor, Pathology) https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/99808522560 )
Samuel Eisenberg - Regulation of Cell Adhesion and Invasion by the Microtubule-Modifying Kinesin KIF19 (David Sharp, mentor, Physiology & Biophysics) https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/9671641318)
Sinan Khor - Deciphering the role of neural innate immune signaling in aging and neurodegenerative disease in Drosophila (Dongsheng Cai, mentor; Molecular Pharmacology) https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/2301239402)
Peter John - The immune checkpoint B7x promotes the induction of regulatory T-cells in the tumor microenvironment and mediates resistance to chemotherapy (Xingxing Zang, mentor; Microbiology & Immunology) https://einsteinmed.zoom
.us/j/96218734854
)
Abigail Carbonell - Novel roles for ANKS1B in the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders (Bryen Jordan, mentor; Neuroscience) https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/94051396944)
Kelin Brace - Human auditory system maintains neural representations of sound regardless of explicit knowledge or task demains (Elyse Sussman, mentor; Neuroscience) https://einsteinmed.zoom.us/j/91263553099)
Ph.D. Thesis Defenses in 2019
Niloy Iqbal - Novel Obesity Suppressor Function of the Retinoblastoma Protein Uncovers Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 4 as a Therapeutic Target for Diet-Induced Obesity (Liang Zhu & Streamson Chua, Jr., co-mentors; Developmental & Molecular Biology) )
Jose Quiroz - Engineered and human antibodies as Chikungunya virus therapeutics (Jon Lai, mentor, Biochemistry) )
Ruth Howe - Characterization of the protein C15orf65/SMALL as a tumor suppressor and epigenetic regulator in Multiple Myeloma and plasma cell maligancy (Uli Steidl, mentor, Cell Biology) )
Todd Rubin - Risk and susceptibility to repetitive subconcussive head injury: Evidence for sex as a risk factor and a new model for further investigation. (Michael Lipton, mentor, Neuroscience) )
Jose Quiroz - Engineered and human antibodies as Chikungunya virus therapeutics (Jon Lai, mentor, Biochemistry) )
Natalie Ramsey - Antibodies that mediate ADCC provide greater protection against ocular HSV-1 Compared to Neutralizing Antibodies - Lessons from Vaccine Studies (Betsy Herold, mentor, Microbiology & Immunology) )
Jeetayu Biswas - RNA binding proteins, mechanisms underlying recognition of targets (Robert Singer, mentor, Anatomy & Structural Biology) )
Samuel Dowling - Regulation of CD4+ T cell activation through lysosomal-mediated degradation of signaling and metabolic modulators (Fernando Macian, mentor, Pathology) )
Sean Healton - Roles of Mammalian Linker Histones in the Regulation of Core Histone Post-translational Modifications (Art Skoultchi, mentor, Cell Biology) )
Ph.D. Thesis Defenses in 2018
Mark Barahman - Towards Clinically Relevant Cell-Transplant-Based Therapies for the Treatment of Liver Diseases. (Pathology, mentor: Chandan Guha) )
Marika Osterbur Badhey - Synonymous nucleotide modification alters hERG synthesis (Thomas McDonald, mentor; Molecular Pharmacology) )
Daniel Pique - Deriving Insights from Genomic Heterogeneity in Cancer (Jessica Mar & John Greally, co-mentors; Systems & Computational Biology) )
Cary Weiss - microRNA-22 promotes megakaryocyte differentiation through repression of its target, GFI1 (Keisuke Ito, mentor, Cell Biology & Stem Cell Institute) )
Erik Hasenoehrl - Metabolism and bioenergetics as a new target space for drug development against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Michael Berney & William Jacobs, Jr., co-mentors, Microbiology & Immunology) )
Serena Mao - The role of amphiregulin in mammary gland development and breast cancer (Jeffrey Segall, mentor; Anatomy & Structural Biology) )
Andrew Johnston - How genetic variation influences molecular genomic phenotypes (John Greally, mentor, Genetics) )
Liane Hunter - Evidence towards a more personalized approach to characterizing structural and functional outcomes from repetitive head impacts in soccer (Michael Lipton, mentor, PhD in Clinical Investigation track) )
