Student Highlights

Erin Burns
Advisor: Dr. Tatiana Oberyzyn

"Men and Women are Not Just from Different Planets: The Role of Sex-Based Differences in the Prevention of Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer"

Erin Frey
Advisor: Dr. Candice Askwith

"Acid-Sensing Ion Channels: Targets for Neuropeptide Modulation and Neuronal Damage"

Alena Cristina Jaime-Ramirez
Advisor: Dr. Bill Carson

"The NK Cell-mediated Anti-tumor Effects of a Folate-conjugated Immunoglobulin are Enhanced by Cytokines"

Samantha McCarty
Advisor: Dr. Matthew D. Ringel

"A Novel Braf Signaling Cascade through p-21 Activated Kinases Regulates Thyroid Cancer Cell Motility”

Pierpaolo Peruzzi
Advisor: Dr. E. Antonio Chiocca & Dr. Balveen Kaur

"Mi R-128 Controls the Activity of Polycomb Repressor Complexes 1 and 2 in Neural Stem Cells: Implications of its Loss in Gliomagensis"

Joshua C. Saldivar
Advisor: Dr. Kay Huebner

"The Origin of Genome Instability in Cancer: Role of the Fragile Site Gene Product Fhit"

Reeva Aggarwal
Advisor: Dr. Hiranmoy Das

"Mechanisms of Human CD34+ Stem Cell-Mediated Regulation of Osteoporosis in a Preclinical Model"

Houda Alachkar
Advisor: Guido Marcucci

"SPARC Contributes to Leukemia Growth and Aggressive Disease in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)"

Rodney Britt
Advisor: Dr. Lynette Rogers

"The Role of Cyclooxygenase-2 in Newborn Hyperoxic Lung Injury"

April Gocha
Advisor: Dr. Joanna Groden

"Mechanisms of Alternative Telomere Elongation in Human Cancer Cells"

Jill Green
Advisor: Dr. Kirk Mykytyn

"Characterization of Neuronal Primary Cilia in Cellular Homeostasis and Disease"

Sean Little
Advisor: Dr. Jonathan Davis

"The Role of Troponin C in the Heart”

Chrisopher Lucas
Advisor: Dr. Virginia Sanders

"Prohibitins and the Cytoplasmic Domain of CD86 Cooperate to Mediate CD86 Signaling in B Lymphocytes”

Ananth Narayanan
Advisor: Dr. Petra Schmalbrock

"Pharmacological Modulation of Fuctional Connectivity in Neuropsychological Disorders"

Steve Roof
Advisor: Dr. Mark Ziolo

"Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase Signaling Contributes to Beneficial Cardiac Effects of Exercise"

Nikki Seagraves
Advisor: Dr. Kim McBride

"Characterization of Cardiac Teratogenicity in a Mouse Model of Maternal Phenylketonuria"

Jessica Suboticki
Advisor: Dr. Paul Janssen

"The Occurence of Alternans and Arrhythmias in a Multicellular, Cardiac Preparation"

Xun Lan
Advisor: Dr. Victor Jin

"Uncover Transcription Factor Networks by Integrating One Dimensional 'Omics and Three Dimensional Chromatin Structure"

Josh Cyktor
Advisor: Dr. Joanne Turner

"Immune Correlates of Resistance and Susceptibility to Tuberculosis"

Richard Price
Advisor: Dr. E. Antonio Chiocca

"The Role of Cytomegalovirus in Glioblastoma and Rhabdomyosarcoma"

Neha Singhal
Advisor: Dr. Paul T. Martin

"Distinct roles of synaptic GalNAc transferases, Galgt1 and Galgt2, in muscle biology"

Levy Austin Reyes
Advisor: Dr. Jay L. Zweier

"New Mechanisms for Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Dysfunction in the Isolated Rat Heart"

Kenny Roman
Advisor: Dr. Robert Stephens, Jr.

"GLT-1 Over-Expression Attenuates Bladder and Colonic Nociception by Either Pharmacological or Gene Therapy Approach"

Fatemeh Talebian
Advisor: Dr. Xue-Feng Bai

"CD200-CD200R Interaction in Tumor Immunity"

Carolyn Marion
Advisor: Dr. Samantha King

"Modification and Utilization of Carbohydrates by Streptococcus pneumoniae"

Kaylan Haizlip
Advisor: Dr. Paul Janssen

"Manipulations and Alterations of the Force-Frequency Response in Isolated Cardiac Muscle”

Patrick Grierson
Advisor: Dr. Joanna Groden

"The BLM helicase facilitates RNA polymerase I-mediated ribosomal RNA transcription"

Alison Lyon
Advisor: Dr. Christine E. Beattie

"Generation and Analysis of Motor Neuron Disease Models in Zebrafish"

