November 11th, 2019 by Johnson, Abby T (UI Health Care)
Dr. Ernesto Fuentes was awarded an NIH grant for his project entitled, “Regulation of Staphylpococcus aureus colonization and disease. This grant, in collaboration with Dr. Alex Horswill (Univ. of Colorado, Denver), will study the ArlRS two-compontent regulatory system. ArlRS is involved in the transition from commensal to pathogen, and our studies on this system could uncover mechanisms that could be exploited to prevent S. aureus infections.
Please see the recent manuscript entitled: “The Staphylococcus aureus ArlRS two-component system regulates virulence factor expression through MgrA” published this month in Molecular Microbiology.
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October 14th, 2019 by Johnson, Abby T (UI Health Care)
Gillian DeWane, a Molecular Medicine graduate student in Dr. Kris DeMali’s laboratory, was a recipient of the Graduate College Post-Comprehensive Research Fellowship.
This fellowship program recognizes students with distinguished academic achievement during their early graduate training. In addition, this fellowship provides advanced Ph.D. students an opportunity to benefit from protected and supported time to pursue their scholarly research activities.
Congratulations Gillian!!
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October 8th, 2019 by Johnson, Abby T (UI Health Care)
Jose Rios-Monterrosa, a second year medical student mentored by Dr. Lori Wallrath, is the recipient of the Arthur A. Spector Award for Basic Biomedical Research. This award was based on his outstanding presentations (oral and poster). His poster was entitled, “Analysis of the autophagy chaperone p62 in lamin-associated muscular dystrophy.”
Congratulations Jose!
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September 27th, 2019 by Johnson, Abby T (UI Health Care)
Congratulations to Professor Lori Wallrath, who has been selected as the recipient of the 2019 Summer Research Fellowship Outstanding Mentor in Basic Science Research. We appreciate her enormous impact on graduate education for the past 23 years she has been with the Department of Biochemistry.
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September 26th, 2019 by Johnson, Abby T (UI Health Care)
Colleen Caldwell, a Biochemistry graduate student in Dr. Maria Spies lab, received The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Trainee Scholar Travel Award. Colleen’s first author publication entitled, “Dyamics and selective remodeling of the DNA-binding domains of RPA,” demonstrated her commitment to research and the research mission of the College of Medicine. Colleen will use the award funds for future travel to meetings and/or conferences.
Congratulations Colleen!
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September 24th, 2019 by Johnson, Abby T (UI Health Care)
Dr. Pamela Geyer was featured on the August 2019 Dean’s List receiving special recognition from the dean’s office. Dr. Geyer received recognition for the NIH grant titled, “The Role of LEM Domain Proteins in Nuclear Function.”
Congratulations Dr. Geyer!
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September 17th, 2019 by Johnson, Abby T (UI Health Care)
Margaret (Meg) Ketterer, Research Assistant in the Wallrath Lab, was awarded the 2020 Mary Jo Small Staff Fellowship Award. The award is given to University of Iowa staff members to further their professional development. Meg will use the award to help defray the costs associated with attending the Allied Genetics Conference in Spring of 2020.
Congratulations Meg!
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September 16th, 2019 by Johnson, Abby T (UI Health Care)
Bryan Allen, a MD, PhD graduate from Dr. Daniel Weeks lab, was appointed to be leader of the Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Experimental Therapeutics (ET) Program. Allen is an associate professor and associate chair of translational research in the Department of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Allen is featured in noon news here.
“Supporting the careers of these successful faculty members and providing them with an opportunity to serve in leadership roles will ensure even greater success for Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center,” Weiner says. “All of them have demonstrated their dedication to keeping Holden at the forefront of patient care and a leader in the search for new ways to prevent and cure cancer.” -George Weiner, MD, director of the cancer center
Congratulations Dr. Allen!
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September 11th, 2019 by Johnson, Abby T (UI Health Care)
Sean Tompkins, a MSTP student in Dr. Eric Taylor’s lab, had his thesis published by Cell Reports. His thesis is entitled, “Disrupting Mitochondrial Pyruvate Uptake Directs Glutamine into the TCA Cycle away from Glutathione Synthesis and Impairs Hepatocellular Tumorigenesis.”
“Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) driven by obesity and diabetes is the fastest growing cause of liver cancer in the developed world and new therapies are needed to curb its growing burden. This manuscript demonstrates and helps explain how impairing the ability of liver mitochondria to use a glucose byproduct called pyruvate decreases liver tumor development. Using a mouse model of liver cancer, Tompkins et al. and Taylor discovered that liver-specific disruption of the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC), the protein complex that transports pyruvate into mitochondria, led to two thirds fewer tumors that were smaller and had a higher cell death rate. Using RNA-sequencing and biochemical assays, they determined that MPC-deficient tumors had impaired glutathione metabolism. Continued experiments using stable isotope tracing and metabolomic analysis demonstrated hepatocyte MPC disruption increases mitochondrial glutamine utilization at the expense of glutathione synthesis, which is critical for tumor development. These results identify modulation of mitochondrial pyruvate uptake as a potential strategy to prevent obesity- and diabetes-driven liver cancer development.”
Congratulations!
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September 6th, 2019 by Johnson, Abby T (UI Health Care)
Dr. Charles Brenner, co-senior author in an article published in Nature Communications, may have identified a class of drugs that could lead to new treatment of a childhood brain cancer.
According to The Daily Iowan ,”the researchers focused on diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas, or DIPG, an inoperable brainstem tumor found in children. The team concluded that a specific class of drugs have the potential to kill mutant tumor cells.” The team made use of Dr. Brenner’s expertise in synthesis and characterization of NAD, the central regulator of metabolism, to specifically target this glioma.
“My mom taught me that life is not always fair–this is an example where an innocent child is receiving a death sentence in his or her first decade,” Brenner said. “We want to be able to do something for these children.”
Congratulations, Dr. Brenner!
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