Karin Skalina - Generation of an in situ tumor vaccine using focused ultrasound-induced immune priming (Chandan Guha, mentor, Pathology) )
Raven Diacou - The role of homeobox transcription factors Six3 and Six6 in retinal development (Wei Liu, mentor, Genetics) )
Charles Kenworthy - Single particle tracking of PBAF and its implications for epigenetic targeting and cancer (Robert Coleman & Robert Singer, comentors, Anatomy & Structural Biology) )
Talicia Savage - Challenging current paradigms: Increasing the efficacy of radiation therapy with novel radiation schemes (Chandan Guha, mentor; Pathology) )
Michael Willcockson - Runx1 promotes erythroid progenitor proliferation and inhibits differentiation by preventing downregulation of Pu.1 (Art Skoultchi, mentor; Cell Biology) )
Nelson Gil - The molecular basis for receptor-ligand recognition in the immunoglobulin superfamily (Andras Fiser, mentor; Systems & Computational Biology) )
Ph.D. Thesis Defenses in 2017
HGF/C-Met signaling mediates breast tumor cell migration towards blood vessels. Edison Leung (Anatomy & Structural Biology, mentor: John Condeelis) )
The mechanism by which MenaINV promotes invadopodium maturation in response to multiple cues in the tumor environment. Maxwell Weidmann (Anatomy & Structural Biology, mentor: John Condeelis) )
Ross Firestone - Enzymes and Transition State Structures Relating to SAM Metabolism (Vern Schramm, mentor; Dept. of Biochemistry) )
Rohan Biswas - Ebola virus and Niemann Pick C1: A mutational analysis of viral entry. (Kartik Chandran, mentor; Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology) )
Ali Zahalka - Contributions of autonomic nerves to exocrine malignancies: A focus on adrenergic signals in prostate cancer initiation. (Paul Frenette, mentor; Dept. of Cell Biology) )
Kim Ohaegbulam - Tumor-expressed B7x promotes colonic pulmonary metastases and antigen-specific CD8 T cell exhaustion independently of Neuropilin-1 (Xingxing Zang, mentor; Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology) )
Ariel Stock - Current Concepts in Neuropsychiatric Lupus: Potential Mechanisms and Therapeutic Avenues (Chaim Putterman, mentor; Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology )
Jordan Chinai - HHLA2 is a novel tumor-expressed B7 family member and immune regulatory target (Xingxing Zang, mentor; Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology) )
Christina Kratschmer - Towards effective, stable aptamer drug conjugates for the treatment of solid tumors (Matthew Levy, mentor; Dept. of Biochemistry) )
Daniel Biro - Towards Intermediate Complexity Systems Biology Models for Understanding Bacterial Growth and Evolution. (Aviv Bergman, mentor; Dept. of Systems & Computational Biology) )
Odelya Kaufman - RNA-Binding Protein Regulation of Germline Development in Zebrafish (Florence Marlow, mentor; Dept. of Developmental & Molecular Biology) )
Emily Byrd - Mechanisms of alphavirus membrane fusion and assembly (Margaret Kielian, mentor; Dept. of Cell Biology) )
Rama Yakubu - The Arginine Monomethylome of Toxoplasma gondii and an examination of the role of MAG-1 (Louis Weiss, mentor; Dept. of Pathology) )
Dayle Hodge - Histone variant Macro H2A1 plays an isoform-specific role in suppressing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (Wenjun Guo, mentor; Dept. of Cell Biology) )
Jennifer Schloss - Antigen Presentation in Type 1 Diabetes: Routes to Pathogenesis and Prevention (Teresa DiLorenzo, mentor; Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology) )
Ramon Cabrera - The role of NRG1 and JAG1 in breast cancer transendothelial migration and intravasation (Jeffrey Segall, mentor; Dept. of Anatomy & Structural Biology) )
Ph.D. Thesis Defenses in 2016
Adaptation in V1 as Inferences about Natural Movie Statistics )
"Associations between the Insulin-like Growth Factor Axis with Diabetes and Diabetic Retinopathy" Chino Aneke, MSTP Student Thesis Defense, PhD in Clinical Investigation Track (mentor, Robert Kaplan, Epidemiology & Population Health) )