Adam Kimball Bevan
Advisor: Dr. Brian K. Kaspar

"AAV-based approaches for modeling and treating spinal muscular atrophy"

Sarwish Rafiq
Advisor: Dr. John C. Byrd

"Evaluation of Antibody-based Therapeutics for B cell Malignancies"

Susan McClory
Advisor: Dr. Michael Caligiuri

"Extrathymic T cell development in the human tonsil"

Sarah Stevens
Advisor: Dr. Loren E. Wold

"Calcium and Cancer: Implications for Cardiovascular Function and Disease”

Rebecca Allen
Advisor: Dr. John Sheridan

"Macrophage microbicidal activity is enhanced by stressor-exposure"

Bryan Anthony
Advisor: Dr. Gregg Hadley

"The Role of CD103 Expression in Promoting Intestinal Graft Versus Host Disease"

Kristen Smith
Advisor: Dr. Caroline Whitacre

"MicroRNAs in multiple sclerosis: a study of the effects on T cell trafficking and effector function.”

Dennis Horvath
Advisor: Dr. Sheryl Justice

"The Impact of Phagocyte-UPEC Interactions Upon Pathogenesis of Urinary Tract Infections”

Huizi Chen
Advisor: Gustavo Leone, PhD

Atypical E2Fs link mammalian endocycle control to cancer

Gina Mavrikis Cox
Advisor: Dr. Caroline C. Whitacre

"Macrophage migration inhibitory factor: a study of the effects on the central nervous system microenvironment autoimmune encephalomyelitis"

Dan Xu
Advisor: Christopher M. Walker, PhD

"Cellular Immunity in Adeno-Associated Virus Mediated Gene Therapy”

Sara Fischer
Advisor: Clay B. Marsh, MD

"Electrospun Nanofiber Scaffolds as a Model of the Lung Microenvironment in Pulmonary Fibrosis”

Bethany Mundy
Advisor: William E. Carson,III, MD

"Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells in Tumor Immunology"

Jessica Williams
Advisor: Caroline C. Whitacre, PhD

"Pregnancy-associated Effects on Immune Modulation and Neuroprotection in a Model of Multiple Sclerosis: Role of T Cells and Serum Exosomes"

Alan J. Smith
Advisor: Amy Lovett-Racke PhD

"IL-23 Receptor Expression and Effects of Signaling on T Cell Encephalitogenicity"

Dustin Donnelly
Advisor: Dr. Dennis Guttridge, PhD

"Tailoring the heterogeneous macrophage response to spinal cord injury towards neuroprotection"

Georgia Triantafillou
Advisor: John Byrd

CD74 Targeted Nanoparticles as Dexamethasone Delivery System for
B lymphoid Malignancies

Besma Abbaoui
Advisor: Steven K. Clinton, MD, PhD

"Broccoli Isothiocyanates as Chemopreventive Agents and Epigenetic Modulators of Bladder Cancer”

Jordan Jensen
Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey Kuret, PhD

"Development of Tau-Selective Imaging Agents for Improved Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Tauopathies"

Olga Malykhina
Advisor: Dr. Mark Peeples, PhD

Christopher Alvarez-Breckenridge
Advisor: Antonio Chiocca, MD PhD

"The Role of Natural Killer Cells in the Context of Oncolytic Simplex Virtotherapy for Glioblastoma"

Jayson Hardcastle
Advisor: Balveen-Kaur PhD

Christopher J. Traynham
Advisor: Mark T. Ziolo, PhD

"Effects of Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase Signaling on Myocyte Contractile Function"

Tiffany Hughes
Advisor: Michael A. Caliguiri, MD

"The stage-specific effects of IL-1β on human natural killer cell development."

Ruth Li
Advisor: Douglas Kniss

"The Expression and Effect of Myoferlin Depletion in Breast Cancer Cells"

Shante Williams
Advisors: Sean Lawler, Antonio Chiocca

"The Role of Glycogen Synthase Kinase3 Inhibitors in Brain Tumor Migration and Invasion"

Mark Hanke
Advisor: John Sheridan

"Sympathetic Nervous System Mediated Alterations in the Immunological and Behavioral Effects of Social Defeat"

Stephanie Cush
Advisor: Emilio Flano

"Generation and Function of CD8 T Cell Memory to γ-Herpesviral Infection"

Anna Kwilas
Advisor: Mark Peeples

"Respiratory Syncytial Virus Based Vectors for the Treatment of Cystic Fibrosis"

Chad Groer
Advisors: Laura Bohn, Wolfgang Sadee

"Agonist-Selective Regulation of the Mu Opioid Receptor by βarrestins"

Robert Moyer
Advisor: Wolfgang Sadee

"Exploration of Functional Genetic Variants in Candidate Genes for Psychiatric Disorders"

Amber Nagy
Advisor: James Waldman

"Characterization and Interaction of Nanoparticles in Biological Systems"