"Dissecting the mechanisms of pro-apoptotic BAX modulation" by Onyinyechukwu Uchime (Dept. of Biochemistry; mentor, Evris Gavathiotis) )
"The immune microenvironment and expression of members of the B7 family of immune checkpoints are prognostic in osteosarcoma." Pratistha Koirala (Molecular Pharmacology, mentor Richard Gorlick) )
"Using Enhanced Sampling Molecular Dynamics Simulations to Investigate the Roles of Disordered Regions in Proteins", Jerome Karp (Biochemistry, mentor David Cowburn) )
"Less is More: The relationship between the Perceived Stress Scale and cognitive decline" Julie Jiang (PhD in Clinical Investigation, Richard Lipton/Mimi Kim, co-mentors) )
"Mycobactin: From target to tool in developing therapeutics for tuberculosis." Christopher Kerantzas (Microbiology & Immunology, mentor William Jacobs Jr.) )
"Cellular memory of adverse intrauterine nutrition associated with altered cell function and epigenetic dysregulation." Jessica Tozour (Genetics, mentor John Greally) )
Attention, neural oscillations and entrainment: Novel phenomenology and the development of a normalized statistical approach. Tommy Wilson (Neuroscience, mentor John Foxe) )
Characterizing catalytic activity in an anti-cryptococcal antibody and identification of associated structural motifs in other immunoglobulins. Anthony Bowen (Microbiol. & Immunol., mentor Arturo Casadevall) )
"Aberrant Rac1/cofilin signaling controls impaired spine structure, synaptic function, and sensory processing in Fragile X Syndrome." Alexander Pyronneau, MD-PhD Student Thesis Defense, (mentor, Suzanne Zukin, Neuroscience) )
Ph.D. Thesis Defenses in 2015
Philip Campbell Kinesin-1 Functions in Vertebrate Development and Disease)
The geometry of evolutionary contraints on dynamic structure-function relationships - Cameron Smith )
Assembly and structure of the p85 alpha homodimer - Jaclyn LoPiccolo (mentor Jon Backer, Molecular Pharm.) )
"Staphylococcal enterotoxin K: A Potential New Target in Immunotherapy Against S.aureus Infection" - Jorge Luis Aguilar )
Preneoplastic Epigenomic Dysregulation Associated with Oncogenic Viral Infection - N. Ari Wijetunga (mentor, John Greally) )
The atypical cadherin Fat1 regulates mitochondrial activity to control vascular smooth muscle cell growth - Lily Cao (mentor Nicholas Sibinga, Dept. of Dev. & Molecular Biology) )
Characterization of Purine Transport in Plasmodium as a Therapeutic Target: A Structural Perspective - Avish Arora (mentor, Myles Akabas) )
Elucidating the role of AIDA-1 in synaptic transmission, plasticity and behavior - Jaafar Tindi (mentor, Bryen Jordan, Neuroscience) )
Ph.D. Thesis Defenses in 2014
Jaime Schneider "Effect of blockage of chaperone-mediated autophagy in vivo" (mentor, Ana Maria Cuervo, Dept. of Developmental and Molecular Biology)
Brian Beaty "The role of adhesion proteins in regulating tumor cell invasion and metastasis" (mentor, John Condeelis, Dept. of Anatomy & Structural Biology)
Matthew Klein "Investigations into the mechanisms of neuronal proteostasis" (mentors, Pablo Castillo and Bryen Jordan, Dept. of Neuroscience)
Carlos Diaz-Balzac "Genetic analysis of novel loci in the kal-1 pathways"
(mentor, Hannes Buelow, Dept. of Genetics)
Caroline Park "The Role of Chaperone mediated Autophagy (CMA) in Genome Maintenance"
(mentors, Ana Maria Cuervo, Dept. of Developmental and Molecular Biology; and Yousin
Suh, Dept. of Genetics)
Roman Deniskin "Validation and characterization of small molecule inhibitors that target PfENT1 and PvENT1"
(mentor, Myles Akabas, Dept. of Physiology & Biophysics)
Ujunwa Cynthia Okoye-Okafor "Characterizing the Role of Mammalian SIDT1 in T Cells" ((mentor, Uli Steidl, Dept. of Cell Biology))
Ernest Yakob "Characterizing the Role of Mammalian SIDT1 in T Cells" ((mentor, Deborah Palliser, Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology))
Diana Athonvarangkul "Functional interplay of distinct autophagy (ATG) protein links a-MSH metalbolism to control of food intake" ((mentor, Rajat Singh, Dept. of Molecular
Pharmacology))
Examining the role of the cerebellum and cerebello-basal ganglia interactions in dystonia )
Examining the role of the cerebellum and cerebello-basal ganglia interactions in dystonia )
A study on the pathogenesis and treatment of infantile spasms in rats )
The effect of stimulus context and attention on auditory scene analysis )
Ph.D. Thesis Defenses in 2013
Matthew Motley "Freedom in Transition: Computational Studies of E. coli MTAN and V. cholerae MTAN" (mentor, Steve Schwartz, Dept. of Physiology & Biophysics)
Corey Keller "The neural origins of the default mode network and resting fMRI" (mentor, Fred Lado, Dept. of Neuroscience)
Jayne Koellhoffer "Intermediates of Filovirus Membrane Fusion Explored Through Antibody Engineering and Protein Design" (mentor, Jon Lai, Dept. of Biochemistry)
Ardy Davarifar "The Role of Anisotropic Heat Flow in LDH" (mentor, Steve Schwartz, Dept. of Physiology & Biophysics)
IJ Frame "Purine Transporters of Malaria Parasites: From Function Determination to Inhibitor Identification" (mentor, Myles Akabas, Dept. of Physiology & Biophysics)
Adi Shemesh "mTORC1 Activation is Reduced in an In Vitro Model of Pompe Disease" (mentor, Jeffrey Pessin, Dept. of Molecular Pharmacology)
Matthew Nicholas "Deciphering the regulation of cytoplasmic dynein's attachment to microtubules: the interplay of force and nucleotide state" (mentor, Arne Gennerich,
Dept. of Anatomy & Structural Biology)
Zhenni Zhou "Autocrine EGFR signaling in breast cancer cell invasion and metastasis" (mentor, Jeff Segall, Dept. of Anatomy & Structural Biology)
Lisa Glass "How Does M. tuberculosis gene Rv2623 regulate M. tb growth?" (mentor, John Chan, Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology)
Esther Berko "Genomic and Epigenomic Dysregulation in Autism Spectrum Disorders" (mentor, John Greally, Dept. of Genetics)
Ph.D. Thesis Defenses in 2012
Frank Diaz "Characterization of the Neurogenic Response to Apoptosis of Cortical Glutamatergic Neurons in the Adult Brain" (mentor, Jean Hebert, Dept. of Genetics)
Saurabh Gombar "Systems Biology of Epigenetic Mechanisms: How Epigenetics Influences Robustness" (mentors, Suh and Bergman, Depts. of Genetics and Systems & Computational
Biology)
Justin Berger "Major Facilitator Superfamily Domain-containing protein 2a is a novel PPAR-alpha target with roles in body growth, motor function, and lipid metabolism"
(mentor, David Silver, Dept. of Biochemistry)
Stefanie Rader Forest "Immunotherapy Targeting Tau Pathology in Alzheimer's Disease-Studies in an Htau Mouse Model" (mentor, Peter Davies, Dept. of Pathology)
Alena Janda "Constant Region Effects on Antibody-Antigen Binding" (mentor, Arturo Casadevall, Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology)
Carlyn Patterson "Adaptation in visual cortex: issues of timescale and hierarchy" (mentor, Adam Kohn, Dept. of Neuroscience)
Grigoriy Gutin "The role of FGF signaling in early embryonic forebrain development" (mentor, Jean Hebert, Dept. of Genetics and Neuroscience)
Robert Tamayev "A novel mouse model of dementia implicates B-secretase, Thr668 of APP, and Tau in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease" (mentor, Luciano D'Adamio,
Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology)
Lauren Grinspan "Biophysical and Physiologic Characterization of Thin Filament Cardiomyopathies" (mentor, Jil Tardiff, Dept. of Physiology & Biophysics)
Stephanie Wissig "Spatial and temporal contextual effects in early visual physiology and visual perception" (mentor, Adam Kohn, Dept. of Neuroscience)
Ian Baine "Helios controls IL-2 Expression and Suppressive Capacity in Thymically Derived CD4+/CD25+ Natural Regulatory T Cells" (mentor, Fernando Macian, Dept. of Pathology)
Emily Happy Miller "Elucidating and Inhibiting Endosomal Events in Ebola Virus Entry" (mentor, Kartik Chandran, Dept. of Microbiology & immunology)
Edward Manning "Molecular Modeling of Cardiac Troponin" (mentor, Steve Schwartz, Dept. of Physiology & Biophysics)
Gregory Hoge "Properties of Networks Formed by Electrical Synapses in the Mammalian Brain" (mentors, Alberto Pereda and Pablo Castillo, Dept. of Neuroscience)
Ph.D. Thesis Defenses in 2011
David Gross "Structure-function analysis of fat-storage inducing transmembrane (FIT) proteins in mediating lipid droplet formation" (mentor, David L. Silver, Dept. of
Biochemistry)
Yamini Krishnan "Molecular mechanisms regulating HERG potassium channel synthesis and trafficking" (mentor, Thomas McDonald, Dept. of Molecular Pharmacology)
Brian Abe "The role of NFAT1 in tumor-induced CD4+ T cell tolerance" (mentor, Fernando Macian, Dept. of Pathology)
Walter (Chun-Wei) Lai "Characterization of Endoplasmic Reticulum stress in single cells" (mentor, Erik Lee Snapp, Dept. of Anatomy & Structural Biology)
Louisa Steinberg "Parallel coding of what and where in the auditory brainstem of the barn owl" (mentor, Jose Luis Pena, Dept. of Neuroscience)
Vivek Patel "Conserved RNA recognition element identifies ZBP1-operated post-transcriptional regulatory networks" (mentor, Robert Singer, Dept. of Anatomy & Structural
Biology)
Jesus Jimenez "Physiological Studies of Familial Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy - Related Mutations in Cardiac Troponin T" (mentor, Jil Tardiff, Dept. of Physiology &
Biophysics)
Brian Wengerter "Novel Immunization Strategies: Aptamer-Targeted Antigen Delivery" (mentors, Steve Almo and Matt Levy, Dept. of Biochemistry)
Lee Jacobson "Alum and Leu-Leu-OMe adjuvanted immunity is generated by cathepsin mediated apoptosis" (mentor, Jurgen Brojatsch, Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology)
Jerri Chen "Structure-Function Analysis of C-terminal Interactions Between Cardiac Potassium Channel Subunits KCNQ1 and KCNE1" (mentor, Thomas McDonald, Dept. of Molecular
Pharmacology)
Arlene Bravo-Ambrosio "Identification of novel downstream effector molecules of the homeodomain transcription factor, Nkx2.9, that regulate spinal accessory motor neuron
development" (mentor, Zaven Kaprielian, Dept. of Neuroscience)
Sarah Schlatterer "Pathological consequences of c-Abl overexpression in mouse brain" (mentor, Peter Davies, Dept. of Pathology)
Dennis Monks "Mesenchymal-Epithelial Interactions Regulated Tbx1 are Essential for Inner Ear Development" (mentor, Bernice Morrow, Dept. of Genetics)
Maria Kon "Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy and Cancer" (mentor, Ana-Maria Cuervo, Dept. of Developmental and Molecular Biology)
Pamela Boimel "Breast cancer tumor growth, invasion, and metastasis in the tumor microenvironment" (mentor, Jeff Segall, Dept. of Anatomy & Structural Biology)
Sung-Min Park "Roles of Molecular Layer Interneurons in Shaping Purkinje cell Output" (mentor, Kamran Khodakhah, Dept. of Neuroscience)
Keith Hazleton "Purine Salvage as an Antimalarial Target" (mentor, Vern Schramm, Dept. of Biochemistry)
Jo Choi "Determinants of Subcellular Trafficking of Organic Anion Transport protein 1a1(oatp1a10)" (mentor, Allan Wolkoff, Dept. of Anatomy and Structural Biology)
Joy Hazleton "Purinergic Receptors are Required for HIV-1 Infection of Primary Human Macrophages" (mentor, Joan Berman, Dept. of Pathology)
Dan Ishihara "Analysis of the Role of Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein in Macrophage Functions in Inflammation and Tumor Metastasis" (mentor, Diane Cox, Dept. of Anatomy
and Structural Biology)
Sandeep Wontakal "Deciphering the Transcriptional Networks Controlled by Two Master Hematopoietic Transcription Factors, GATA-1 and PU.1" (mentor, Arthur Skoultchi,
Dept. of Cell Biology)
Ph.D. Thesis Defenses in 2010
Jakub Sroubek "Regulation of hERG channel bio-processing" (mentor, Thomas V. McDonald, Dept. of Molecular Pharmacology)
Joe Sabat "Proximal Control of Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase" (mentor, Denis Rousseau, Dept. of Physiology and Biophysics)
Evanthia Rousso "Mena Isoforms in Metastatic Progression" (mentor, John Condeelis, Dept. of Anatomy and Structural Biology)
Monika Paroder "Generation of NIS mutants with altered substrate specificity and Na+/Anion stoichiometry: potential therapeutic implications for NIS gene transfer" (mentor,
Nancy Carrasco, Dept. of Molecular Pharmacology)
Anthony Wong "Proteolytic Disassembly of the ebolavirus Glycoprotein in Viral Entry" (mentor, Kartik Chandran, Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology
Rishi Parikh "Probing the pore of the prokaryotic proton-gated Cys-loop receptor homologue fromGloeobacter violaceus" (mentor, Myles Akabas, Dept. of Physiology
& Biophysics)
Rachel Moore "Cardiac Troponin T Mutations Cause Familial Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy via Disruption of Weak Actomyosin binding and Changes the Resultant Myocellular
Mechanics and Caldium Homeostasis" (mentor, Jil Tardiff, Dept. of Physiology & Biophysics)
Nicole McKinnon "Loop Length Matters: Effects Of Truncating The Cytoplasmic M3M4 Loop Of The 5-HT3A Receptors On Channel Function" (mentor, Myles Akabas, Dept. of Physiology
& Biophysics)
Julia Manzerova "Ribonucleoside triphosphate reductase: structure and mechanism probed by rapid freeze-quench technique combined with electron paramagnetic resonance
spectroscopy" (mentor, Gary Gerfen, Dept. of Physiology & Biophysics)
Catherine Liu "Mechanisms of Semliki Forest Virus Membrane Fusion: Interactions at the E1 Trimer Core" (mentor, Margaret Kielian, Dept. of Cell Biology)
Marina Khrapunovich Baine "Hallmarks of Molecular Action of Microtubule Stabilizing Agents" (mentor, Susan Horwitz, Dept. of Molecular Pharmacology)
Lorena Hernandez-Tellez "Breast cancer cells on the move: Heregulin and CXCL12 in invasion and metastasis" (mentor, Jeff Segall, Dept. of Anatomy and Structural Biology)
Poh Choo (PC) How "The Role of p115 vesicle tethering protein in Golgi mediated apoptosis signaling" (co-mentors, Chi-Wing Chow and Dennis Shields, Developmental and
Molecular Biology)
Ph.D. Thesis Defenses in 2009
George Han "Nitric Oxide Releasing Nanoparticles: Development, Characterization, and Application of a Novel Therapeutic" (mentor, Joel Friedman, Physiology & Biophysics)
Carolyn Saylor "Antibody-mediated immunity to Cryptococcus neoformans: understanding the role of murine IgG3" (mentor, Arturo Casadevall, Microbiology & Immunology)
Kurt Marsden "NMDA receptor induced potentiation of inhibitory synapses in the hippocampus: identification of a novel GABA-A receptor trafficking pathway mediated by
the translocation of CaMKII" (mentor, Reed Carroll, Neuroscience)
Matthew Oser "Cortactin regulates Cofilin and Nck1/N-WASp signaling pathways to control the stages of invadopodium maturation" (mentor, John Condeelis, Anatomy &
Structural Biology)
Saumil Gandhi "The Clueless Gene: Stochastic fluctuations prevent coordinated transcription" (mentor, Robert Singer, Anatomy & Structural Biology)
Matthew Tremblay "Analysis of the Potential Role of a Tyrosine Kinase, ARG (ABL2), in Alzheimer’s Disease Pathogenesis" (mentor, Peter Davies, Pathology)
J.R. Exequiel T. (Keng) Pineda "Multiple Timescale Dynamics in Enzyme Catalysis" (mentor, Steven Schwartz, Physiology & Biophysics)
Toni Roberts "The Role of Adhesion Molecules in Hiv-1 Neuropathology" (mentor, Joan Berman, Pathology)
Michelle Yu "Spectroscopic Studies on the Structure and Function of Bovine Heart and Rhodobacter Sphaeroides Cytochrome c Oxidase" (mentor, Denis Rousseau, Physiology
& Biophysics)
Reid Thompson "Epigenomic Dysregulation Associated with Intrauterine Growth Restriction and Normal Aging" (co-mentors, John Greally and Nir Barzilai, Genetics)
Lucien C. Alexandre "A PS1 Mutation Linked to Familial Alzheimer’s Disease Induces Neurodevelopmental Abnormalities in Forebrain" (mentor, Mark Mehler, Neuroscience)
Ayana Jordan "Mechanisms of T Helper Cell Suppression by Regulatory T cells" (mentor, Fernando Macian, Pathology)
Mariam Kabir "A Study of Nitric Oxide Synthase from the Bacteria Geobacillus Stearothermophilus, and its implications for mammalian Nitric Oxide Synthase"
(mentor, Denis Rousseau, Physiology & Biophysics)
Matthew Sturm "Inhibition and Detection of Ribosome Inactivating Proteins" (mentor, Vern Schramm, Biochemistry)
Agnes Mwakingwe "Development of novel tools for analyzing the host – parasite interaction during the course of malaria infection" (mentor, Kami Kim, Microbiology &
Immunology)
Jessie King "Mechanisms of HIV Tat Mediated Neurotoxicity" (mentor, Joan Berman, Pathology)
